The tl;dr is NOPE, but I'll post the whole of it here, and then break it down a bit.
Original Text
Hallelujah...Hallelujah
Everyone needs to read this.
CBS and Katie Couric must be in a panic and rushing to reassure everyone that this is not network policy--re Andy Rooney's commentary on prayer. Folks, this is the year that we RE-TAKE AMERICA!
Andy Rooney and his prayer:
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his Theory of Evolution.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire Book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking Him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game.
But it's a Christian prayer, some will argue.
Yes, and this is the United States of America, founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect -- somebody chanting Hare Krishna?
If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.
If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer.
If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.
And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit.
When in Rome ......
But what about the atheists? Is another argument.
What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of earplugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer!
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.
God, help us. And if that last sentence offends you, well, just sue me. The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we tell that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard that the vast majority doesn't care what they want. It is time that the majority rules! It's time we tell them, "You don't have to pray; you don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance; you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right; but by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back, and we WILL WIN!
God bless us one and all...Especially those who denounce Him. God bless America, despite all our faults, We are still the greatest nation of all. God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.
Let's make 2019/2020 the year the silent majority is heard, and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions. And our military forces come home from all the wars.
Keep looking up.
If you agree with this, please pass it on. Copy and paste! Amen!
Taking this at face value
First, I'd like to point out that Andy Rooney cannot possibly have penned this "prayer" recently (2019) as he has been dead since 2011. Katie Couric hasn't worked for CBS since 2011 as well, so I suppose that is consistency of a sort.
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. That's probably factually accurate. Rooney doesn't seem particularly litigious, and he said this in Sincerely, Andy Rooney:
We all ought to understand we're on our own. Believing in Santa Claus doesn't do kids any harm for a few years but it isn't smart for them to continue waiting all their lives for him to come down the chimney with something wonderful. Santa Claus and God are cousins.
Things are about to start going downhill on this, if you hadn't picked up on it.
I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his Theory of Evolution.
Rooney would have been in high school in the mid-1940s. It's possible that since the Scopes trial that human evolution would have been taught, but seems unlikely that it would have been featured as the unifying theory of biology that it is understood as today until a couple decades later.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire Book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking Him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game.
If the players, of their own volition, have a prayer at the beginning of a game, that's perfectly fine. The old adage "as long as there are tests, there will be prayer in school," is as true as ever. Nobody is saying the students cannot exercise their religion (within reason) any way they want in school or in extracurricular activities. Where the problems start is when faculty and staff lead prayers, or that a religious leader is brought in to lead a prayer.
More on that in a bit.
But it's a Christian prayer, some will argue.
Nope, irrelevant.
Yes, and this is the United States of America, founded on Christian principles.
That's quite a claim. While many of our founding fathers were deists and/or Christians, that does not make our country founded on Christian principles. Whole books have been written contesting this notion. Please tell me how having a celestial dictator who made a human sacrifice to himself as atonement for sinful creatures he made is the basis for the 3 branches of government with checks and balances between them.
According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect -- somebody chanting Hare Krishna?
Here's a fundamental principle that our founding fathers actually wrote, Thomas Jefferson:
All . . . will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect and to violate would be oppression.
Yes, if you're going to allow Christian prayers, be prepared to allow for all the others as well. Their voices deserve equal protection.
But what about the atheists? Is another argument.[sic]
Way to grammar, pal. Definitely not Rooney.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights.
Which rights are those? The wall of separation between church and state PROTECTS BOTH church AND state. Y'all like walls, right? You can pray as you wish, but you don't have the right to push it in anybody's face, nor do you have the right to have a school leader push their views on children. You NEVER had the right, it just took a while for that to be brought to your attention.
Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.
Again, nobody is stopping anybody from praying. Feel free.
The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we tell that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard that the vast majority doesn't care what they want.
Yeeeeeah, the majority is being oppressed...uh, what? You don't get to do the 200-1 comparison and then talk about having your rights stripped.
We are fighting back, and we WILL WIN!
Win what, exactly? You already have the majority in all levels of government. The majority of the constituency (for now). And it has been that way for generations. You complain because gay people want to get married, trans people need to take a shit, and you're talking about winning. Spare me.
Let's make 2019/2020 the year the silent majority is heard, and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions. And our military forces come home from all the wars.
If the god of the bible is the basis for our families and institutions, we have some serious problems to address. But yes, I'd love the troops to come home. Why are they fighting, what are they defending, and what led to their deployment in the first place? That's a discussion for another time.
Keep looking up. Are you sure Jack Horkheimer didn't write this?
Fact-checking
Even a second of research
would have brought up one of the many sites
showing
this
to be
bunk,
at least as far as it being attributed to Rooney. Even posts with the
same thing from 2009 would have popped up, which would lend credence due to
him being alive at the time.
Any other research on Rooney himself and his views would have yielded results like this:
I don't differentiate much, except in degree, between people who believe in religion from those who believe in astrology, magic or the supernatural.
Christians talk as though goodness was their idea but good behavior doesn't have any religious origin. Our prisons are filled with the devout.
I'd be more willing to accept religion, even if I didn't believe it, if I thought it made people nicer to each other but I don't think it does.
Rooney also attributed voters’ reliance on religion in the recent election to ignorance. “I am an atheist,” Rooney said. “I don’t understand religion at all. I’m sure I’ll offend a lot of people by saying this, but I think it’s all nonsense.”
Also:
Why am I an atheist? I ask you: Why is anybody not an atheist? Everyone starts out being an atheist. No one is born with belief in anything. Infants are atheists until they are indoctrinated. I resent anyone pushing their religion on me. I don't push my atheism on anybody else. Live and let live. Not many people practice that when it comes to religion.
Why?
You might think, dear Mother, that I'm being uncharitable. Surely we all make mistakes, having re-posted something with good conscience that was a bit inaccurate. But this is so fundamentally flawed that I thought it deserved attention. I was taught to believe little of what you see and none of what you hear. I grew up with a nice, heavy tome from which unbelievable tasks could be performed. I knew enough to know that the only way to know what is true in the world is to analyze it skeptically. I knew science wasn't about proving what is right, but also disproving what is wrong.
And then I took everything religious at face value. Christianity was true, and that was that.
I've grown quite skeptical as we now live in a post-truth society. It's troubling for me because I know what charlatans are waiting for you at the next revival. I know that you're a phone call away from a Nigerian / Indian scammer who will tell you some ridiculous story and wipe out your life savings. That even the "proper" religious institutions work in predatory ways to ensnare the downtrodden.
You fell for this article. Nothing caused you to pause and consider. Maybe it's "just Facebook" and isn't worth scrutiny. I can only hope you don't fall for worse.
Love,
Your other favorite son