An atheist's invocation

[dougo]

The Tampa City Council allowed an atheist to give an invocation at their meeting in place of the usual prayer by a minister:

So rather than clasping your hands, bowing your heads and closing your eyes, open your arms to that which truly makes us strong -- our diversity. Raise your heads and open your eyes to recognize and fully understand the problems before you and know that ultimately, solutions to human problems can come only from human beings.

Amen.

Comments

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

I don't know... Rev. Martin Luther King had great impact for solving "human problems" and his religion only gave him more strength. Certainly religion doesn't help everyone, and not everyone should be religious, but I think largely the benefits outweigh the costs.

(I honestly don't try to be the dougo blog contrarian, honest. I'd likely agree with anything you had to say about AOP.) :-)

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Well, Martin Luther King Jr. probably also took showers, but you wouldn't say that taking showers gave him strength to solve human problems, since most people take showers but most people aren't very good at solving problems. Clearly, there was something different about King that gave him this strength, and it wasn't being religious, since most people are religious.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

It wasn't the showers, but it might have been the "compulsive sexual athleticism."

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Does sleeping around make you a greater leader? I'm willing to be a subject in an experiment designed to answer that question.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Not sure. But evidence indicates that being a great leader makes it easier to sleep around.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

What exactly do you think are the benefits and costs?

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

Well, the costs I imagine you could rattle off just as well. It's easy to hate faith when you see how people can and have manipulated it for their own gain. People manipulate almost anything. But don't you think there's something amazing in people, when they act upon their faith? It doesn't have to be any of the Abrahamic religions, there are so many different paths to faith, including ones that encompass atheism. Even great researchers know that attitude is important. The imense human electro-chemical-neural makeup requires our emotions, and our capacity to believe is one of the greatest tools to our success. Sure, there is baggage with religion, but our culture doesn't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.