Amen

My family attends races three times a week. Each race track has two invocations a day. One during the driver's meeting and one before the national anthem. I stand and bow my head, mutter "Amen" under my breath, and move on, never paying too much attention. I'm just being respectful.

But something irked me this weekend. At one of the tracks, the person leading the prayer asked that God please bless America, this good Christian nation. He placed emphasis on the last three words, saying them like each word made up a sentence. I heard it first during the driver's meeting. I wrote it off - oh, he's just being overzealous, he'll say something else, something more politically correct, when he's speaking to all in attendance.

Nope. Did it again. Same phrasing, same emphasis. It bothers me because this nation has no official religion. Legally. What if there were Jews at the race? Or Buddhists? Or Hindus? Or Muslims? Or, for that matter, a member of any established religion outside of Christianity? Do they feel excluded from the nation? I did. And I'm still figuring out what I believe. I'd be even more upset if I felt I belonged to a religion.

I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. This person doesn't usually offer the invocation, so he was probably nervous. It probably just slipped out, and he probably meant it with the best intentions. Blessings for the country aren't a bad thing and that's what it boils down to. It doesn't make what he said right, but I shouldn't be mad at him for saying it.

What would your reaction be if you heard someone saying that? I realize a lot of readers don't hear invocations that often, whereas in my life they're heard 2 times a day 3 days a week all summer, so the thought of an invocation is kind of strange itself. I'd like your opinion on that as well if you choose to offer it.