For some stupid reason I was asked to do an opening prayer for the family reunion. Bad choice to choose the atheist. My super religious black family that is used to six minute prayers better be ready for a bullshit 30 second one, if that. Oh yeah, not going to mention God, just going to say amen. This is a fitting event to do right before Ip go to Howard University and not have to deal with this bullshit anymore.
This should be interesting, let us know what happens. There was a prayer made by an atheist politician :shock: here in Arizona that was terrific without mentioning God. :) Solitary
Here is the prayer he made:
"Most prayers in this room begin with a request to bow your heads. I would like to ask that you not bow your heads. I would like to ask that you to take a moment to look around the room at all of the men and women here, in this moment, sharing together this extraordinary experience of being alive and of dedicating ourselves to working toward improving the lives of the people in our state.
This is a room in which there are many challenging debates, many moments of tension, of ideological division, of frustration. But this is also a room where, as my Secular Humanist tradition stresses, by the very fact of being human, we have much more in common than we have differences. We share the same spectrum of potential for care, for compassion, for fear, for joy, for love... Carl Sagan once wrote, "For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love."
There is, in the political process, much to bear. In this room, let us cherish and celebrate our shared humanness, our shared capacity for reason and compassion, our shared love for the people of our state, for our Constitution, for our democracy — and let us root our policymaking process in these values that are relevant to all Arizonans regardless of religious belief or nonbelief.
In gratitude and in love, in reason and in compassion, let us work together for a better Arizona." -
Do they realize that you're an atheist?
We had a family gig a few years back - but there was more than one Sabrina there that day. When dinner was set someone said "Let Sabrina say the blessing..." --- a gasp let out around the room and everyone turned to look at me. LOL
Then a small, quiet voice from the group said "No........ the other Sabrina."
you had to be there
:rollin: :rollin:
Oh this happens to me quite often. Memaw: "Would you say grace Zach?". Me: "sure, god bless this food... Amen"
How about "thank you for the food we are about to eat, amen"? Nothing religious there. ("Amen" isn't actually a religious word.) If they want to think that you're thanking some god, and not the cook, or the person who paid for the food, so what? I always thank the cook. Usually after the meal, but you can thank her (or him) before you eat.
Well, I basically did some speech about how the family is together and fortunate and said amen. I even told the people just to look around each other. No talk of God or even blessings, I worded it as luck. For some reason they stilled loved it, even my fundie Grandma. They said it was very good when it wasn't even a prayer. Whatever...
Shoulda summoned the power of the Tooth Fairy since there was food. Wasted opportunity.. :)
LOL you should have done the Ricky Bobby Talladega Nights dinner prayer.
LOL reminded me when my family did that to me! I basically trolled them with sincerity. They actually thought I was going to do it, knowing I was an Atheist and that I am really sarcastic. I said, "Let's say grace. GRACE!" Then I started eating haha.
Thank you evolution for this food we are about to receive.
For without your mechanisms such as recombination, genetic drift, genetic hitchhiking, mutation, gene flow and natural selection we would have neither this food nor indeed be here ourselves to receive it.
Because the hominoidea begat the hominidae which begat the homininae which begat the hominini which begat the homo and that is us.
Indeed the entirety of the diverse life on this planet is a gift of evolution. We know this from the distribution of known life throughout time and space. We know it from the fossil evidence, and we know it from homologies such as comparative anatomy and cellular/molecular similarities.
Please bless us evolution so that we may continue to adapt to our environment as a species, and allow us to continue to learn about the universe that gave birth life.
Ramen
Quote from: "Triple Nine"Well, I basically did some speech about how the family is together and fortunate and said amen. I even told the people just to look around each other. No talk of God or even blessings, I worded it as luck. For some reason they stilled loved it, even my fundie Grandma. They said it was very good when it wasn't even a prayer. Whatever...
They just hear what they want to hear. It's probably a prayer to them.
Where I work, we have a surprising number of atheists. I'm surprised how many non believers are at my work, given I live in Houston. But, of course, we have lots and lots of believers too. One of my friends at work, Ken, he's an atheist. For some reason, he was asked to do the grace at last Christmas party. I guess whomever asked didn't know. And, he did it straight, like a Christian, with the "we thank you Father..."
So, afterwards I was like, "what the fuck dude, what was that?" He said, well, he was asked, so he figured he should do it the expected way. Whatever I guess...
Quote from: "caseagainstfaith"Where I work, we have a surprising number of atheists. I'm surprised how many non believers are at my work, given I live in Houston. But, of course, we have lots and lots of believers too. One of my friends at work, Ken, he's an atheist. For some reason, he was asked to do the grace at last Christmas party. I guess whomever asked didn't know. And, he did it straight, like a Christian, with the "we thank you Father..."
So, afterwards I was like, "what the fuck dude, what was that?" He said, well, he was asked, so he figured he should do it the expected way. Whatever I guess...
It is true that this happens sometime - and we can find ourselves in a bit of a jam. It's happened to me a couple of times. I guess I went ahead out of respect for others around me - and sheer math - that there were far more christians in the room than not. Makes me a hypocrite, I realize. But I've never been in this jam where it's the right time to come out of the broom closet and yelp 'no'. I never felt ashamed or anything - just a little ridiculous.
Dunno.
But I can see where the guy found himself in a jam and just went ahead. I feel his pain.
Does that make it right? No. I don't think so. So......for me....... I chalk it up to a screw-up. Perfection isn't really my game anyway. I don't even try to be perfect all the time.
Bless us oh lord for these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive. Through your glorious machinations I have been shown endless wonders. I give thanks for war, hatred, disease, suffering, bigotry, stupidity, senseless rage, apathy, mortality, suffering, and on a personal note a family that is stupid enough to hand family prayer over to an atheist. AMEN FUCKER
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