Rules for Mealtime Prayers.

[Gregg]

Yea this isn't really that funny to me because I have always been super uncomfortable when people pray around a meal I'm about to eat. Thankfully it's been years since I've found myself in this situation.

I hope you do not mind me asking this, if you are with people you like/love and it makes them feel good to pray, why would you care?

I have been honored to go to many weddings with a bunch that did not practice Christianity. It is a time for celebration not evangelizing.

[B-Fly]

Yea this isn't really that funny to me because I have always been super uncomfortable when people pray around a meal I'm about to eat. Thankfully it's been years since I've found myself in this situation.

It's so much less jarring as an atheist when it's sung in a language you don't really understand.

Baruch atah Adonai, Elohaynu melech ha'olam, ha-motzi le'chem min-ha'aretz.

[Gregg]

It's so much less jarring as an atheist when it's sung in a language you don't really understand.

Baruch atah Adonai, Elohaynu melech ha'olam, ha-motzi le'chem min-ha'aretz.

If it is before a meal in a Jewish household I say Amen!

[B-Fly]

If it is before a meal in a Jewish household I say Amen!

No, you have to sing "amen" in three syllables. Ah-ah-men.

[DMT]

I hope you do not mind me asking this, if you are with people you like/love and it makes them feel good to pray, why would you care?

I have been honored to go to many weddings with a bunch that did not practice Christianity. It is a time for celebration not evangelizing.

I have no problems with prayers during a festive occasion like a wedding.

Otherwise, it makes me uncomfortable because I find religion to be so ridiculous that I have no interest in being exposed to it in any form (on a personal level). Of course I have enough social intelligence not to make a big deal about it, but it's still an internal struggle. I also had to deal with four years of Catholic HS shoving it down my throat.

[TranaGreg]

I hope you do not mind me asking this, if you are with people you like/love and it makes them feel good to pray, why would you care?

I have been honored to go to many weddings with a bunch that did not practice Christianity. It is a time for celebration not evangelizing.

speaking only for myself of course - I have no problem with friends & family praying before a meal. However if they intentionally try to engage me in it - e.g. by grabbing my hand - the onus is now on me to declare my intentions or play along. That to me is disrespectful.

[B-Fly]

speaking only for myself of course - I have no problem with friends & family praying before a meal. However if they intentionally try to engage me in it - e.g. by grabbing my hand - the onus is now on me to declare my intentions or play along. That to me is disrespectful.

Yeah, honestly, I have no problem when the folks I'm with choose to pray/say grace, but I do get very uncomfortable if they try to grab my hands into a prayer circle of bowed heads, or if someone asks in front of the whole group, "Brian, would you like to say 'Grace'?", which has happened to me before. I've also been to plenty of church services for friends' sacraments, and will sit and stand with the congregation, which I view as respecting the community I'm visiting, but I won't kneel or vocalize the prayers, or participate in any call and response (which I mostly don't know anyway). And of course I won't go up for communion, which would be disrespectful/inappropriate.

[Fresno Bob]

next time someone grabs your hand to start praying, defend yourself with the charm of making!

[baldgriff]

next time someone grabs your hand to start praying, defend yourself with the charm of making!

Merlin was The Man!

[Steve 2.0]

I am sorry that they did that to you.

That said if you didn't pray then you were just holding hands with friends that wanted to include you.

Agreed. But, I still would have liked to have been asked. Or better yet, each of them that want do their own silent prayer over their meal.

[Steve 2.0]

And for a bunch of Baptists, they don't seem to remember this verse:

Matthew 6:5-6 New International Version (NIV)
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

[In the Corn]

And for a bunch of Baptists, they don't seem to remember this verse:

Matthew 6:5-6 New International Version (NIV)
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Steve, not knowing the situation and what the contents of the prayer were, this verse is referring to the Pharisees who were basically grandstanding in the prayers. "Look at me and how good I am. Thank you, that I am not like the dirty shepherd that just walked by me."

Our prayers are meant to be reverent. As Gregg mentioned earlier, a lot of times praying over food has become legalistic and empty. I think that was the biggest point of the video.

[Ken]

Agreed. But, I still would have liked to have been asked. Or better yet, each of them that want do their own silent prayer over their meal.

You left off the important hashtag.

#MeNoPrayToo

[heyelander]

True story. I was recently at a meeting at a restaurant. There were probably 10-15 of us around the table. All of a sudden, the two people on either side of me grab my hands and we're now having a public prayer over our meal in a public restaurant. Now, these are all friends of mine and one is a Baptist minister (who was giving the blessing) - it made me very uncomfortable. Frankly, if I had been thinking, I would have excused myself from the table. But, I'm also sure they would have just waited until I returned. My point is that it's aggravating when everyone just assumes that everyone at the table wants to participate in their religious rituals. And this is probably why I didn't find the video funny.

I was dating a lady back in the spring who considered herself to be a "recovering Catholic". I had never heard the term, so I looked it up and it seems that a "recovering Catholic" is someone who thinks their relationship with the Catholic Church was detrimental to them. I now consider myself a "recovering Baptist".

I hope you didn't eat that food

[Steve 2.0]

I hope you didn't eat that food

Hey, it was already sitting there. Drank my margarita in front of all my uptight friends as well. (2 others drank) One of my best friend's wife said "Well! If Steve is going to drink, I'm going to drink!" Not sure what she was saying!