Did the Port Orange Mayor & Council Open a Can of Worms Instead of Resolving City Problems?
By Velvet Hammer 4612:52 pm
Taking a righteous stand.
WPTV:
LAKE WORTH, Fla. – Last Tuesday’s Lake Worth city commission meeting started as they all do. Then things changed.
As atheist Preston Smith approached the podium to lead the prayer – Mayor Pam Triolo and three city commissioners left the chambers.
……..
The mayor offered no explanation until today.
“I didn’t leave because Mr. Smith is an atheist, I left because of his alleged tweet.” Mayor Triolo said.
Triolo says Smith tweeted an offensive interpretation of scripture earlier this summer. She feared his prayer might be along those lines – so she left before he started.
“Free speech works both ways,” Triolo said. “You can say what you want and I can choose to leave.”
……
One commissioner did stay during the invocation. Commissioner Christopher McVoy says he had no idea the other elected officials were going to be leaving, but it bothers him they did leave.
……
Walking out was “very un-American, and a slap in the face to the principles people fought very hard to make sure we had those rights,” he said.
……
Smith said over the phone that he thinks it was an act of pure discrimination against his beliefs.
Pray tell Godless clown boy, was it an “act of pure discrimination against [your non-existent] beliefs” or petty spiteful showboating on your part?:
Stevens, from Deerfield Beach, said he doesn’t believe in Satan. He’s an atheist who said he just wants to show how ridiculous it is to pray at City Hall.
Watch:
 
The 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. 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 our strength tonight.
“Jesus might forgive us of our shortcomings while Buddha enlightens us through His Divine affection.
“We praise you Krishna, for the sanguine sacrifice that has freed us.
“After all, if Almighty Thor is with us, who can ever be against us?
“And finally, for the bounty of logic, reason, and science, we simply thank the atheists, agnostics, and non-religious, who now account for one in five Americans, and growing rapidly. [padding the numbers –ed.]
“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 prayed. … So what?”
Twisted Godless soul, twisted Godless human.
I would like to recommend some reading for Allen Green, Scott Stiltner, and Drew Bastian. I suggest they look into the writings of Aldous Huxley, Mircae Eliade, and Rene Guenon. I think this may give them some perspective in introducing people to spirituality.