Curse vs praying

How come cursing is more tolerated in public than praying?

I remember when Rhett Butler spoke the line, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" in the movie classic, "Gone With The Wind." The audience went "Oooohhh." Back then, public prayer was a common thing and anybody that cursed in public was considered a lowlife. Most every event was opened with a prayer in that era. But in the mid sixties, public standards began to change.

The change brought about an attitude that being respectable, responsible and successful were unpopular. Drug use came in vogue. People actually cut holes in their clothes to keep from looking affluent, wore their hats backwards and their pants below the crack of their butt to do their best to look anti-establishment. Cursing became acceptable to the point that it is now common in both the streets and the media. Why?

Instead of identifying with the winners among us, it has become politically correct to identify with the losers. I am not a religious person but I believe that our society has lost the ability to think. How could any group believe that the most negative language is acceptable while words of inspiration are not, regardless of what you believe about religion.

It seems that when a few sheep start running toward the cliff, the rest of the herd just falls in line without considering where they're headed. But that is most often something well worth thinking about.

I agree with Rob, and...

I practice a religion that is not the prevalent religion in the US. In social settings, I usually feel trampled when not given the opportunity to bow out of public prayer at non-religious events... probably stemming from having Christianity forced on me as a child when it never resonated with me. (In my situation, "forced" really is the appropriate word.) I don't mind public prayer, I just don't want to be forced to participate in unexpected prayer due to my childhood issues. It's very easy to feel as if practitioners of one religion have freedom of religion, and the rest of us enjoy a little less than that. In court, I swear in on the Constitution, not the Bible. I don't say "under God" when I recite the Pledge. "In God We Trust" written on my money is a lie for me because I don't. I feel like others' rights trample over my own. I've heard many others who are outside of the American religious norm express the same views. I think there is more an more resistance to having a religion you don't practice being put upon you, no matter how "kindly."

I often pray no matter where I am, on a park bench or where ever. I don't mind doing it privately in public, and I think it's great when others do as well. I just have an issue when I don't have the option not to partake or listen. I think prayer/spirituality is personal, and we should have the right to decide when to express it, *and* when not. I don't force my religion or religious beliefs on others. I get miffed when others force theirs on me.

I'm not a fan of cursing. It grates my ears. It sounds harsh to me. I don't find it acceptable... but there are times when I think it's not offensive in context.

I guess it depends on the person...