Author Archive for Hemant Mehta

Richard Dawkins Voices Support for Bibles in School

Published

on May 21, 2012

It sounds controversial: The British Secretary of Education wants to give every state school a copy of the Bible:

Every state school in England is to receive a new copy of the King James Bible from the government — with a brief foreword by Michael Gove, the education secretary, to mark the 400th anniversary of its translation. In a move intended to help every pupil access Britain’s cultural heritage, every primary and secondary school will be sent a new copy of the 1611 translation by next Easter.

Right… for “cultural heritage.” Sure.

In any case, Richard Dawkins doesn’t know why he wasn’t asked to donate to make the initiative happen… because he fully supports it. In fact, he’s surprised all schools don’t have a copy already:

I am a little shocked at the implication that not every school library already possesses a copy. Can that be true? What do they have, then? Harry Potter? Vampires?…

His first reason for offering support is that, much like Shakespeare, there are allusions to it everywhere. You can’t really be an educated, learned citizen without understanding where those references are coming from.

Oh… and there’s that other reason:

I have an ulterior motive for wishing to contribute to Gove’s scheme. People who do not know the Bible well have been gulled into thinking it is a good guide to morality. This mistaken view may have motivated the “millionaire Conservative party donors”. I have even heard the cynically misanthropic opinion that, without the Bible as a moral compass, people would have no restraint against murder, theft and mayhem. The surest way to disabuse yourself of this pernicious falsehood is to read the Bible itself.
…
Whatever else the Bible might be –- and it really is a great work of literature -– it is not a moral book and young people need to learn that important fact because they are very frequently told the opposite.

Of course he’s right. There’s a reason so many churches and pastors ignore discussing the more immoral, disgusting, abhorrent parts of the book. They’d rather ignore it and pretend it’s not there. American Atheists’ Dave Silverman had this memorable line in a New York Times article a couple of years ago, making the same argument:

“I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people,” Mr. Silverman said. “Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.”

Anyway, guess how the Daily Mail covered that story?

Look at our headline!!! (Oh and by the way here’s what he actually said…)

Even with the government’s intentions and Dawkins’ wishes, it’s likely neither is going to happen. Having one copy of the Bible in every school library isn’t going to allow all the students to read it from start to finish — and I find it hard to believe kids are just going to willingly come into the library to read a Bible they can find easily online.

But I love that the government’s ultimately-useless idea gives Dawkins a platform to talk about how awful the Bible actually is.

Smoke Detectors Violate Our Religious Beliefs, Say Amish

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 21, 2012

When it comes to Jehovah’s Witnesses and their religiously-motivated reasons to deny blood transfusions, the argument usually goes like this: If adults want to let themselves die for dumb reasons like that, let them. When they let their children die for the same reasons, they’ve gone too far.

…

A group of Amish men are currently in court because they refuse to install smoke detectors in their New York homes:

(via Blaine Shahan - The Associated Press)

[Amish resident] Andy Miller explained that it would be against their Christian beliefs to have something so modern in their homes.
It did not wash with the judge. Miller and the other Amish men were fined.
They refused to pay — pointing out that that would imply they had accepted that obeying God’s laws was wrong — and how could God be wrong?
Mr Ballan persuaded the judge to stay the case and contacted a religious liberty law firm that has taken it to federal court, where now it sits waiting to be heard.

Director David Belton spoke to one of the Amish men taking this case to court. He asked the man (Mose Miller) why he didn’t want to use a smoke alarm. Miller’s response was horrifying:

“I use this,” he said pointing at his nose, “or him,” and his finger pointed upwards. “I don’t need a devil on the wall to tell me if my house is burning.”
I asked him what would happen if he did not wake up and all his children were burned to death.
“If God does not wake us, well, that must be part of his plan,” Mose told me.

In other words, if something happens to my kids because of my own negligence, it must be part of God’s will.

