The knots that religious legislators tie themselves into when faced with an atheist amuses me for reasons obscure, so I found The Friendly Atheist’s Hemant Mehta’s coverage of State Senator Juan Mendez’s (D-AZ) attempts to give invocations in Arizona invigorating:
Besides being a progressive legislator, Mendez is known to atheists for his history of delivering invocations in the legislature… or at least trying to. In 2013 he delivered one in the State House, but the following day, a Christian colleague delivered a second religious invocation to make up for his godless one. When he tried to give another invocation in 2016, the GOP majority leader blocked him from doing so on the grounds that all invocations had to be made to a “higher power.” Days later, when Mendez gave his invocation anyway, a minister was on standby to deliver a “real” one.
Earlier this year, Mendez was slated to give an invocation on “Secular Day” at the Capitol. But just before he spoke, the (Republican) Senate President said someone else would be doing the honors. She later said it was a mistake, but the other senator had an invocation ready to go…
Perhaps I’m just a spiritual pervert, but the story makes me smile. Some people know how to deal politely with people of other religions, but someone without religion?
Oh, dear. How can we have a good argument about the unseeable if they refuse to see the … uh …
