Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / April 26, 2007, edition 1 / Page 7
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To pray or not to pray Nigel Alston Motivational Moments The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie. ? Ann Landers Have you ever hoped (hal something you didn't want to deal with would just go away? That something could be sectarian prayer, an issue before county com missioners and other elected officials in our community and surrounding communi ties. It is a complex issue for some and at the same time a very simple one that others believe they should take a stand for or against. Being a Christian and an elected official is a tough situation to be in. You believe in prayer and have taken an oath on the bible to uphold the law and vote against prayer in a public meeting. In this case the law as it is interpreted states that prayer in those meetings is inappropriate and unconsti tutional. In some communi ties it has ceased and non sectarian prayer or a moment of silence are offered instead. In others it continues and is being chal lenged. So, is there a right or wrong side to the issue, or is no one willing to meet in the middle and walk the rest of the way together? Maybe both sides are right. One side welcomes anyone of any faith to give an invoca tion,, even though in our community the majority of people providing an invoca tion at ' a meeting are Christian. For some, that isn't inclusive enough. As one commissioner has recently stated, the issue is not whether or not sectar ian prayer is legal; tte Federal courts have inter preted it as unconstitutional. Does that mean an elected official making a decision to deny prayer in a public meeting is not reflecting their personal Christian beliefs? What will happen if we don't have sectarian prayer at public meetings? Does that mean we have lost our moral compass and given in to the world, another sign that people are chipping away at what this country was founded on? I know of a situation where "good Christians" (I am baffled by that descrip tion. Can you be a good or bad Christian?) are leaving hate messages because of the actions of some public officials against sectarian prayer. Is that the Christian way? Are people really lis tening or rushing to judg ment. their minds already made up? This is an emotionally charged issue for some who have to cast a vote one way or the other and as one per son shared with me, others sit on the sideline and sim -ply stand up and accuse them of being unwilling to "stand up for God." Is that true? The real argument another person told me should be what is actually meant by the first amend ment. According to this per son, this issue forces us to hold up a mirror to see images we don't want to see or deal with. An executive I talked with recently finds the con versation interesting. As he says, people recognize their creator in different ways and mandated prayer may not be inclusive. A 'person talks to his or her creator in many different ways not mandated by time, place or form. "Your creator is without question without politics," he went on to tell me. I agree with that assessment. So, what if we continue to proceed with prayer in the manner we have, primarily in the name of Jesus. Maybe years from now, as Journal columnist John Railey wrote recently (If commissioners win fight, they might not have a prayer), taking a look into the future, that another majority will be elected officials and the prayer of the day will reference Allah or another deity and Christians will not like the prayer and feel excluded. Other than the formality of prayer to start a meeting, does it govern what happens after a meeting begins? Judging by some meetings, how they are conducted, and the outcomes, prayer has no impact on the participants. Is it political posturing by some to support the issue for future political gain? A non profit executive raised that point in another conversa tion recently, as he consid ers the issue to be more than meets the eye. So, which side is right? Will we lose something by being inclusive or should we take a stand on what we believe whether the courts rule it unconstitutional or not? 1 wonder what side God is on as I take a moment of silence to pray. Nigel Alston is a radio talk-show host, columnist and motivational speaker. ?He is a member of the Winston-Salem State University Board of Trustees. Visit his Web site at www.motivationalmo ments.com. ,Cho-like killers shaped by American values Rev. Barbara Reynolds Guest Columnist The violent outbursts of Cho Seung Hui, the student madman who killed more than 30 of his classmates and wounded more than 30 others at Virginia Tech, may well be the result of the boomerang effect, which returns to the source what ever is sent outwards. In other words I think Frankenstein-like psy chopaths like Hui emerge from the values and symbols that shape America. When you look at the more than 3,000 U.S. sol diers killed in Iraq, the killing spree in Virginia, preceded by the hate speech of Don Imus aimed at killing the spirit of young black female students at Rutgers University, it is time to hold a mirror up to ourselves. Is our normal course of hypocritical acts coming back to haunt us? We say we want peace and a civil soci ety, but we pay our peace providers, such as day-care workers and teachers peanuts compared to mil lions paid to the hate-carri 6rs in the media and enter tainment world. We are obsessed with war, power, gun ownership and the con stant display of soft pornog raphy and gratuitous vio lence in the media, all of which are accepted as nor mal