A question about bowing one's head.

Watching the Medal of Honor ceremony - heavily laced with godtalk, of course. The fallen soldier was, apparently, a religious man - so I have no issue with offering prayers for HIM (I have never liked the 'blessings upon the nation' bit, but that's not the point here).

My question: They opened with a prayer and they closed with a prayer and everyone stood and bowed their heads. I've been in many situations where prayer is offered and I don't bow my head, ever - to me it's not a lot different than folding one's hands in prayer. I will stand, as a gesture of civility to those around me.

How do you all feel about the situation?

Both are pretty straightforward displays of submission, rather than respect.

Standing, sitting, or folding/holding hands? No problem. But given that the 3 major desert monotheistic religions require submission to an angry, jealous, dangerous god, I don't feel comfortable "playing along" with the required submissive gestures.

But, I suppose it depends on the situation. I'm not going to cause a stink at a funeral, for example. But neither will I kneel in a church simply because that's what one is "supposed" to do at that juncture.

While I think it is silly, I don't want to turn a funeral, for example, into a protest.

Unless someone much taller than you is standing directly behind you (i.e. over you), the only people who know you aren't bowing your head are the other people not bowing their head.

It's a fun game--the theists and faitheists bow their heads and the non-accommodationist atheists exchange awkward glances.

on the upside, we know who to migrate to for conversation!

...without the gawd babble.

I remember how the teachers struggled to re-teach us how to insert "under God" after I'd already learned the pledge as a first grader. That phrase stops the Pledge cold: One Nation. Under God. Conceived in Liberty. How much nicer it is in the original: "One nation conceived in liberty." That's what it's about. Not gawd.

my wife is atheis, but her whole family is baptist. (i was raised catholic)

the first family dinner with her family they did their prayer thing. they must have been tipped off or something because they all bowed their heads during the prayer, but then every last one of them opened their eyes and did a sidewards glance at me (i guess to see if i was complying :shrug:).

the funniest part about it is that they all did it during different intervals throughout the prayer, so no two people were scoping me out at the same time. if i didn't know better i'd have guessed it was rehearsed - or like watching little groundhogs peeping their heads up out of the ground.

i guess curiosity got the best of all of them.

i did not bow my head. i did not close my eyes. i did not play make believe with them. they all saw what i stood for, and no one has ever said shit about it since. i established the precedent of what is to be expected from me, and in a way i think they respect me more because i don't compromise my beliefs for others.

my two cents.

I will also stand for the national anthem and maybe for the pledge but I haven't recited the pledge since I was in high school and I haven't sung the anthem since the beginning of the Bush Crusades. Like prayer, if I don't feel it, I'm not going to go through the motions for someone else's benefit.

I've had people get bent out shape if they notice I don't recite the pledge but I've never had anyone even comment that I wasn't praying along with the group.

kneeling for me if I happen to be at some kind of religious ceremony.

Imagine how funny people would look if the submissive posture for humans were for them to lie down with their legs spread to expose their gut areas, like dogs do. Heavenly father, I submit to you. To demonstrate my humility and acceptance of you as my leader, I offer you my guts. Rip them out if it pleases you.

Bowing my head would at the very least be pretending to go along and I won't do that. I've tried pretending before and it doesn't work for me. So, I'll stand and that's it.

Although, like you, I will stand and remain silent to respect the object of the prayer. While the others are praying, I simply remember the departed with love.

who would stand through prayers at chapel...