Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > alt.atheism > #2070576

Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute

Show all headers | View raw

On 05/03/2016 16:50, Christopher A. Lee wrote:
> On Sat, 5 Mar 2016 14:31:39 +0000 (UTC), "Ted&Alice Street"
> <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> wrote:
>
>> Alex W. wrote:
>>
>>> On 05/03/2016 13:47, Ted&Alice Street wrote:
>>>> Alex W. wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 05/03/2016 12:42, Ted&Alice Street wrote:
>>>>>> Alex W. wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 04/03/2016 23:04, Ted&Alice Street wrote:
>>>>>>>> Mattb. wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>> http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/atheist-lawmakers-prayer-sets-off-arizona-house-dispute-37381282
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> An atheist member of the Arizona House denied the chance
>>>>>>>>> to deliver the chamber's opening prayer by majority
>>>>>>>>> Republican leaders last month got the opportunity
>>>>>>>>> Thursday, only to see leaders rule his prayer didn't pass
>>>>>>>>> muster and call up a Christian pastor.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The opening prayer by Democrat Juan Mendez included a
>>>>>>>>> call to work to help the state and its residents flourish
>>>>>>>>> and to "honor the Constitution and the secular equality
>>>>>>>>> it brings." But he didn't pray to any deity, which
>>>>>>>>> infuriated some Republicans who are Christians.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Accoring to the article, 'House Majority Leader Steve
>>>>>>>> Montenegro said Mendez's decision not to pray to God didn't
>>>>>>>> meet House rules he issued earlier this year for the
>>>>>>>> opening prayer.  Speaker David Gowan then said "point of
>>>>>>>> order well taken".'
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If Mendez were Pastararian, he could've prayed to The FSM
>>>>>>>> and that would've satisfied the "House rules".
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Imagine the uproar if he had addressed his prayer to Satan....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> He'd now be the most infamous man in America. And Satan is
>>>>>> referred to in the Bible as "the god of this world", so the
>>>>>> prayer might still have satisfied the House rule.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> If he wanted to toss a hyperactive cat among the pigeons, he
>>>>> should table a motion asking for a comprehensive universal
>>>>> definition of "god"...
>>>>
>>>> They might've even killed him for that.
>>>>
>>>> What would have happened in the UK for a comparable situation?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Nothing at all.
>>>
>>> We don't do god in public life.
>>>
>>> If Tony Blair had done what GWB did before ordering the troops into
>>> Iraq -- praying and reading the bible to seek divine guidance -- he
>>> would not have been prime minister long enough to see us conquering
>>> Baghdad.
>
> He said afterwards that he "consulted God" before ordering the
> invasion.

Campbell must have hit the roof when he heard about that...


>
> He also said at the same time that he had kept quiet about it because
> people would think he was a religious nutter.

He was right.


>
> Unlike the reaction to Bush in the USA, the British were horrified.
>
>>> We get much more exercised about bad manners.  The new leader of the
>>> Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, was supposed to meet the Queen and go
>>> down on one knee.  When he refused to do so, being a republican, it
>>> caused a major uproar.  His religion is never mentioned....
>>>
>>> Plus, we have the advantage of a state religion.  So for official
>>> acts we wheel out a vicar or bishop to mumble all the words without
>>> anyone having to make a personal declaration of (un)belief.  All very
>>> civilised.
>
> And very few people  take any notice of the state religion.

Although we do like the pomp and circumstance, I think...


>
> Although its high-ups imagine they do.

Part of their job description?


>
> Every so often some Bishop or Archbishop tells a largely non-believing
> country to start believing in Santa Claus again. Or was it God?
> Anyway, they're too stupid to understand that there's no substantive
> difference to most of their audience.

Again, I think their job requires them to say stuff like that.  It what 
pays their salaries.

They also do speak up about moral issues in more general tones, which I 
may not agree with but cannot fault them for.  There is a place in 
public discourse for a voice that is not beholden to a party ideology or 
the official corporate line.


>
>> What a shame that we didn't inherit more of that attitude from you
>> guys.
>
> I can't imagine anybody like David Jenkins, the Bishop of Durham
> between 1984 and 1994, in the USA.
>
> He was a very liberal theologian, who said things like not believing
> in the virgin birth because that sort of thing didn't happen. The
> conservatives vilified him for it, and when York Minster was struck by
> lightning they said that was Gawd's punishment for ordaining him.

God doesn't believe in lightning conductors, it seems...

Back to alt.atheism | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Alex W." <ingilt@yahoo.co.uk> - 2016-03-05 09:08 +0000
  Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 12:42 +0000
    Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Alex W." <ingilt@yahoo.co.uk> - 2016-03-05 13:03 +0000
      Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 13:47 +0000
        Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Alex W." <ingilt@yahoo.co.uk> - 2016-03-05 14:04 +0000
          Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 14:31 +0000
            Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 19:14 +0000
              Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "%" <persent@gmail.com> - 2016-03-05 12:18 -0700
                Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 19:28 +0000
              Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 21:08 +0000
                Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 23:28 +0000
                Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "%" <persent@gmail.com> - 2016-03-05 16:53 -0700
                Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-06 12:41 +0000
              Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Alex W." <ingilt@yahoo.co.uk> - 2016-03-05 23:46 +0000
            Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Alex W." <ingilt@yahoo.co.uk> - 2016-03-05 23:53 +0000
          Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute Smiler <smiler@jo.king> - 2016-03-05 23:46 +0000
            Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Alex W." <ingilt@yahoo.co.uk> - 2016-03-06 00:07 +0000
              Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute Smiler <smiler@jo.king> - 2016-03-06 19:56 +0000
        Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute "Ted&Alice Street" <sam.tedesco@notgmail.c> - 2016-03-05 19:15 +0000
      Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute Don Kresch <no@spam.org> - 2016-03-06 15:41 -0600
  Re: Atheist Lawmaker's Prayer Sets off Arizona House Dispute MattB <trdell12345@gmail.com> - 2016-03-05 10:05 -0800

csiph-web