The Exhibitionist

Trey Smith

In a post yesterday morning, A Lump of Clay, I mentioned that it irritates me to no end how fundamentalist Christians talk the talk, yet don't walk the walk. They spend inordinate amounts of time and energy demanding that others abide by principles that they, too often, ignore in their own lives. It's like a parent berating their child for smoking pot, while the parent stands before them tossing back their fourth martini of the night!

As I stated in the aforementioned post, this subject matter invoked my ire because a lot my wife's Facebook "friends" have been feeding a long rant about the supposed outlawing of prayer in the public sphere. In my mind's eye, their complaints aren't really about prayer at all; they are most upset that their ability to be religious exhibitionists has been curtailed somewhat.

I remember reading at some point that Jesus (you know, the bloke they worship?) told his followers that they shouldn't go into a bunch of histrionics to pray. What he seemed to be saying is to do it earnestly, not just for show! If a person earnestly wants to pray, then there is no law or cultural more that can stop you. All you have to do is the say the words in your heart and the imaginary man in the sky will hear you. Nothing could be more simple than that.

But fundamentalists want to be seen being "earnest." They want others to know how pious and self-righteous they are. They seem far more concerned about their standing amongst other believers than in genuinely communicating with their creator. And so, despite Jesus' protestations to the contrary, prayer has become all ABOUT public histrionics. A lot of these people spend MORE time complaining about a few public limitations on prayer than actually praying itself!

Like I've written before and will write again, no one can stop anyone else from praying. It is an activity a person can engage in every hour of every day. It doesn't matter where a person is or what other activities are going on. All you have to do is think the words and -- poof! -- you've prayed!

Miraculous, isn't it?

And if you think it's so damn important to do it out loud and in the company of fellow believers, do it in your church.  Isn't that what these palatial palaces are for anyway?