It's me, Lord, Cornelius

Hi Lord,

It's me, Cornelius. They're at it again, those liberal heathens. We keep beating back their attacks on public prayer, but they keep coming. We desire to publicly proclaim our righteousness, and they continue to try squelching us. It seems they do not understand Your manner of speaking with tongue in cheek. For example, one of them suggested to me that You had spoken against public prayer when You said in Matthew 6 (I guess I don't really need to note Your words to You),

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

They seem to think that this is to speak against public proclamation of your glory and our righteousness. The heathens think You are actually suggesting that we pray privately. They do not understand that this is Your way of telling Your loyal followers not to be like the ... I mean, they don't understand that You're really commanding us to foist our prayers on others by ... umm, that You're reminding us that we're all Your children and that no place is public where God fearing people gather - yes, that's it. No place is really public in this Christian nation and that the heathens who have sneaked into one of our gatherings have no one to blame but themselves. That's what You're really saying. Isn't it? I may be confused here. Could you be a bit more clear in what you mean by this passage? Perhaps it's a mangled translation of Your holy words, is that it?

Awaiting Your more clear guidance,

Cornelius