Evangelical Christians have been complaining about not being included in various commemorations of 9/11, whether in New York City, Washington, D.C., or even here in Canada. But we shouldn’t be.

During my last year of high school (in North Bay, Ontario), I was asked by our varsity basketball coach to pray before our games. I did as I was asked, praying the usual athlete’s prayer for safety, good refereeing, our best performance, and the like. But I was surprised to be asked, and a little confused. Northern Ontario in the mid-1970s was already pretty secularized and most of my teammates didn’t go to church.

A few months later, at our graduation dinner and dance (the equivalent of our “prom”), the president of the student council asked me, with about a minute’s notice, to offer a prayer before the dinner began. I was class valedictorian as well as leader of the only Christian group at the school, so I didn’t feel I could refuse. So I prayed a generic prayer to “God” and asked for the most general of blessings — but my qualms were growing.

That’s the last time I’ve said yes. The University of Manitoba asked me a few times to pray at their convocation, when I was on the faculty there in the 1990s, as did the University of British Columbia when I came out here to Vancouver in 1998. And by then, I’d made up my mind. Prayer is a wonderful thing, and too wonderful to serve as a brief gesture to Canada’s past or a way of adding a bit of extra solemnity to a secular occasion.

Public prayer of the sort in question is a ritual meant to express a single sentiment on behalf of a unified group to a deity they all wish to petition. It isn’t part of an exchange of views, such as a university debate or a media talk show. I enjoy participating in such exchanges. Nor is it an educational situation — such as the world religions courses I myself have taught for more than 20 years.

Prayer isn’t supposed to be an opportunity to proclaim or teach your faith to others. Instead, prayer is a form of speech offered on behalf of everyone present to God.

As we discuss his new book, The Gift of Rest, in his Capitol Hill office, Sen. Joe Lieberman mentions his longtime friendship with National Review’s late founder, William F. Buckley Jr. Over 20 years ago, in 1988, Buckley famously endorsed Lieberman, who was challenging moderate Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker. The pair, both with ties toStamford, Conn. — Lieberman a native, Buckley a resident — remained close following Lieberman’s surprise victory. They exchanged letters and phone calls, and mused about politics and family.

“He teased me that year, to please not indulge in the fantasy that he would ever again vote for me,” Lieberman chuckles. Nonetheless, Buckley, he says, became a “major force in my life.” The political gap between Lieberman, a devout Orthodox Jew and Democrat, and Buckley, a devout Catholic and conservative, may have been steep, but the respect for each other’s intellectual and spiritual pursuits was constant. “It is my view, and I think Bill’s view as well, that faith precedes everything else,” Lieberman says.

In the style of Buckley’s own meditation on faith, Nearer, My God, Lieberman, in The Gift of Rest, encourages readers to mull their own religious practices, placing an emphasis on the value of tradition and commitment. He takes great joy in describing, in vivid detail, the sights and smells of the Jewish Sabbath, from the aroma of baked challah bread and kugel, a sweet noodle dish, to prayers with his children.

Lieberman also acknowledges his struggle, at times, with keeping the Sabbath. Obstacles, he says, have always appeared, from his stressful undergraduate years at Yale to his hectic Senate schedule, which often includes Friday evening or Saturday votes. “I’ve never really talked a lot about it, about why I do it and what we do,” he says. But as his time in Washington winds down, “I thought it’d be wonderful to invite the reader to come to a Sabbath,” he says. “It’s a millennia-old institution, more relevant than ever.

(Billy's Thoughts>>> As a born again soul I believe Jesus is the only way to God but still we can learn from people of other faiths. It is nice to see a soul in D.C. who lives for something more important than the next election.)

Pat Robertson advised a viewer of yesterday's 700 Club to avoid putting a "guilt trip" on those who want to divorce a spouse with Alzheimer's. During the show's advice segment, a viewer asked Robertson how she should address a friend who was dating another woman "because his wife as he knows her is gone." Robertson said he would not fault anyone for doing this. He then went further by saying it would be understandable to divorce a spouse with the disease.

"That is a terribly hard thing," Robertson said. "I hate Alzheimer's. It is one of the most awful things because here is a loved one—this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years. And suddenly that person is gone. They're gone. They are gone. So, what he says basically is correct. But I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again. But to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her."

Co-host Terry Meeuwsen asked Pat, "But isn't that the vow that we take when we marry someone? That it’s For better or for worse. For richer or poorer?"

Robertson said that the viewer's friend could obey this vow of "death till you part" because the disease was a "kind of death." Robertson said he would understand if someone started another relationship out of a need for companionship.

Robertson gave the example of a friend who faithfully visited his wife every day even though she could not remember his visits to illustrate the difficulty of caring for someone with the disease.

(Billy's Thoughts>>> It is time for Pat Robertson to retire. He has brought shame to the good news of Jesus. Yes he has done good things for the cause of Christ but  anymore his negatives are out numbering his good points. )

American Life League takes exception to the Komen Foundation donating money to Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion-provider in America.

Komen, which raises money to do research for a cure for breast cancer, provides money to Planned Parenthood for mammograms and other services to detect the disease. But American Life League (ALL) founder Judie Brown tells OneNewsNow those grants allow Planned Parenthood to free up funds to do more abortions.
 
"We have pointed this out to Komen on numerous occasions and they have consistently refused to accept the facts," she reports. "Not only that, but the Komen Foundation is involved in the support and funding of human embryonic stem-cell research" -- research that involves killing a tiny human being.

(Abortion-breast cancer link still being ignored)

- Texas Governor Rick Perry told students Wednesday at the nation's largest evangelical university not to worry if they're still unsure which life goals to pursue. He assured students at Liberty University that God has them there for a purpose.

(Perry 'wrestled with God' over his future)

The Republican presidential candidate told the convocation of 12,000 students that after returning home from the Air Force at age 27, he was "lost" -- drifting with no sense of purpose.
 
"My faith journey is not the story of someone who turned to God because I wanted to," he said. "It was because I had nowhere else to turn.

(Billy's Thoughts>>> No matter what you think of the politics of this man you have to admit it is nice to see a leader who is not ashamed of his faith. Amen anyone?)

Christian attorney Mat Staver says a federal judge was right on the mark this week in deeming unconstitutional the "individual mandate" that is considered central to President Barack Obama's controversial healthcare reform law.

(ObamaCare's days are numbered)

The latest ruling involving ObamaCare, handed down on Tuesday by a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, deemed it unconstitutional to force people to buy health insurance -- an element of the law otherwise known as the "individual mandate." The case is one of more than 30 lawsuits winding their way through the U.S. court system as individuals and groups challenge the Obama administration's signature healthcare reform law.

(Billy's Thoughts>>> Lets all hope and pray all of this will lead to Obamacare being removed from the law of the land. ) 

eyer Congressman