Category: BGSU

People oppose Christian prayer gathering at the day of prayer
Today is the National Day of Prayer. It’s a day set aside to turn to God in prayer. The modern day National Day of Prayer was established by an act of congress in 1952, although similar themed days in American government go back to the 1770s.

I came across an article in my former college’s newspaper this week talking about some division within the Bowling Green, Ohio community over this year’s day of prayer.

Bowling Green has an annual prayer gathering in front of the Wood County courthouse. This specific prayer gathering is organized by a privately funded Christian task force. The Christian task force (prepare to be shocked) keeps their prayer gathering as a Christian prayer meeting with Christian speakers.

This is the heart of the controversy because some think that it’s wrong that the event is excluding other faiths.

One of the wonderful things about our nation is the freedom to assemble and associate. Anyone of any other faith is welcome to setup a similar event for the day of prayer (or every day, for that matter). But a Christian group has every right to keep their event as a Christian event. The job of the privately funded task force is not to setup an event that equally represents all faiths.

Literally hundreds of thousands of churches meet in a similar fashion every week. They’re also not meeting to pray to the deities of other religions.

Part of the argument against this exclusively Christian prayer gathering is that it gets away from the heart of the meaning of the day of prayer. We can agree to disagree over that, but it doesn’t change that this specific group has decided to make their prayer service an exclusively Christian service.

I ask: would anyone take offense at Buddhists having a Buddhist only prayer service? Would there be objections to Jewish people having a Jewish prayer service? Absolutely anyone is welcome to attend this Christian prayer service so long as they understand that it is a Christian prayer service, and that involves praying to Jesus in the name of Jesus. And that’s the heart of the issue. The Christian task force isn’t interested in generic prayers.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!

Josh Benner has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has served churches in Minnesota and Illinois. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in St. Louis.
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May 2, 2019
The perspective tragedy gives on what really matters
It’s so easy to lose perspective. It’s so easy to complain out of habit, to get frustrated when things don’t go perfectly. We have our waiter make a mistake with an order and respond like they’ve committed some type of wartime atrocity.

We complain and we get bitter. I think it’s not because the things about which we complain are so important, but because complaining becomes our comfort zone. Instead of just being happy and finding joy in everyday life, we treat anger like a warm blanket and wrap ourselves in it. (more…)
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March 4, 2012
BGSU tragedy: shared grief I’ve observed from alumni
I was out to dinner with my family this evening. The conversation swirled around various topics, but I was mostly in a different world, thinking of the deaths of three young sorority sisters in Alpha Xi Delta and I struggled to muster up much of an appetite to eat my meal. At a couple points, for a brief moment, I thought that I might have a warm tear trickle down my cheek, but I was able to hold it in. Like a broken record, I continually find myself muttering “it’s so tragic, this is just so sad.”

For the current undergraduates at Bowling Green, I don’t think Greek life will ever look quite the same. An event this monumental can have a way of dividing time; there was time before the Alpha Xi Delta tragedy, but now the Greek community lives in a world after the tragedy.
(more…)
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March 3, 2012
Thoughts and mourning: Bowling Green tragedy
For Bowling Green Greeks and for the BG alumni still connected to the university, I feel that this morning’s tragic news of three sorority sisters dying in a car accident is Bowling Green’s “you remember where you were when” moment.

All day long, my Facebook has been full of fellow Falcon alumni and undergrads expressing their condolences. From talks I’ve had with friends today, it is evident that the sympathy is heartfelt. While it doesn’t mitigate the tragedy, the support and genuine concern from the BGSU community is inspiring.
(more…)
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March 2, 2012
The start of graduate school: a new chapter
I start graduate school this week. A little over three years ago, when I graduated from college, I always knew that I would be back. If you had asked me at the time, I probably wouldn’t have expected it to take three years. But things come up, and life never quite seems to go as we would have planned.

I’m very excited to be going to Trinity Evangelical Divinity (more…)
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January 8, 2012