Praying Improperly

AMONG THE PEOPLE at the local senior center, as elsewhere, there are the well and poorly educated, the intelligent and otherwise, the open and narrow minded, a synthesis, to borrow from Wallace Stevens, of hyacinths and biscuits. In the above dualities, I much prefer the former, and they much prefer me. the latter I avoid, and get along reasonably with only because of my effort to do so. When the lesser sort (to borrow from Madison) belatedly perceived that my pre lunch prayers never made explicit references to Christianity, and could in fact be applied to most forms of religion, some of them protested. The director and I agreed that henceforth I would abstain from my place in the prayer rotation. I would rather bow out than cater to the intolerant ignorant. My form of prayer is quite acceptable to anyone with intelligence. The less informed need to be reminded that the senior center, like the United States, is not a Christian entity, but rather, a secular civic one, in which a large majority of membership happens to be Christian. Anyone wo fails to understand this should read the constitution, study government, and remember that the senior center is supported by government funding. Anyone who after a moment's reflection fails to comprehend the folly of protesting my style of prayer wants enlightenment, to borrow from franklin. When throughout your life you are told by people of less intelligence and perception that you should change your religious beliefs in order to become a better person, you eventually los patience, sooner, rather than later in my case. You begin to resent the ignorant nonsense, the arrogance, the intolerance. you grow tiered of being insulted. Anyone engaging in an attempt to influence another person's religious beliefs need not deceive themselves that they are performing a noble function, with good intentions. They are displaying astonishing arrogance, and are noting but a bully. they are the ones who need to fundamentally change, not the ones whom they are trying to change.