behavior. First of all, people - whether politicians, rappers, preachers who engage in vitriolic character assassina tions, gansta rap songs tar geting women for abuse, or shock jocks that comb soci ety to hold the powerless and helpless up for public ridicule are stoking the flames of violence. Witness the new sport of stomping and beating the homeless in some U.S. cities. Moreover, hate wrapped up in violence is part of the capitalistic system that begins a selling spree to our children at an early age. Once I happened Jo watch some of the cartoons my five-year old niece was watching. Some of the life like characters were blood ied and battered before being utterly destroyed. Moreover any parents who have monitored kid-level video games understand that death and destruction is a billion dollar kiddy entqj prise . . Equally devastating is the fact that the United States has lowered the bar on when killing is justifiable and acceptable. Right now we are engaged in a war that is killing both U.S. soldiers. Iraqi troops and civilians by the thousands for no justifi able reason except Iraq has oil. We need it. We take it because we have t^e billions to finance a war, the fire power to execute it and the lies to defend it. We make our points, even the freedom to choose a democratic form of government, with tanks, bombs and bullets. So following this nation al prescription, certain twisted individuals arm themselves to carryout their own twisted mandates of taking what they want and enforcing their will on oth ers even to the point of mass killings. Their craziness is empowered by a gun lobby that makes their weapons of mass destruction readily available to any nutcase with a buck. In the District of Columbia, the Republicans and the gun lobbies are. working to knock dovln.the ban on hand guns, in a city where black on-black homicide is already an outrageous scan dal. Before the month is out, the total of violent deaths in many cities in the United States will surpass the tragedy in Virginia. Another ingredient in this volatile stew is there are few systems in place that help people deal with their pain and anguish, according to Dr. Michelle Balamani. a psychotherapist in Largo, MD. "As a culture we have trouble acknowledging the pain and anguish people are trying to deal with. We expect them to stuff it. put it out of the way and move on. . "In schools we focus on the mind, not feelings," Balamani says. We must teach young and old how to do an emotional inventory, how to respond to hateful incidents without violence, or the use of alcohol and drugs. There are acceptable ways to deal with pain with out hateful thoughts that trigger a violent response. But we must invest in solu tions." Unfortunately as the Virginia Tech shootings show, even when there is undeniable proof that a per son is a "mental case," the individuals fall between the cracks of broken or non existent mental health sys tems. On campuses .there are few counselors or mental health services available and in urban areas both are rare indeed. The Virginia Tech shoot ings are a terrible tragedy; the likes of which we must all do our part to preVtnt. Now is the time to look within. We must examine our .own actions in our homes, what programs baby-sit our children, the hateful-name-calling on our public airwaves, the shoddy rationales for war and inva sion and the excusing of hateful gangsta rap lyrics. If what we truly want is a peaceful and civil society, then we must stop aiding and abetting so much vio lence and hate. If we choose not to change then we will contin ue to experience the Boomerang Effect. Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds, an author and ordained minister, is a radio talk show host oh XM satellite radio. .. Rep. Larry Womble NC House of Representatives 7 1 st District Tel (336) 784-9373 Fax (336) 784,1626 E-Mail: LWistm@aol.com Home Address 1 294 Salem Lake Road Winston-Salem, NC 27107 NEED a SITTER? owners Lisa Jenkins or Nicole Henry SalemSitters, LLC ' Providng loving care to your locaboo 336-659-7806 | www.satemsittefs@hotmail.ooni www.SalemSittefs.com Baby, House, Pet Sitting & Elder Care ^ Stewart Bail Bonding - * Selester Stewart, Jr. Office:(336) 727-0606 Pager: (866) 304-0973 Cell: (336) 399-2889 E-mail: selesterb@aol.com S. Wayne Patterson \tloriu'\ \( I .aw ?Immigration 'Social Security "Civil Rights ?EEOC Claims ?Non-Profit/501c(3) ?Employment Discrimination 235 Peachtree St. 8 West Third Street Suite 400 Suite 220 Atlanta. GA 30303 Winston-Salem. 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NC 27101 (JJO) /Ol-UZZZ The Choice for African-American News 617 N. Liberty Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 The Chronicle was established by Ernest Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974. and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co, Inc. The Chronicle is a proud member of National Newspapers Publishers Association ? North Carolina Press Association ? North Carolina Black Publishers Association ? Inland Press Association Contact Us flmSmkr: 336 / 722-8624 Fa: 336/723-9173 MSkMm ww*. H$chronicle,com [?miiikm: news@wschroniclexom Business Office 723S428, ext 100 Pauiette Lewis Business Office 723-&42S, ext /0/Andrea Moses Chron icleP Home Delivery Subscription Order o YES. Please send me The Chronicle , o 2 years: $40.95 o I year: $30.72 o 6 months: $20.48 phone City Slate Z,p O VISA o Mastercard o Anjerican Express 0 Check enclosed o Please bill me Expiration Date Signature Send to: The Chronicle. P.O. Bo* J636. Winston-Salem. NC 27102
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