Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Super Moderator GeorgiaPeach's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    21,833

    Elderly Told Not to Pray Before Meals-

    If this has been posted, please excuse the repost.

    (quote)

    Elderly Told Not to Pray Before Meals

    10 MAY 2010

    It’s a common tradition among Christians to bow their heads and offer a prayer of thanksgiving over their meals. But that tradition has come to an end in Port Wentworth, GA. Senior citizens who eat their meals at the local senior center have been ordered to stop praying over the food. Instead, the elderly were told they could take part in a moment of silence.

    The meals are provided by a group called Senior Citizens, Inc. Officials said they are just following guidelines determined by the federal government.

    Tim Rutherford, a vice president of the organization, told WSB TV that since the meals are mostly funded by tax dollars, there’s a separation of church-state issue at play. “We can’t scoff at their rules,â€
    Matthew 19:26
    But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
    ____________________

    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)


  2. #2
    Super Moderator GeorgiaPeach's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    21,833
    (quote)

    Ga. Seniors Told They Can't Pray Before Meals

    Senior Citizens Told They Can't Pray Before Meals
    PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. -- Preston Blackwelder proudly showed off a painting of his grandmother that had hung next to the front door of his Port Wentworth home.

    She was the woman who led him to God, Blackwelder said Friday.

    And with that firm religious footing, Blackwelder said it would be preposterous to stop praying before meals at Port Wentworth's Ed Young Senior Citizens Center near Savannah because of a federal guideline.

    "She would say pray anyway," Blackwelder said of his grandmother. "She'd say don't listen."

    But Senior Citizens Inc. officials said Friday the meals they are contracted by the city to provide to Ed Young visitors are mostly covered with federal money, which ushers in the burden of separating church and state.

    On Thursday, the usual open prayer before meals at the center was traded in for a moment of silence.

    The dilemma is being hashed out by the Port Wentworth city attorney, said Mayor Glenn "Pig" Jones.

    Tim Rutherford, Senior Citizens Inc. vice president, said some of his staff recently visited the center and noticed people praying shortly before lunch was served. Rutherford said his company provides meals like baked chicken, steak tips and rice and salads at a cost of about $6 a plate. Seniors taking the meals pay 55 cents and federal money foots the rest of the bill, Rutherford said.

    "We can't scoff at their rules," he said of federal authorities. "It's a part of the operational guidelines."

    Rutherford said the moment of silence was introduced to protect that funding. He said although the change may have been misinterpreted, perhaps his company could have done a better job selling it.

    "It's interpreted that we're telling people that they can't pray, but we aren't saying that," he said. "We're asking them to pray to themselves. Have that moment of silence."

    Mayor Jones said he was outraged by the change and has promised to find a solution.

    "It was one of the hardest things I ever did as mayor is to look those people in the eyes and ask them to be patient with me and honor their God in a moment of silence until I can have a resolution to this," Jones said. "For me to look at their eyes and tell them they can't thank God for their food, it's unheard of - I can't take it."

    http://www.thefoxnation.com/culture/201 ... pray-meals

    complete article here:

    http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23495797/detail.html

    Revelation 3:20 (New International Version)
    It is written,... Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
    Matthew 19:26
    But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
    ____________________

    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)


  3. #3
    Senior Member MontereySherry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,370
    This is an outrage. I just lost my mother-inlaw and I know how important praying was to her. As people get older they lose so much of their freedoms the right to praying out loud is one freedom that they still have. I have seen seniors who are so invalid that you don't think they know what is going on raise their voice and speak when saying a prayer before eating.

    If this was done to anyone I know I would make a point of joining them for meals and joining hands and praying out loud.

  4. #4
    Super Moderator GeorgiaPeach's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    21,833
    To contact Senior Citizens Inc.,

    http://www.seniorcitizens-inc.org/contact-form.html

    http://www.seniorcitizens-inc.org/executive-staff.html

    Revelation 3:20 (New International Version)
    It is written,... Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
    Matthew 19:26
    But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
    ____________________

    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)


  5. #5
    Senior Member oldguy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    3,208
    Godless far left believe you should pray to government for what "they"
    give which in turn is our money in the first place
    I'm old with many opinions few solutions.

  6. #6
    ELVISNIXONdotCOM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Posts
    16

  7. #7
    Senior Member fedupinwaukegan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Waukegan, IL
    Posts
    6,134
    Prayers Answered: Seniors Can Pray Before Meals at Georgia Center

    FOXNews.com

    The Georgia senior center that barred its elderly citizens from praying before meals has changed its policy after inquiries from Fox News and other news organizations.

    Port Wentworth Mayor Glenn "Pig" Jones, second from left, and Eric Johnson, a Republican candidate for governor, center, met with senior citizens Monday at the Ed Young Senior Citizens Center.

    Their prayers have been answered. The Georgia senior center that barred elderly citizens from saying a communal prayer before meals has changed its policy after inquiries from FoxNews.com and other news organizations.

    Residents at the Ed Young Senior Citizens Center in Port Wentworth, Ga., were told last week that instead of participating in a prayer, they should observe a moment of silence before their federally-funded meal.

    Officials from Senior Citizens Inc., which operates the center, had said the meals they provide to visitors are mostly covered with federal money -- so saying a communal prayer before chowing down violated the First Amendment separation of church and state.

    "We can't scoff at their rules," Tim Rutherford, Senior Citizens Inc.'s vice president, told the Associated Press. "It's part of the operational guidelines."

    Rutherford, who did not respond to messages seeking comment on Monday, had said his company provides meals like baked chicken, steak tips and salads for roughly $6 a plate. Seniors who eat the meals pay 55 cents apiece, he said, with federal money footing the rest of the bill.

    He said the moment of silence was introduced at the center to protect that funding. He insisted anyone at the center could worship whomever and however they please, but the decision to have a moment of silence was more than Port Wentworth Mayor Glenn "Pig" Jones could stomach.

    "This country means a lot to me, but the part that I don't respect is it telling me I cannot pray over my meal," Jones said. "I can't accept and look them 65- and 70-year-olds in the eyes and tell them they cannot pray and bless their meals."

    Jones had hoped to meet on Tuesday with the city's attorney and officials from senior center to settle the controversy. But late Monday, officials from the senior center announced a policy reversal.

    “Senior Citizens, Inc. has always prided itself on the services it has been able to provide the seniors of the low country," it said in a statement. "Part of that service is an adherence to Federal and State regulations that have made funding possible so more seniors can be served.

    "Over our years of service, we have been instructed, as recently as two weeks ago, by the state regulatory agency that verbal prayer was not allowed at any senior center. We are so pleased to say that we have been contacted a few minutes ago by the new Director of Aging clarifying the regulation and reversing the position of new verbal prayer.

    "As an organization, we feel that spirituality is an important and necessary part of a full life and we are thankful that this interpretation of the regulation makes prayer possible in all of its forms.â€
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  8. #8
    Senior Member miguelina's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    9,253
    [quote]Tim Rutherford, a vice president of the organization, told WSB TV that since the meals are mostly funded by tax dollars, there’s a separation of church-state issue at play. “We can’t scoff at their rules,â€
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
    "

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •