Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1957

Should an Atheist Eagle Scout Feel Bad if He Had to Lie to Get the Honor?

Joseph, a young man who vlogs as Analytical Atheist, recently became an Eagle Scout — no small feat, regardless of what you think about the Boy Scouts of America.

But should he feel guilty that he had to lie about his “reverence” in order to obtain the honor?

That’s what he asks in this video:

I know a lot of readers are Eagle Scouts, too. What advice would you give Joseph?

Pastor Rick Joyner: Evolution is Impossible because I’ve Never Seen Species Change

Over the weekend, MorningStar Ministries director Rick Joyner offered rock solid proof that evolution is impossible:

… There’s a development within species, but we do not have a single example anywhere, in all of history, of species change. Not one!… You can mix a donkey and a horse and get a mule, but mules cannot reproduce. They can only reproduce after their own kind. We have no species change.

Why would a whole theory, everything taught in our schools, be based on something that is so outrageously not only ridiculous, it’s impossible?

Not one example? How about… all of them? We all have ancient ancestors who’d be considered different species from us. Want them within one human generation? Experiments have shown it happening. Want more evidence? There’s fossils and DNA… but those never seem to matter to Creationists.

Evolution takes time. You’re not going to see humans evolve into another species over the course of your lifetime. It’s a relatively slow process that only takes shape when you consider the long arc of natural history.

(By the way, it’s rare, but mules have given birth before.)

I’m not surprised by any of this. And Joyner, of course, fails to see the irony of lamenting the teaching of impossible theories that have no basis in evidence… while worshiping a guy who performed anecdotal miracles and was born of a virgin mother.

(via Right Wing Watch)

63 Texas Republicans Put It In Writing: Marriage Equality “Could Lead to the Recognition of” Pedophilia & Incest

Last Monday, Texas Republicans proved once again that they have little grasp of reality when it comes to the consequences of marriage equality.

Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage was struck down in February, but U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia suspended the decision pending an appeal from the state. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has pledged to reinstate the ban, and 63 Republican lawmakers who are part of the Texas Conservative Coalition want to show their support.

So they did — by signing an amicus brief asserting that marriage equality could lead to pedophilia, incest and polygamy.

“The district court broadened the definition of the ‘existing right to marry’ as one that includes the right of people to ‘select the partners of their choosing’ for marriage, without regard to sex,” the brief contends. “If the right to select ‘partners of their choosing’ is the criterion used to invoke marriage as a fundamental right, then marriage restrictions on age, polygamy, and consanguinity are also ripe for challenge.”

“Another ground cited by supporters of Texas’s marriage laws and subsequently dismissed by the district court is that recognition of same-sex marriage ‘could lead to the recognition of bigamy, incest, pedophilia, and group marriage,’” the brief continued. “As already discussed in this brief, restrictions on marriage relating to these moral considerations remain valid. Thus, the goal of actively trying to prevent those practices from becoming valid is entirely rational public policy.”

Signatories include the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, the House Speaker Pro Tempore and the Republican nominee for attorney general. (See the full list of names here.)

The brief does include the mandatory suggestion that maybe marriage equality won’t cause all these other evils, but it still asserts pretty clearly that this is Republicans’ biggest fear.

While the Republican lawmakers concede that “recognition of pedophilia or other morally reprehensible actions” may not actually be the “logical next step” following marriage equality, they maintain that legislators enacted Texas’ marriage laws “with the intention of supporting marriage arrangements that they believe support valid goals related to those concerns.”

In the meantime, Texas has the fifth highest rate of income inequality of the 50 states, far-below-average high school graduation rates, and one of the lowest percentages of people with health insurance in the country.

Yet this is the moral atrocity that Texas politicians think they need to formally comment on. Something doesn’t add up.

Radical Christian Goes Undercover at Vancouver Pride to Distribute “Gospel Condoms”

Last weekend at Vancouver Pride, guests who thought they were chatting with a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster were gravely disappointed.

Vancouver resident Bill Whatcott is a conservative Christian who feels so strongly about gays in society, he makes it a point to regularly attend Pride celebrations. Not as a protester in the fenced-off “free speech” section, though; he goes undercover to interact with people one-on-one and pretends to be on their side.

Months in advance, Whatcott registered for the Pride parade under a fake name. He claimed to be Matthew Davidson, a member of the Calgary Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (a fictional branch of a real Humanist organization) and set up a fake phone number and website for the application. Pride officials say they didn’t catch the fake registration because folks from FSM had participated in Pride before.

According to Ray Lam, general manager of Vancouver Pride Society:

“They pulled a very well-orchestrated con, and that’s how I look at it in my books… They were very friendly people and hugged parade marshals and volunteers and seemed very excited to be there posing for pictures with people along the way. On the surface, if you didn’t see the package or associate the package with this entry, you wouldn’t be able to identify which organization did it just by how they were acting in the parade.” …

“When the application came in, a lot of our team members were excited because we were familiar with the organization,” Lam says. “They have a reputation for being fun and animated, and we were very excited to have them — and then this happened.”

Once he got into Pride, Whatcott and four of his conservative Christian supporters actually marched in the parade with a FSM flag. They danced and waved and took pictures with other Pridegoers as if they belonged.

Then, they handed out hateful anti-LGBT leaflets disgusted as condoms.

“I want homosexuals to turn to Jesus and I believe that people can leave that lifestyle behind,” Whatcott says. “I made this Pride parade way more diverse. It’s not all leather men and naked dudes. Now it includes Christian people with diverse messages on homosexuality. True diversity.”

In the “gospel condom” that he distributed to parade-goers, Whatcott claims that everyone is “anatomically heterosexual” and that gay people “suffer grievously because of their sin.”

This isn’t the first time Whatcott has pulled a stunt like this. Last year, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously found him guilty of distributing anti-LGBT hate speech. He’s attended Pride celebrations in Alberta and Saskatchewan without hiding his identity, and not surprisingly, those went poorly for him.

Whatcott says that his participation in the parade was part of a larger battle and that deception was necessary to get his message across. “The Supreme Court found me guilty of hate speech and I have been breaking that ruling ever since, and this is part of it,” he explains. “I’m still out there. I’m loud and not ashamed of my moral and theological protest. This is spiritual warfare. This is a war against the Supreme Court of Canada and the homosexual agenda. Using deception to get there is okay as long as it’s not malicious.”

Weirdly enough, it seems Whatcott had the time of his life at Vancouver Pride. He says people were warm and kind — albeit, they had no idea he was a bigot who had invented a false identity in order to spread hate speech.

“Vancouver Pride loved me 100 percent, and it was positive from beginning to end,” he says. “I really liked all the hugs and the hands reaching out to get my gospel condoms. I really liked getting thumbs-up from traffic cops, and I liked the transvestites and lesbians reading my ditty about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. They had no idea that it was written by Bill Whatcott!”

This is so much worse — and way creepier — than the token handful of protesters with “REPENT” signs who somehow show up at Pride every year. To know that someone would pretend to be a part of a reputable, kindhearted organization in order to spread its exact opposite message is cringeworthy.

There’s not much VPS could have done to keep this guy out, but lest he inspire copycats at other parades, I hope we’re all a little more careful in the years to come.

***Update***: Church of the FSM Prophet Bobby Henderson is aware of the issue and issued this brief statement:

I find it all very sad, and while I hope no one actually believed this douche represents the Church of the FSM, I wonder if there’s anything that can be done to keep him from using our name and symbols in the future.

***Update 2***: Jakob Liljenwall, the Executive Director of the BC Humanist Association issued his own statement to Whatcott’s followers:

All of the smiles and outstretched hands that you saw as you marched were genuine, and offered in good faith. If you choose to abandon the path of bigotry, that welcoming spirit still waits for you. You will find yourself in the company of people who have conquered homophobia many times over. Amazing as it may seem, you will actually find yourself spending less time talking about homosexuality. And I’m not suggesting you abandon your faith either; there are thousands of LGBT+ people of faith in this country who can help you relate to your savior in a way that doesn’t involve defaming people for victimless “crimes.”

I suspect that you can see the contrast between Mr. Whatcott’s lies of commission (some might say bearing of false witness) and the enthusiasm and joy with which parade-goers responded. I suggest you leave the man to his own financial and theological ruin, and join the rest of us in the post-Levitical world. Your lives can still be salvaged. As for Bill? Verily I say to you: He already has his reward.

Acts 29 Network Drops Pastor Mark Driscoll (and Mars Hill Church) for “Ungodly and Disqualifying Behavior”

The Acts 29 church network, founded by Mark Driscoll (below) and David Nicholas in 1998, announced this morning that they are removing Driscoll and his church Mars Hill from their network and affiliations.

The statement reads:

It is with deep sorrow that the Acts 29 Network announces its decision to remove Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church from membership in the network. Mark and the Elders of Mars Hill have been informed of the decision, along with the reasons for removal. It is our conviction that the nature of the accusations against Mark, most of which have been confirmed by him, make it untenable and unhelpful to keep Mark and Mars Hill in our network. In taking this action, our prayer is that it will encourage the leadership of Mars Hill to respond in a distinctive and godly manner so that the name of Christ will not continue to be dishonored.

The Board of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network

Now, Acts 29 as an organization and network is problematic in ways similar to Mark Driscoll — they, too, have similar issues of dude-bro culture and pastors who use intimidation and bullying to impress and manage their congregations, and this is well documented by spiritual abuse watchdog bloggers. But this step is a big shift, and an interesting one.

Warren Throckmorton rightly observes that Acts 29 and Mark Driscoll haven’t necessarily had a rosy recent history, saying:

In 2005, when Driscoll headed the group, charges were filed against him by Ron Wheeler. Wheeler planted the first Acts 29 Network church in Mt. Vernon, WA and was an early protege of Driscoll’s. However, Wheeler later became disillusioned with his former mentor and asked Acts 29 to discipline Driscoll. Yesterday, Wheeler posted a lengthy open letter to Driscoll asking him to resign based on his experience with the Mars Hill pastor.

This is further seen in the full text of the letter sent to Driscoll by the Acts 29 board (from Throckmorton as well):

Mark,

As the Board of Acts 29, we are grateful to God for the leadership, courage, and generosity of both you and Mars Hill in not only founding the network but also sustaining it through the transition to this board three years ago. The very act of giving away your authority over the network was one of humility and grace, and for that we are grateful.

Over the past three years, our board and network have been the recipients of countless shots and dozens of fires directly linked to you and what we consider ungodly and disqualifying behavior. We have both publicly and internally tried to support and give you the benefit of the doubt, even when multiple pastors in our network confirmed this behavior.

In response, we leaned on the Mars Hill Board of Advisors & Accountability to take the lead in dealing with this matter. But we no longer believe the BoAA is able to execute the plan of reconciliation originally laid out. Ample time has been given for repentance, change, and restitution, with none forthcoming. We now have to take another course of action.

Based on the totality of the circumstances, we are now asking you to please step down from ministry for an extended time and seek help. Consequently, we also feel that we have no alternative but to remove you and Mars Hill from membership in Acts 29. Because you are the founder of Acts 29 and a member, we are naturally associated with you and feel that this association discredits the network and is a major distraction.

We tell you this out of love for you, Mars Hill, Acts 29, and most significantly, the cause of Christ, and we would be irresponsible and deeply unloving not to do so in a clear and unequivocal manner. Again, we want you to know that we are eternally thankful for what you as a man and Mars Hill as a church have meant to our network. However, that cannot dissuade us from action. Instead, it gives added significance and importance to our decision. We hope and pray that you see this decision as the action of men who love you deeply and want you to walk in the light—for your good, the good of your family, and the honor of your Savior.

Shortly after sending this, we will be informing the members of Acts 29, your Board of Advisors and Accountability, and your elders, as well as putting out a public statement on the Acts 29 website. It brings us no joy to move forward in this direction, and we trust that the Lord will be at work in all of this.

In sorrow and with hope,

The Board of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network

Matt Chandler
Darrin Patrick
Steve Timmis
Eric Mason
John Bryson
Bruce Wesley
Leonce Crump

Here’s what I find fascinating: when similar situations arose in Sovereign Grace Ministries with CJ Mahaney, the organization he founded (and other leaders in the New Calvinist movement) instead circled the wagons around him and supported him unquestioningly. His church, however, removed him from leadership and disaffiliated from SGM in the space of about a year.

I’m not sure if we can say that Acts 29 is learning from the mistakes of SGM, but I will note that the support voiced for CJ during his “scandal” by other neo-reformed thought leaders is surprisingly absent in the situation with Driscoll.

Now the question remains: Will Mars Hill support their abusive pastor in his power trip, or will they remove him from leadership, as they should? I give it six months before we have a clear answer.

It Doesn’t Matter What Percentage of Americans Are Gay

How many people in the United States are gay?

Depending on who you ask, a lot of people may say the answer doesn’t matter; that rights should be afforded to people on the very basis that they are rights, regardless of how many people they impact.

Some conservative Christians would disagree. That’s why Michael Brown, a writer for the Christian website Charisma, is both delighted and outraged by a recent study that suggests fewer Americans are LGBT than we may assume.

The number we toss around colloquially is that about 10% of the population identifies as LGBT. In 2013, the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) asked for participants to identify their sexual orientation, and only 1.6% of adults self-identified as gay or lesbian, and 0.7% as bisexual. Very limited information is available about the number of trans-identified Americans because few to no surveys ask about gender identity.

According to Brown, this means we should abandon the LGBT equality cause altogether, because who cares what happens to 2% of the population?

Even though gay activists knew the figure was inflated, they used it as a convenient lie, since, as two leading gay strategists noted in the late 1980s, “there is strength in numbers.” (For details, go here.) As expressed by a gay leader a few days ago, “The truth is, numbers matter, and political influence matters.”

In other words, if Americans realized that less than 2 percent of the population was gay rather 10 percent (let alone 25 percent), they would have a very different view of “gay rights.”

Is he right that fewer LGBT people could mean fewer allies working toward equality for LGBT people? Maybe, again depending on who you ask. Personally, I’d say no; if your brother is gay, you (presumably) want the best for him, even if nobody else in the world shares his experience. Yes, there is strength in numbers, but there’s even greater strength in stories. Those are doled out one by one.

Still, Brown’s feelings are hurt because the mean gays apparently lied to him:

The truth is that America has been lied to and duped, and gay activists have been complicit in the deception, if not actively leading the way in the ruse. With the new survey out, it’s time to expose the lies.

But nobody’s lying to anybody. These stats are not new — and there’s a good chance they’re not accurate. The survey results were released last month, and LGBT leaders have already responded (mostly with disappointment). Another survey released around the same time found 3.5% of respondents identifying as LGB.

Both estimates are probably wrong; it doesn’t take a degree in social science to figure out that LGBT people are likely to lie on official surveys like this one in fear of retaliation, losing their job or home, or any other number of consequences that could come from being outed. To many LGBT folks, the risks of checking that box far outweigh the contribution to accurate population estimates.

Even though all this information has long been front and center, Brown believes the *gay left* is deliberately hiding these stats to “dupe” Christians into thinking that everyone is gay.

Back in 2003, in their official brief in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court decision, a major coalition of 31 gay and pro-gay organizations used the figures of 2.8 percent of the male population and 1.4 percent of the female population as identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

This means that these activist organizations were fully aware that the 10 percent figure was completely bogus and yet they never protested when that figure was used to advance their cause. Why expose such a useful lie?

Uhh… isn’t citing a population estimate in an official legal brief pretty much the epitome of “exposing” that information? I think this man is a little confused.

Even if the percentage of LGBT individuals is lower than many people thought, it still stands to reason that everyone is deserving of equal marriage rights, protection from workplace discrimination, and the host of other rights LGBT people are fighting for.

Brown posits that the American public has been strategically brainwashed to believe that a higher proportion of us are gay. But let’s think about that claim for a second.

When you ask a person how many people in the world are LGBT, she isn’t wracking her brain trying to remember the details of the latest study on the topic. She’s making a conjecture based on personal experience, thinking about how many LGBT people she knows and sees in the real world. That’s why so many of us are wary of these estimates; they just don’t add up to what we have experienced in real life. Even those of us who don’t tread mostly in queer circles can honestly say that more than 1/25 of our acquaintances are LGBT.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say the CDC figures are accurate and that no survey-takers were afraid to be honest, that everyone understood the terms of the survey, and that as a result every gay American has been counted. Hooray! In that case, 2% of the population still amounts to around 6,300,000 people, hardly a figure worth throwing under the bus.

And if the LGBT population is so minuscule, why is the Religious Right so threatened by us?

Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Like most anti-gay Christians, Brown wouldn’t dare suggest we actively persecute LGBT folks. He just doesn’t mind if that’s what happens.

To be sure, it is wrong to bully or oppress or mistreat anyone based on gender or ethnicity or romantic attractions, so that is not the question. And whether gays are 1 percent of the population or 90 percent, they should not be mistreated.

But you don’t overhaul the legal system to the point of attacking freedoms of speech, conscience, and religion based on the sexual and romantic desires of a tiny percentage of the population, nor do you engage in a massive social experiment, like redefining marriage, because of a statistically tiny group of people.

I don’t understand why these writers insist on including a lukewarm lie suggesting that LGBT people shouldn’t be harassed into silence, when that’s exactly what they’re advocating for. Maybe it relieves some cognitive dissonance they feel about blatantly ignoring that whole “love thy neighbor” thing, but it doesn’t convince readers like us, who see right through the bland sentiment. Beats me.

Embracing marriage equality isn’t “redefining marriage”; it’s improving it. Implementing workplace protections isn’t attacking free speech; it’s upholding it. And we don’t fight for these things because the number of LGBT people in the country has hit a certain threshold deserving of equal treatment. We fight for them because they’re right, whether the LGBT population is six million or six.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Pentagon Approves Bibles at Recruiting Stations. Time for Atheists, Satanists, and Pagans to Donate Literature!

The other day, I posted about a strange giveaway at the U.S. General Services Administration in St. Louis, Missouri. If you went there to sign up to join the National Guard, you would also get a camouflage-covered copy of the New Testament (provided by Gideons International).

According to a letter from the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center, that was coercion and needed to stop:

Our client arrived in St. Louis on Thursday and took his Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test. He stayed overnight in a hotel and woke up early the next morning to fill out paperwork and be administered his medical briefing. He took a Breathalyzer test, a vision test, hearing test, urine test, and blood test, followed by fingerprinting and more paperwork. After the testing, he sat in the waiting room in which the Bibles were distributed for about an hour. He observed a fellow recruit take a Bible. Military personnel were present at all times.

Now, Military.com is reporting that the Pentagon is perfectly fine with the Bible giveaways. Which means the door is open for other religious (and presumably non-religious) texts to also be distributed:

The Pentagon says the commander of a St. Louis recruiting station may allow groups to make available to recruits copies of the New Testament Bible — or the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita or any other religious text.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen told Military.com that the Bibles kept at the Military Entrance Processing Station and offered to recruits are covered by existing regulation. But so would be the holy books of Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and any other faith, he said.

“A commander who accommodates one [faith group] must be prepared to do the same for other, similar [groups],” Christensen said. “Should the presence of any provided material adversely impact the accomplishment of the mission, the commander has the discretion to remove all literature that threatens good order and discipline.”

Time to call their bluff.

What’s going to happen when copies of the Koran are donated to the recruiting centers? What about non-theistic tracts? I’m sure the Satanic Temple has literature, too.

Already, the “open forum” seems tenuous. Someone from the AHA tried to visit the St. Louis center yesterday just to check out the building (and the Bible display), only to be denied entry:

When someone representing the AHA went to the Spruce Street, St. Louis, building to check out the Bible display and distribution, he said, the person wasn’t allowed entry.

“One can’t help but be suspicious that there is some religious favoritism going on here,” [AHA Legal Director David] Niose said. “The Christian religion and Christian Bible are allowed quite easily, but if we try to get an atheist book up there, are we going to have a tough time doing so?”

I hope the AHA tries to find out.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Despite Approving “In God We Trust” Plaque, Mobile County Commission Ignores Similar Requests by Atheists & Pagans

Yesterday, a group of Pagans, universalists, and atheists went to the Mobile County Commission (in Alabama) to request they put up displays reading things like “In Reason We Trust.” It was in response to a recent vote to put “In God We Trust” on a plaque in the city’s Administration Building.

So

Christian-themed Park in Sioux City Now Getting $165,000 Boost from Iowan Taxpayers

Back in May, we learned that Shepherd’s Garden, a Christian-themed park being built in Sioux City, Iowa, was set to receive a $140,000 grant from the taxpayer-funded “Vision Iowa” program:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent the Vision Iowa group a letter detailing the constitutional violations that taxpayers would be on the hook for if the courts ruled against them:

… Shepherd’s Garden is of course free to construct their Christian green space, but the government cannot support it. This is one of the most egregious grants for a religious purpose FFRF has encountered. Vision Iowa and the Iowa Economic Development Authority must rescind the grant to comply with the Constitution.

Upon receiving that letter, the Vision Iowa board of directors said they would meet to review their options.

In the interim, there were some absolutely crazy ideas floating around, like the government official who said the tax money would only pay for the non-Christian parts of the garden.

Tina Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Iowa Economic Development Authority, which oversees Vision Iowa, said Friday the board is aware of the complaint and is conferring with legal counsel. A contract for the award has not been completed or signed.

Hoffman and Garry Smith, chief fundraiser for The Shepherd’s Garden, have said the grant would pay only for green space at the park and not for any of the Christian features.

That… made no sense. Reader Brian said it perfectly in the comments section at the Sioux City Journal:

Hey, using that ‘logic’, the government can use public tax money to pay for the “non-Christian” parts of a church, like the floor, walls, roof, etc. and the church would only need to pay for religious things like stained-glass windows, crosses, the pulpit, etc.

There was a happy ending when the Vision Iowa meeting finally took place:

On June 6, Timothy J. Whipple, IEDA general counsel for legislative affairs and rules emailed FFRF:

“You will be pleased to learn that the applicant has declined the board’s award and that the project will be completed entirely with privately raised funds. For your information, I have attached a PDF copy of the letter the board received declining the award.

“Thank you for your interest in Iowa’s economic development programs,” Whipple wrote.

I thought that would be the end of this. Vision Iowa could give that money instead to a deserving group that wanted to create something for all citizens, FFRF would maintain church/state separation, and the Christian park would still be built using private funding.

The controversy may be heating up again now. Earlier this week, city officials voted to prop up the Christian garden in another way:

Monday night leaders approved Shepherd’s Garden’s request to have the sidewalks and ally around the property reconstructed.

The city will pay for a third of the cost, while the Shepard’s Garden group and the First Presbyterian Church will pay the other two-thirds.

The cost to the city is about $165,000.

Which brings us back to the same problem as before: Why is taxpayer money being used to help support a privately-funded Christian project?

I sent an email to city officials last night to figure out their reasoning — and why this is any different from before — and will update this post if/when I hear back. I’ve also alerted FFRF.

(Thanks to Kris for the link. Large portions of this article were posted before.)

Secular Invocation Delivered in Largo, Florida: “Human Beings are the Solution to Human Problems”

Last night, Joe Reinhardt delivered a secular invocation at a meeting of the Largo City Commission (in Florida), making him the first atheist in the county to ever have that honor.

You can see the video here at the 3:20 mark.

Thank you, council members, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, and fellow citizens.

First of all, I’d like to thank the Largo City Council for inviting the good folks at Atheists of Florida to offer the invocation this evening. I applaud their efforts to respond to — and to adapt to — the ever increasing diversity in our community today.

As an example of why this is so important, I’d like to invoke a recent and relevant historical sidelight: Which is to say, that this is not the first time that Atheists of Florida has been invited to give the invocation before a local city council. Several years ago we appeared before the Tampa City Council and even though we were — I repeat — invited guests, three of the Council members were so traumatized by our mere presence that they refused to even remain in the same room with us and walked out of the meeting before we ever uttered a single word.

Try to picture the firestorm that would have created if they had treated any other ethnicity or race in such a disrespectful manner.

But happily, based on today’s reception, it looks as if we are making progress towards a more compassionate, all inclusive world view. Again, I applaud your efforts.

…

We at Atheists of Florida have long advocated a moment of silence in lieu of an invocation as an agreeable way to commence any meeting. A moment to clear the mind, to focus on the business at hand, and to reflect on the best available options to achieve optimum effectiveness in one’s efforts to govern fairly and efficiently.

And so, before I yield the remainder of my time for just that purpose, a moment of silence. I wish to invoke you to remember that human beings are the solution to human problems, and that it is our responsibility, to the best of our abilities, to make the world, and to leave the world a better place. No one else can do it.

You know, in these surroundings, I don’t think I can go too far wrong by quoting the venerable Benjamin Franklin, who famously said, “The good Lord helps those who help themselves.”

I will now relinquish the remainder of my time for a moment of silent reflection.

Thank you.

Reinhardt is a member of the Atheists of Florida, which provided a transcript of his talk. Judy Adkins, the group’s president, saw it as a sign of progress, telling the Tampa Bay Times,

“I think it shows the maturity of our community that tolerance has grown so much from the previous attempt we have made.”

Keep those invocations coming! I haven’t kept track, but Florida’s atheists seems to be outnumbering every other state.