It’s the same argument used by Christian Scientist parents who refuse to take their children to a hospital in an emergency because they wrongly think God will just magically fix everything.

It’s a bad argument and the safety of others ought to come before the irresponsible habits of deluded people.

…

What does all this have to do with blood transfusions?

When a blood transfusion is needed, it really only affects the person needing the blood and that person’s family.

When a house catches fire, it can quickly spread to neighboring homes in the community. Failing to detect fires early isn’t just a personal decision — the ramifications are huge.

The Amish deserve to lose this case.

Belton doesn’t think they will:

The chances are Mose and his recalcitrant friends will win their battle — they usually do.

For the sake of everyone else in that community, I hope Belton is wrong.

(Thanks to James for the link)

Bill Maher: A Degree from Liberty University Cheapens My Real Degree

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 21, 2012

From Friday night’s Real Time with Bill Maher (NSFW image at the beginning of the video):

My favorite line: “This is a school you flunk out of when you get the answers right.”

Prayer: How To Do Nothing and Feel Like You Helped

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 21, 2012

(via god and son)

It’s Everybody Draw Muhammad Day 3

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 20, 2012

Today is Everybody Draw Muhammad Day 3:

(Video via Thunderf00t)

In previous years, I’ve compiled and posted large sets of images as a way to show solidarity with others who refuse to be censored by religious extremists… this year, for a variety of personal reasons, I just didn’t have the time to put it all together. I didn’t think anything of it — it wasn’t as much of a hot topic this year as it was in the past, right?

Maybe I need to reconsider.

Pakistan shut down Twitter in the country after the company refused to censor Tweets linking to the Everybody Draw Muhammad Day Facebook page:

Muhammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said the micro-blogging site had been shut down on Sunday after it refused to remove tweets promoting a Facebook page encouraging people to post images of the prophet Muhammad.
He said Facebook agreed to address Pakistan’s concerns but officials had failed to persuade Twitter to do the same. “We have been negotiating with them until last night, but they did not agree to remove the stuff, so we had to block it,” Yaseen said.

Tech-savvy Pakistanis found ways to get around the censors, but the idea that a country can censor a website because some of its users don’t treat Islam with respect it doesn’t deserve in the first place is crazy.

It makes me want to draw Muhammad just to spite them. For now, I’ll just link you to Facebook pages featuring drawings of him.

Then again, the whole thing is just going to backfire, anyway:

Emrys Schoemaker, director of iMedia, a research organisation that studies social media in Pakistan, said attempts to control the internet reflected a shift from the media freedoms introduced by the former president Pervez Musharraf.
“This is a very defensive, dated response to politics in the digital era,” Schoemaker said. “Closing down debate simply makes the voices louder.”

People will keep drawing images of the Islamic prophet until Muslims stop censoring other people from doing it. If they can’t handle freedom of expression, that’s their problem. No one else has to abide by their religious rules — and as long as they kill and suppress others who criticize their faith, we have all the more reason to fight against it.

***Update***: Pakistan’s Prime Minister has restored Twitter access in the country.

(via Atheism Examiner)

Jesus is Alive in Bradford County, Florida: My Day at a Ten Commandments Protest

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 20, 2012

This is a guest post by Annie Thomas. Annie is a science teacher and writer from Gainesville, Florida. She last wrote about her night at a Kirk Cameron-hosted “marriage-strengthening” event.

***

On May 3^rd of this year, a monument of the Ten Commandments was unveiled at the Bradford County courthouse in Florida. The $20,000 monument was a gift from Lee Anderson of Lake City. Anderson gave a similar “gift” to Dixie County a few years ago. The Dixie County monument was ruled unconstitutional in July of 2011, but still stands today as the county appeals. The Bradford commissioners knew about the state of the Dixie County monument before they agreed to acquire their own. Lawsuits are nothing new to the city of Starke (home of the Bradford County courthouse). In March of 2007, a federal judge ruled that the crucifix affixed to the city’s water tower (and was even illuminated at night) was unconstitutional and had to come down.

