Thank Mayor Bloomberg for Keeping NYC’s 9/11 Memorial Service Secular

by betterdaze 8 Replies latest social current

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  betterdaze

  On Sept. 11, 2011, New York City will mark the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks with a memorial service at Ground Zero featuring guests such as President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, staying with his tradition of keeping annual 9/11 ceremonies secular in nature, has announced that the service will not include clergy.
  
  Bloomberg’s decision has drawn heavy criticism from various religious groups and leaders who maintain their religious beliefs should be featured at the ceremony. The Center for Inquiry (CFI) firmly believes that any official remembrance of the 9/11 attacks should represent all American citizens, regardless of their religious beliefs, or lack thereof. In other words, it should be a secular ceremony, as Mayor Bloomberg has decided. CFI urges its members, as strong advocates for the separation of church and state, to show their support for Bloomberg’s decision by contacting the mayor in any of the following ways:
  
  Mail:

  The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
  Mayor of New York City
  City Hall
  New York, NY 10007

  Web:
  
  Contact form

  Phone: 311 (or 212-639-9675 outside NYC)
  Fax: 212-312-0700
  
  
  * * *
  
  The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.
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  pubtruth

  This is how it should be done anywhere and always.
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  Band on the Run

  I plan to attend services in Manhattan this Sunday. Churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. will be open. I was so excited to attend my first large ecunmenical service in NY at the Anglican Cathedral. I sat through endless mainstream prayers, Jewish prayers, Hindu prayers, Buddhist prayers, Taoist prayers, and Shinto prayers. It was very entertaining for the first half hour.

  It helps that Bloomberg is Jewish. He has a sensitivity over minority religion exclusion that a Christian would not feel so keenly. Let me point out that the Supreme Court is erasing separation of church and state to an alarming degree.

  All those ministers are operators, jockeying to be on national TV.
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  Band on the Run

  I plan to attend services in Manhattan this Sunday. Churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. will be open. I was so excited to attend my first large ecunmenical service in NY at the Anglican Cathedral. I sat through endless mainstream prayers, Jewish prayers, Hindu prayers, Buddhist prayers, Taoist prayers, and Shinto prayers. It was very entertaining for the first half hour.

  It helps that Bloomberg is Jewish. He has a sensitivity over minority religion exclusion that a Christian would not feel so keenly. Let me point out that the Supreme Court is erasing separation of church and state to an alarming degree.

  All those ministers are operators, jockeying to be on national TV.
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  MrFreeze

  Speaking of religion being involved with the memorial... the WBC will be there protesting the memorial. I would not be surprised if they are attacked.
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  Wasanelder Once

  Let's face it the WBC are the only "TRUE CHRISTiANS". If they say it it must be so. JW's can't be the only ones who hate everyone who isn't in their club.
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  Band on the Run

  I once was a student radical. The NYPD is so professional and paramilitary that I felt safest in NY. They don't go berserk at provocation. There was a police riot in my neighborhood. Some squatters had seized a park for a tent city. All these NYU film students recorded the police riot with very good closeups of faces and black duct tape over badges. The afternoon of the riot I had a very bad encounter with the lead sergeant.

  A high ranking police officer explained to me that you want police offers straight out of the military, particularly those who served in combat duty. So who knows whom they have recruited now.
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  Mad Sweeney

  Thanks for the information and the link. I send Mayor Bloomberg my thanks.
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  designs

  Bloomberg chose wisely. I attended a Mayor's Prayer Breakfast that was confiscated by the local Evangelical pastors and turned into Show Boat time, awful.