You are talking about Paul Wellstone's service. Keep in mind that the political comments were made by speakers who knew Wellstone very well, his son and Rick Kahn who was his campaign chair.
It was a particularly tender moment when they booed Trent Lott who was invited as Republican Senate Majority Leader, I believe.
I said nothing of the sort. The family "orchestrates" the service. If they are so dead-set against any Christian sentiment, they should have guarded against it for their own sake. Cut off the politicians. Say no to the TV execs. I never said that they were responsible for anyone's "feelings" beyond their own. My comment about attendees is that the service is for them also. The speakers make remarks about the deceased for all in attendance; that is why they are invited to attend.
Well you have different standards of hosting an event, or setting it up than I've ever seen before. You also have a different idea of who a memorial service is for than any I've ever seen or heard of. I guess there is no point in discussing this further with someone who's ideas about such things are so far removed from anything I've seen or heard of. You are approaching it from a concept that is completely alien to me.
I've helped host two. Neither of my parents were church-goers. I don't even know if they were Christians really. We had hymns and prayers and eulogies. Hundreds of people were at both. No one complained about the service. Most were moved by having been there. Maybe it is your POV that is out of whack, but keep trying to marginalize me.
Where does booing the Speaker of the House, who happened to be a member of the opposing party, fit in to all this noble politicking. It is commonly thought that the boorish behavior of the gathered Democrats contributed to their problems at election time. I hope his family didn't similarly regret turning control of the event over to outside forces. Did Wellstone have children? Did Tillman?
Should I smack myself in the face with a claw hammer or read the previous 5 pages? Can somebody summarize for me? Is there going to be a whiny "Prayer Request" in the future in the hangout to try to ingratiate back into good graces? Can I preemptively deny the request? SOmebody plz answer.
I'd go with the hammer. Save yourself the frustration of witnessing Heypartner's cognitive dissonance.
Perhaps you missed it in my earlier post but Wellstone's family didn't turn over anything to outside forces as his son was one of the speakers who made overt political comments. Now I didn't agree with many of Wellstone's positions and thought the service was over the top, it might've even cost Mondale the election, but it was certainly in line with Wellstone's views and his family's.
I saw your post. The fact that Wellstone's son spoke indicates only that his son spoke. Do you think the family approved of the booing of Trent Lott? Did Lott say something to deserve that or was it simply due to his being of the opposition party?
according to you, what does it matter? the memorial service is for those there, so they can do or say whatever they want, right?
Whether you know or not if they were Christian The Tillman family and anyone who was interested would know that Pat Tillman wasn't.
Also Wellstone's campaign manager as I noted and as I noted those where the two who made the most overt political statements. As far as booing Trent Lott from what I know of Wellstone's beliefs I don't think they were offended by it. (I didn't agree with it but I was neither invited to speak or in attendance.) Anyway people in the audience booing isn't completely on subject as we are talking about what speakers said and not audience. The speakers at Wellstone's service knew what is beliefs were and spoke to those beliefs unlike McCain and Shriver who didn't know Tillman's beliefs and apparently didn't bother to find out.
Why are you so desperate? Expressing a hopeful thought that the deceased is with God is NOTHING like booing one of the speakers at a memorial service. This criticism is becoming cartoonish. Of course not just anything goes but really...
... although Richard Tillman must have been listening to the speakers (audience) in order to criticize them. Did anyone else do such a thing? Was it just Richard? What about the rest of the family? Does anyone have a link to the full service? I'd like to watch it; I saw some of it live but just don't remember that much of it.
if you believe in the afterlife, sure. if you don't, it's highly offensive. i wish i could say i'm surprised you're not grasping this, but i'm not. i just can't decide if it's because you're stupid or you're just bored to death and trying to score some meaningless points against the cadre. leaning towards the perfect storm of both. do you believe that it would be offensive for an athiest to speak at a christian's funeral and say "while there is no afterlife, he showed us all how to live in this one"?
Saying something (afterlife/heaven) is nothing (no afterlife/atheism) is offensive where saying nothing is something is not offensive. For an atheist it just wouldn't register as truth. For a Christian it obliterates the eternity of their life. "You may not just be worm food" is very different from "You will have no eternal life." I grasp it; I just don't make the big deal out of it that you do. Why should an atheist take offense that someone thinks there is a place such as heaven and an earnest, hard-working, sacrificing person like Pat Tillman must surely be there. It is only a great testimony to that person's appreciation for Pat Tillman. Do you really think Pat Tillman would be offended by someone saying that surely there will/must be a place in heaven for you? Sure, he may not agree with it. He may even chuckle about it, but why would he be offended? There's nothing harsh about it.
"Speaker" and "audience" aren't the same thing. We are talking about the speakers who Richard Tillman was criticizing.