Here is the Ten Commandments monument unveiling ceremony that took place a couple of weeks ago:

On Saturday, May 19^th, about eighteen atheists traveled from all over Florida to protest the newly-erected Ten Commandments monument. The Bradford County Courthouse is located in Starke, Florida, a small north central city that straddles U.S. 301 with Camp Blanding to the east and Florida State Prison to the west.

As the protestors proceeded from the parking lot to the front of the courthouse, they passed a circle of thirty bowed heads that were praying for strength and courage. Several people took turns leading the group in prayer, and many prayed for the hearts of the atheists to be turned over to Jesus.

The woman above was saying, “Father God, we’ve remained quiet for too long. We will let your word be heard, Father God.”

Another group of counter-protestors were in a similar circle in the courtyard of the U-shaped building where the Ten Commandments monument stands. By 11:00a, the scheduled start time of the protest, the atheists were lined up along the sidewalk facing U.S. 301, and the counter-protesting group was growing. A headcount at 11:30a revealed that there were 100 counter-protesters and about 18 atheists.

Both groups were in good spirits and relatively peaceful towards each other. However, I overheard Ken Weaver, a Bradford County resident who led the dedication of the monument on May 3^rd say to his friend, “They’re not arguing against Church and State; they are arguing about our religion being a myth.” His friend responded, “They’re just a bunch of damn Democrats,” to which both men chuckled.

I briefly interviewed Laura Finley, who was the National Day of Prayer organizer for Bradford County. When asked if there might be a more appropriate place for the monument than the courthouse lawn, she said no, as it represented the word of God, the person who created us. She continued, “We would be kind of like… animals who have no souls” without it. “The protestors here today,” Finley continued, “they don’t have any beliefs in anything.” Finley was quick to point out that she was not at the event to counter-protest, but rather to share her support that the monument had a right to be there.

Early in the event, an unidentified preacher in a gold vest started to encourage the crowd to sing and pray. He utilized an interesting tactic to decipher who was there to protest and who was there to counter-protest. After leading the group in singing “Jesus Loves Me,” he asked participants to shout out if they love Jesus. He then asked them to raise their arms in the air if they love Jesus. He tried to corral the counter-protestors away from the atheists by saying, “Come on people! You’re talking to the wind!” A big circle was formed around the Ten Commandments for more prayer.

The atheist protestors came from all over the state. Nathaniel Hall, a member of the Tallahassee Atheists (in the red shirt below), was the first to break the invisible barrier and converse with counter-protesters.

Melody Delaney, another member of the Tallahassee Atheists and founding member of the Tallahassee Secular Chorus, shared her reason for coming out to protest: “We are not trying to disparage anyone’s religion… we just believe in separation of church and state as Constitutional law.”

Sean Fraser traveled from Crystal River wearing two hats, one as a protester and another to cover the story for a blog he writes. When asked if he was surprised by the turn-out he said, “Of us? No. Of them? Yes.” This was Fraser’s first protest as an atheist, but he said he’d like to attend more.

Brandi Braschler, president of Freethinkers FSU, was not discouraged by the small turnout or the lack of press coverage. She was part of the group that “unannointed” roads in Polk County earlier this year. “No one was out there, but everyone posted on it” afterwards. As we spoke, a counter-protester (the woman above who was praying to “Father God”) interrupted our conversation. She said, “We don’t want tax payers dollars!” She continued on about “people like you” when Braschler calmly responded, “The First Amendment says a lot of things. But it’s up to the courts, the judges, to interpret what the Constitution means.” This made the other woman walk away, which I observed several times when the counter-protesters had no rebuttal.

