Praying Is a Crime?

I found out this morning that the otherwise laid-back coffee shop I've been frequenting on Sunday mornings is a front for a "non-denominational" Christian group (talk about a contradiction in terms!). The owner of the shop is also the pastor for the Sunday afternoon services. I've always been curious about the process of combining religion with commerce, at least with businesses other than Christian book stores. Think of the mailing lists one could sell!

The woman who works the counter at this shop on Sundays is always blindingly cheerful. I had intially thought this was due more to effective employee training than a naturally friendly disposition (such is my cynical outlook on coffee shop employees), but when I overheard her on the phone giving information about the services I experienced a brief moment of prejudicial assessment: "Ah, she's friendly because she's a Christian."

Don't get me wrong. I've met plenty of unpleasant Christians in my day (most of them seem to sit in the front row of my classrooms, for some reason), but I was surprised by my brief inclination to give someone the benefit of the doubt (in this case, determining the rationale behind a sunny personality) based on my assumptions about their faith. I must look into this further. And maybe flog myself.

After overhearing this phone conversation, I started looking around the shop with more curiousity. On a rack of t-shirts that I had previously not given much attention was one of those baby blue midriff-exposing sized women's shirts with this slogan: "Praying Is Not a Crime".

I guess most people who frequent coffee shops would be familiar with the old adage about skateboarding, but seeing the same sentiments expressed toward the prayerful was something of a surprise. First of all, this coffee shop is in Utah (one of the few places, I'd warrant, where you would regularly hear someone order a decaf espresso, as I did this morning), an area not immediatlely recognized for its secularism (as opposed to, say, Las Vegas). Secondly, this country is currently being run (into the ground) by a president who's become fond of holding National Days of Prayer in the face of any emergency and who touts the benefits of Christian-based detox programs (or trading one unhealthy addiction for another) by throwing plenty of government funding at them.

My question, then, is: where is it in this state or nation that prayer is considered a crime anyway? This attitude of Christian prosecution among the Faithful is becoming rather obnoxious, particularly when it's compared with the many legal restrictions faced by, for example, skateboarders, or the general disregard given to, say, atheists, in times of national emergency (Where is our National Day of Remembrance?).

For unintentionally amusing Christian t-shirts, however, my local coffee shop has nothing on the slogan I saw on a non-midriff-exposing t-shirt I saw last February in an Ohio coffee shop which read "Jesus Is My Valentine" and sported a picture of the aforementioned love interest surrounded by a heart-shaped halo. (Where's Kurt Cobain when you need him?)

I'm sure there's lots of money to be made in the Christian clothing industry (calling all Wal-Marts!), but I hope those people who are tempted to reduce their personal beliefs to an easily digestible slogan remember that false claims of persecution are usually met with the kind of sneer only a skateboarder could love.

UPDATE: This coffee shop, I also found out today, also hosts an improv comedy group on Friday nights. I'm dying to know if this is a Christian improv comedy group and, if so, whether or not they pray for good crowds. More on this later, perhaps.