what to trust

  I made a short Facebook posting about this but wanted to expound a bit. It concerns the lack, or absence of an Invocation or Benediction at my granddaughters graduation ceremony. I'm certain that isn't something new, it wasn't the first time those have been eliminated, it was just the first time I really took notice. I guess that says something about me as well. When I mentioned it to my wife she said I just think too much. That made me think a bit more, yeah, that's how that works, and here I am writing on the subject. Maybe she is correct and I am overthinking everything. Could be when you get older you just have more time to consider such things, something that was traditional. And yes, I would say an Invocation and Benediction were traditional things in American culture, America being a Christian nation. 

 As I mentioned I can't really say when that practice disappeared from the American landscape. When did that cultural shift take place? I expect some sociologist or anthropologist may have written a paper on that. Being an American and a Christian saying a prayer to God never struck me as anything unusual or as a cause of possible offense. My religious training taught me a simple fact, we all pray to the same God. How could it be otherwise when the lesson clearly states, there is only one God. Yes, Jewish folks prayed to the same God as Christian folks did, that God was the Father of Jesus and I didn't see any issue with that. Then you had all the other groups, denominations they are called, and the only thing different about them was in the way they conducted their services. Occasionally I would attend other churches with my friends to see how the "other" half live, as the saying goes. I have to say there were times when I found it amusing. I never found myself offended. I found I could tolerate just about anything for a short time anyway. Tolerance I learned had little to do with acceptance. I didn't adopt their practices, I just observed. I do remember in elementary school being told you didn't have to pray but you had to sit quietly while others did. I could be wrong but I think we did say a prayer following the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't know when that practice stopped either. 

 Now I am aware that all of that is just a cultural thing. Cultures change, evolve, and transform over time. America is a fairly young culture as far as that goes. What was once called the big melting pot has changed. Assimilation is no longer a priority. Immigrants used to come to America with the express purpose of becoming Americans. That, it would seem, is not the case anymore. A cultural shift is taking place. The issue is as Lincoln said, a house divided against itself. Today assimilation is being viewed as subjugation. The white race as oppressors! But is it really that? Or is it American culture itself that is being viewed in that manner? Certainly the removal of God from the American culture could be viewed in that fashion. That is being attacked on several fronts. You hear the talk of removing In God we Trust from our coinage, but I haven't heard of what is to replace that. If we don't trust in God, what do we trust? 

 I do think God is an integral part of American culture. God is certainly referenced more than once in our founding documents. God was separated from State. The reasoning was sound. The people would rule the land, the people would control the Government. God was to be their guide but God wasn't telling anyone where to go! And yes there were different denominations even then, different interpretations of the same text. We may not all agree on the meaning of that text but we all agreed upon the author! If we remove that altogether what do we have left? What is there in the absence of faith? If prayer is eliminated altogether from American culture what culture will develop in its' place? A culture without faith? From what wellspring will motivation flow then? We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator. And just who or what is that creator? God is the short answer. If we remove creator (God) from that sentence just who or what endows men? The government? 

 It may seem insignificant, the removal of an Invocation and Benediction, but I don't believe that. It is the removal of another cultural block, a block that is the foundation of American culture. In my Facebook posting I questioned whether that was an act of inclusion. In an effort to not offend, to be inclusive, are we just to remain silent? In a strange twist that is exactly what I was told all those many years ago. I didn't have to pray, I just had to sit quietly while those that wanted to pray did! A different America? No, it was the original, that's my opinion.