I asked David Silverman (who was quick to point out he is not that David Silverman) why he traveled from his home in Jacksonville to protest. “I feel strongly about this and decided to give up a day’s work for this.” He was surprised by the massive monument that was erected and that it was actually a “solid, fixed display.” Silverman (holding the sign in the picture below) added that he had a “long, interesting talk with a Christian and I think I planted a germ.”

Rob Curry (in white shirt), president of the St. Petersburg chapter of Atheists of Florida, speaking with a counter-protester

Bridget Gaudette (right), Florida state director for American Atheists and organizer of the protest, chats with fellow protester in Starke, FL

A member of the motorcycle group 'F.A.I.T.H. Riders' waves his bible in the air at the Bradford County Courthouse

What surprised me most about the event was that this was not about religious rights, but strictly about Christianity. There was no attempt to pass this new monument off as representing a generic god that many could relate to, this was all about Jesus. I asked one counter-protester how he thought a non-Christian in his county might feel about the monument. He couldn’t see why they would care. “I don’t bother them and they don’t bother me” was his response.

The counter-protesters were giddy with delight in their numbers exceeding the protesters. One man yelled out to the crowd, “There’s more preachers in Starke than there are atheists today!” which very well may be true. But what failed to impress them was the great distance the protesters traveled to be in Starke today. Driving for a few hours (as opposed to walking down the street) requires a bit more dedication to a cause. As the sun rose directly overhead, the breeze died down, and stomachs started to ask for lunch, the majority of the counter-protesters drifted off to go about their life. When I asked Brandi Braschler how long she would be there, her response was, “I’m planning to stay here all day.”

Videos from the Global Atheist Convention

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 20, 2012

A few of the talks from the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne are starting to come online — the highlights, at least, are worth a few minutes of your time. I love Dennett’s clip.

Daniel Dennett:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

A C Grayling:

God Is Unbelievable, Too

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 19, 2012

Here’s an interesting documentary project: Michael Wilson is an atheist from New Zealand and he’s heading out on a road trip:

I will be test driving religions around my country of New Zealand (sometimes referred to as Godzone). I am planning to visit many groups who think theirs is the one true religion and everyone will get the chance to pitch their god or gods.
I will also be talking to experts in religion including professors who have had their lives threatened and even faced trial for heresy.

He’s trying to raise the funds he needs to complete the movie and distribute it via iTunes, Netflix, and eventually for free. If you’d like to contribute, you can do so here.

Do Scientists Pray? Einstein Had a Response

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 19, 2012

Unlike the forwards you receive from your gullible older relatives, it turns out Albert Einstein did have something to say about religion, at least regarding prayer. In response to a young girl’s letter to him in which she asked, “Do scientists pray?” Einstein said this:

Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.
…
But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.

In other words, scientists ought to be applying the ideas of logic and reason to religion, just like they do everything else. Trying to mix science and religion means you’re doing both of them wrong.

(via Letters of Note — Thanks to Amanda for the link!)

Advice for High School Graduates

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 19, 2012

My seniors graduate this week and I was compiling a list for them. After asking people on Twitter and Facebook for their ideas, here’s what I put together:

Never buy textbooks. There are always places to find cheap (or free) versions.

Don’t sign up for a credit card, no matter what “prize” they’re offering you. If you do get one, though, be sure to pay it off each month.

If you can avoid it, try not to get a job during your first semester. Better yet, make plans for a summer internship early in the school year.

Don’t do anything stupid. But if (when) you do something stupid, don’t post pictures about it on Facebook.

Don’t get a tattoo unless you designed it and you’ve thought about it for at least two years.

Back-of-the-envelope calculation: (15 credit hours a week) x (18 weeks in a semester) x (2 semesters) = 540 hours of class a year. If tuition is $20,000/year (it’s probably more), you’re paying about $37 (or more) per hour of class. Don’t skip class!

Sit in on large lecture classes in subjects you aren’t actually taking. No grades, no one will notice, and you’ll learn a lot.

There are scholarships available everywhere. Most people don’t apply for them. Go get the money they don’t want.

