General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I hate when people pray over their food aloud in public [View all]Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)Mathew 10:33
A great deal of what Fundamentalist do is not driven by either a desire to show off or a desire to witness - but is driven by plain simple guilt. Many if not most Fundamentalist who inappropriately display their religion are doing so because they would feel very guilty if they did not. They would feel that they failed a test of demonstrating that they truly, truly believe
Frank Schaeffer actually talks about that praying in restaurant head trip in one of his Calvin Becker novels - A semi-autobiographical trilogy about growing up the son of a famous Fundamentalist Protestant theologian.
Let me add as a disclaimer that this is not the only reason why people might pray before a meal in a restaurant - but it is one of the most common reasons. People do all kinds of things for all kinds of different reasons. One can never assume anyone else's motives - but when I came across the story not long ago in one of Rank Schaeffer's novel's and he explained it that way - it brought back memories of my own.