My Invocation Compromise
I don't often agree with Larry DePuy but I thought he did a good job in his letter to the editor regarding invocations at city hall meetings. I especially liked the biblical reference he referred to: "...but Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a time to do things and a time not to.". That reflects what I've been thinking about this issue from the beginning.
I came up with a compromise in that regard. I'm not sure I've mentioned it here before.
How about we simply allow invocations just prior to the beginning of city hall meetings? Should the Mayor choose to hold an invocation he can list it on the meeting agenda but before the meeting begins. For example, if the meeting begins at 6pm, the agenda will show "Mayor's Invocation" from 5:45 to 6pm, with the actual business meeting starting at 6.
That way those that want to feel good about themselves by participating in the invocation can still do so. Those of us who don't want to participate don't have to and the city's business won't be interrupted by it.
I realize this likely won't satisfy Ms. Beaton(sp?) who filed the lawsuit, but that should satisfy most of us.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:24 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
What is missing in this whole prayer/gov't business deal is that atheism is also a religion, one held by the same blind faith as any fundamentalist Christian's belief in the Bible God.
Atheism doesn't not follow the Scientific Method of acquiring knowledge. Only agnosticism does that because agnostics, like scientists, are open-minded. Atheists have already made up their minds, and made them up on far too little a knowledge base for making absolute judgments about spiritual phenomena.
There is no rational reason not to believe in spiritual phenomena given the enormous amount of human attention to supposedly non-existence forces acting upon human lives. 40,000+ years of human beings focusing most of their social energy around not food production but religious rituals meant to placate invisible beings. Now science finds our human brains have evolved to process spiritual phenomena and that is something atheists have yet to address--how does a successfully evolving top species on the planet have brains evolved to match all that social energy going into dealing with invisible forces and entities. You don't get successful species behavior that is crazy, acting out behavioral responses inappropriate to conditions, so where does that fit into any atheist paradigm? It doesn't but that doesn't stop atheists from acting out their own inappropriate responses given brain science information available in our times. That's why atheism can only be held just like any fundamentalist religion--by blind faith in one's own group ideas rational or not.
Here's the other Fatal Flaw of atheism: the historical march of scientific knowledge progress, i.e what is known to humankind 200 years ago is greatly exceeded by what is known today and logic tells us this will continue on. Even in the Dark Ages in Europe, the Mediterranean region was bursting with new science from Islamic scholarship as human knowledge progresses through time. What is known today will be greatly exceeded in 3013, 5013, and so on. The movie Forbidden Planet already set the precedent not only for Star Trek but the idea of how through technological advancement a thinking species could acquire essentially all the abilities of God, i.e. the ability to create matter out of pure thought which is actually the old Gnostic Creation model as it was for Hindus as well. The point here being a case can be made now in our times for how with technology "God" could evolve out of advanced thinking species. So much for atheism as a rational idea when even SciFi scenarios debunk putting absolute NO Way on the idea God and humanity might well be completely intertwined in time and space. Praise the Lord and watch out for killer beavers..
It's not so important if you pray; or not, but whether God hears your prayer.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." Isaiah 59:1-2
Something to ponder.
"Henchman Of Justice" says,
How about people do their "praying" on their own dime whenever, but not during any government function.
Simple solutions work the best,
So says Satan,
HOJ
HOJ, do you have to post to every comment? You post your semi-vacuous thoughts multiple times per day and frankly, it's just gets tiresome seeing your comments posted to every single topic. You have your set of issues, we know them now by heart but otherwise, you just seem to need to post your opinion, again and again and again. Let others chime in.
"Henchman Of Justice" says,
Stephen, somebody must make some sense of it all and HOJ has yet to be told that people posting comments don't get to post comments for every postable topic.
Now, why are you (Stephen) really upset? HOJ has insights others are abdicating.
Oops,
HOJ
"Henchman Of Justice" says,
Separating this portion for Stephen so the idea could not get lost since Stephen must believe HOJ has supernatural powers in disallowing others from "chiming-in".
Stephen, HOJ is not a blog moderator or administrator. HOJ can't "not let" someone chime in.
See, a little bit of truth goes a long way.
Liars are worshippers too,
So says Satan,
HOJ
More of your blather, Hoj, looking more and more like just your need to see yourself in print I guess. Certainly your supposed insights are actually few and far between much nebulous verbiage. But I've said what I have to say and am not about to engage you for more verbiage production..
"Henchman Of Justice" says
Stephen deserves a candid response: blather is for the infatuated at heart to keep "checking-back-in for".
Anyhow, is it wrong for a back and forth conversation, all-of-a-sudden laying claims unfounded?
Hopefully, by the avitar picture, you are not offended religiously by the use of SATAN.
Holy Mother Mary of God,
HOJ
Post a Comment
<< Home