Join clubs. Get to know your professors. Talk to people in your dorm. Besides getting to know really cool people, you’re setting yourself up to get a job in the future.

Study abroad. Don’t want to leave the country? Then just spend time around people whose viewpoints you completely disagree with.

Unless you’re playing with a huge group of people, put the video games away. Unless you’re creating the next Facebook, turn the Internet off every now and then. It’ll be there for you later.

Cover your drinks. Cover yourself. Eat healthy. Do everything in moderation.

Get your requirements out of the way early. You don’t want to be ready to graduate only to find out there’s one course you still need to take… and it’s not available that semester.

The thing that made you socially successful in high school was conformity. But if you want to be successful in college and beyond, think differently and do your own thing.

Call your parents.

What would you add to that list?

There’s An Openly Atheist President in Uruguay

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 19, 2012

In news that doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of American press, José Mujica, the President of Uruguay, made a reference to his own atheism this week when speaking about the ailing Hugo Chavez:

President José Mujica (via EFE)

Reader David Osorio was kind enough to translate:

“I still have not been able to believe in God… if such an important man exists I hope he gives a helping hand to the poor in Latin America by defending the health of the commander,” said Mujica.

Ignoring for the moment the suggestion that Chavez is the solution to poverty in Latin America, it’s not very often that a sitting president makes a declaration like that.

Even stranger (at least from my American perspective) is how that barely seems to register as “news.”

Damon Fowler’s Legacy: No Prayer at His Former High School’s Graduation This Time Around

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 19, 2012

A year after atheist Damon Fowler fought a losing battle to get prayer out of his Louisiana high school graduation, there’s some great news to report:

No moment of silence this year. No public prayer. And no controversy.

Those are Damon’s efforts coming to fruition. Bastrop High School won’t thank him for what he did anytime soon, but the rest of us can.

In case you’re wondering, Damon will be starting college in Texas this fall. That scholarship so many of you donated to is going to be put to good use

Can Believers and Atheists Work Together?

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 19, 2012

I haven’t had a chance to listen to the full audio, but the Rationalist Society of Australia recently released a conversation between interfaith supporter/atheist Chris Stedman, his biggest critic PZ Myers, and ethicist Leslie Cannold in which they discussed the question “Can believers and atheist work together for the common good?”

As always, if you hear anything we should all pay attention to, please leave a timestamp in the comments!

(Of course, most of you won’t do that and you’ll just argue about how interfaith activism is bad for atheists without even hearing what Chris said in the discussion… *sigh* I tried!)

Atheists in Christian Workplaces (Part 3)

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 18, 2012

Continuing the conversations from here and here, I received this email from an atheist who teaches at a Christian school.

If you’d like to share your experience as an atheist in a Christian workplace, please shoot me an email.

…

I met my husband in church. We had both been raised in fairly conservative, Bible-believing homes. Our parents are well-educated, though, and always encouraged us to think for ourselves. By the time we met, we were both fairly liberal in our political beliefs but very involved in our church life. We soon moved to New York City so my husband could pursue graduate school. At the time, I taught physics at a public high school. We attended a local megachurch, but as soon as we finished premarital counseling we stopped attending. (That is the wonderful part about megachurches — they are so easy to leave!) We also moved in together a few months before our marriage, unbeknownst to our parents.

A couple of years after getting married, my husband was accepted to law school in Florida. I had to leave my teaching job and search for a new one — the problem was that I had to look for a job at a private school because I did not have a teaching license in this new state and it was going to be prohibitively difficult to get one — about a year’s worth of classwork and hoops to jump through. My husband and I only plan on staying in Florida for his three years of law school after which we will relocate back to NYC.

I applied to a conservative Christian school, as they seemed very dedicated to their education and it was a good position. I still considered myself a Christian at that point and I had once been conservative… so I figured that it wouldn’t be so bad for three years.

