An atheist, who led the prayer during a Florida commission meeting earlier this month, invoked the names of several gods, including Mother Earth, Zeus, Krishna, Allah and Satan apart from Jesus. As Preston Smith uttered these names on the podium, a group of commissioners got up and left the room so they would not be party to what was going to take place thereafter.
Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo, who, too, left the room with the other commissioners, said she did so because Smith had mocked the Scripture on Twitter earlier this year and she did not want to hear what he had to share at the podium. Triolo denied stepping out because of Smith’s religious belief or his invocation.
“Free speech works both ways,” Triolo said. “You can say what you want and I can choose to leave.”
When Smith noticed that the mayor and three other commissioners had left, he said, “Duly noted” and continued with his invocation.
“Our collective atheism, which is to say, loving empathy, scientific evidence, and critical thinking, leads us to believe that we can create a better, more equal community without religious divisions,” he said. “May we pray together … Mother Earth, we gather today in your redeeming and glorious presence, to invoke your eternal guidance in the universe, the original Creator of all things … May the efforts of this council blend the righteousness of Allah with the all-knowing wisdom of Satan …. May Zeus, the great God of justice, grant us strength tonight. Jesus might forgive our shortcomings while Buddha enlightens us through His divine affection,” he continued. “We praise you, Krishna, for the sanguine sacrifice that freed us all. After all, if Almighty Thor is with us, who can ever be against us?”
Smith then mocked the notions of Heaven and Hell and insisted that people pay more heed to humanism to assess what is right and wrong.
“And finally, for the bounty of logic, reason, and science, we simply thank the atheists, agnostics, Humanists, who now account for one in five Americans, and [are] growing rapidly,” he stated. “In closing, let us, above all, love one another, not to obtain mythical rewards for ourselves now, hereafter, or based on superstitious threats of eternal damnation, but rather, embrace secular-based principles of morality — and do good for goodness’ sake … And so we pray. So what?”
As this incident picked up more steam in the media, political blogger and atheist Chaz Stevens, famous for installing a Festivus pole made of empty beer cans at the Florida Capitol, submitted a request seeking permission to lead a prayer in honour of Satan at a future city council meeting.
“My name is Chaz Stevens, father of the Pabst Blue Ribbon Festivus Pole,” he wrote. “I’d like permission to give a Satanic, yes Satan, invocation at an upcoming City Commission meeting. Everyone is welcome to sing along, or as is the recent case when Miami atheist activist Preston Smith gave the invocation, like Elvis, they can leave the building.”
Atheist activists believe nonbelievers have been delivering such invocations at city council meetings to drive home the simple point that if Christian prayers are allowed, every other religion must be given its due as well.
However, Smith was recently denied permission to deliver a similar invocation before a commission meeting in Palm Beach County.
Photo Credits: Imgur