Well, by about the third week of classes I realized that I just couldn’t convince myself of my faith anymore. I had read a lot of Brian McLaren‘s work and a little of Rob Bell‘s, and these paved the way for me to stop taking the Bible very seriously. My science background had me doubting the reliability of the entire book of Genesis. I think it was finally seeing the way that young people are indoctrinated into the faith that finally forced my visceral rejection of my faith.

For months, I still believed that Christianity was real and that I had simply rejected it. I kept on waiting for the principal to call me into his office and ask me to pack up my things — I figured that if I was a mole in a Christian workplace, God would promptly inform his leadership of my presence and they would root me out. No such thing happened. In fact, I received glowing praise — all the while, I was desperate to quit and find work elsewhere. Unfortunately, not a single job was available this spring when I looked. We are in a small college town and there aren’t a lot of options. I would quit if I did not have to support myself and my husband while he is in school.

I began reading books by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Bart Ehrman. (Somehow Daniel Dennett got the boot for Ehrman ) I was fascinated at the idea of redaction criticism and some of the theories behind the formation of the Jewish religion, the Israelite people, and Hebrew Bible. I read voraciously and I listened to all of Reasonable Doubts’ podcasts. It took me about five months from my first epiphany about rejecting Christianity to be able to admit to myself that I was an atheist. It still feels weird.

It was rough at school for a while, but I have settled into a routine. I do feel like a two-faced liar at times, but most of the time I really go out of my way to say “Many Christians believe this…” when I have to talk about faith. I never talk about my personal faith and I don’t think the kids even notice it because they get it from so many other places they just assume I’m a Christian. I do my best to teach critical thinking skills and ethics without ever teaching something that goes against the school’s principles. The school itself is conservative (politically and doctrinally) but they also care a lot about education. That is one redeeming factor that helps me continue to show up every day.

I do have a handful of stories I have been writing down in case I ever want to share them in a more organized manner. They include teachers telling me that they are glad they believe in God and hell because otherwise they would do all kinds of awful things, hearing a 6^th grader at a football game scoff at the local Jewish team because, “They don’t believe Jesus is the savior… what bullcrap… how can they believe that?” When a sibling was killed in a car crash, our teachers consoled one student by telling him that God “preordained” it. It may not make sense to us, but then again, “God’s ways are above our ways.” What tripe.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I will stay here for the next two years and I will get out only when we move back to the Northeast. I have almost become cognitively dissonant in the way that I approach my job, to the point that I actually enjoy a lot of it now (while still hating a very few parts, and my duplicity). I am thankful that I still have employable job skills and am gaining more valuable experience… I really feel for clergy members that have to stand up in front of their church every Sunday and preach something they don’t believe. I plan on contributing to the Clergy Project as soon as I stop supporting my husband and his education.

When Someone Praises God on Facebook…

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 18, 2012

This is the first in a supposed “commercial” campaign by r/atheism. (Even if that’s not true, consider it a standalone ad.)

***Edit***: Commenters point out this video’s a joke. Glad to hear it. I still think this is a conversation worth having.

I think the atheist’s message would’ve been more effective without the CAPS LOCK and exclamation point… But still, I like seeing that comment in those kinds of Facebook threads.

Now, is that really bravery? I don’t think it takes bravery to write a comment like that — it’s more of just having the mindset that you’re going to tell the truth no matter what, and if others can’t understand that, screw ‘em.

The downside is that it comes off as insensitive and dickish (especially if the cancer survivor is the person who made the comment about god). But if you’re making that comment, you probably don’t care. Does that mean we shouldn’t make the comment? Not at all. We should be the voice of reason in that situation. It wouldn’t hurt to use some tact, though. (*Cue accusations of being a tone troll*)

We Win! Federal Court Says Town Board’s Prayers Endorsed Christianity

Published

Hemant Mehta

on May 18, 2012

Americans United for Separation of Church and State just scored a big victory.

The town of Greece, New York has been opening board meetings with prayers since 1999 thanks to Town Supervisor John Auberger. Sure, they’ve allowed different members of the clergy to deliver the prayers… but virtually all of those clergy members were Christians.

A prayer is delivered at a Greece Town Board meeting (via Democrat and Chronicle)

Finally, in 2008, they were called out on it by two residents of the town, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens. After they complained, the town allowed non-Christians to deliver the invocation four times out of the next twelve meetings… and then went back to Christians Christians Christians.

Initially, a district court dismissed their case, saying that the fact that representatives from different denominations were invited to deliver the prayers meant that the town wasn’t pushing Christianity on its citizens.

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit correctly reversed that ruling.

In practice, Christian clergy members have delivered nearly all of the prayers relevant to this litigation, and have done so at the town’s invitation. From 1999 through 2007, every prayer-giver who gave the invocation met this description. In 2008, after Galloway and Stephens had begun complaining to the town about its prayer practice, nonChristians delivered the prayer at four of the twelve Town Board meetings. A Wiccan priestess and the chairman of the local Baha’i congregation each delivered one of these prayers, and a lay Jewish man delivered the remaining two. The town invited the Wiccan priestess and the lay Jewish man after they inquired about delivering prayers; it appears that the town invited the Baha’i chairman without receiving such an inquiry. However, between January 2009 and June 2010, when the record closed, all the prayer-givers were once again invited Christian clergy.

In all, there were about 130 invocations given between 1999 and 2010. And it looks like all but four of them were given by Christians.

It wasn’t even subtle:

A substantial majority of the prayers in the record contained uniquely Christian language. Roughly two-thirds contained references to “Jesus Christ,” “Jesus,” “Your Son,” or the “Holy Spirit.” Within this subset, almost all concluded with a statement that the prayer had been given in Jesus Christ’s name. Typically, prayer-givers stated something like, “In Jesus’s name we pray,” or “We ask this in Christ’s name.” Some prayer-givers elaborated further, describing Christ as “our Savior,” “God’s only son,” “the Lord,” or part of the Holy Trinity. One prayer, for example, was given “in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.” Other prayers, including ones not expressly made in Christ’s name, spoke of “the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives,” and celebrated Christ’s birth and resurrection

But somehow, according to the town’s lawyers at the Alliance Defense Fund, that didn’t mean this was an establishment of Christianity in the town.

The judges at the Appeals court were very blunt in their conclusion:

We conclude, on the record before us, that the town’s prayer practice must be viewed as an endorsement of a particular religious viewpoint. This conclusion is supported by several considerations, including the prayer-giver selection process, the content of the prayers, and the contextual actions (and inactions) of prayer-givers and town officials. We emphasize that, in reaching this conclusion, we do not rely on any single aspect of the town’s prayer practice, but rather on the totality of the circumstances present in this case.
The town’s process for selecting prayer-givers virtually ensured a Christian viewpoint. Christian clergy delivered each and every one of the prayers for the first nine years of the town’s prayer practice, and nearly all of the prayers thereafter. In the town’s view, the preponderance of Christian clergy was the result of a random selection process.
The randomness of the process, however, was limited by the town’s practice of inviting clergy almost exclusively from places of worship located within the town’s borders. The town fails to recognize that its residents may hold religious beliefs that are not represented by a place of worship within the town. Such residents may be members of congregations in nearby towns or, indeed, may not be affiliated with any congregation. The town is not a community of religious institutions, but of individual residents, and, at the least, it must serve those residents without favor or disfavor to any creed or belief.

The ADF could now ask all the judges in the Second Circuit court to reconsider the ruling (an “en banc” review). Barring that, this case c possibly ask the Supreme Court to rule on the issue.

Hopefully, though, this ruling will stand. There’s no reason to have Christian prayers — or any prayers at all — delivered before city councils get to work. If government officials want to waste time, they can do it at home.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)