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I am the invocator Hemant is talking about. I wrote an op-ed about this that was published in the Orlando Sentinel on 11 Feb 2023. I think it's paywalled, so here is a link to my piece. (I did not write the headline.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pf0Z_hUwZyqPCtqZFoyRuh5rNek_CPKN/view

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Thank you for the link!

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No meeting of our secular government, at any level, should EVER begin with an invocation of any kind. Conservative Christians simply cannot stop trying to mark their territory in the public square owned by everyone. What demonstrable good have these invocations ever resulted in?

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oraxx, I hadn’t seen this comment before posting mine. You are exactly correct. Every inch of the way, every constitutional violation, every act of sedition, every violation by the christian right is virtually ignored! This has been further aggravated by those on the left who find this violation of separation of State/Church an acceptable norm and watched or joined in when they should have stood up to it. But what’s new?

Once we get Biden back in to get past Fascism, I will no longer support any one preaching religious BS or mentioning jesus or allah or any other figment of the imagination. Religious lunacy is a danger to true community that includes all.

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No worries. GMTA after all. ;)

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😊👍🏼

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Trump has already commented on his personal relationship with God: https://sweatingthesmallstuff.substack.com/p/trump-on-god

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They're afraid their god will be mad at them if they don't specifically praise his name, instead of the behavior he promoted.

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Any being, deity or mortal, who desires worship is not worthy of it.

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*requires* worship

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Christians can't stand the thought of not being able to get in the last word like the spoiled petulant children they are. Infantile, Just like their beliefs.

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Invocations are stupid and pointless to begin with. They have no impact whatsoever on the tasks at hand. But not only do Christians insist upon it, they honestly believe they cannot conduct business without first saying the equivalent of the "magic words". It's childish to say the least. I only wish there were actual magic words that one could say to give them some degree of self-awareness.

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It's a combination of their fetishes for both virtue-signaling and territory-marking. As I have said elsewhere, it is past time that those practices were called out the moment they occur and firmly and assertively disabused.

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I agree, but of course it's also a double-edged sword since any rebuke will just reinforce their persecution complex and feed their delusions of martyrdom.

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Fine with me, as long as they ante up the court costs after they LOSE!

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Theists speak so grandly about deep subjects putting on airs of superiority, but then all of their actions are so fricken petty and shallow. If your ideas were so true and strong, they would be able to stand one meeting with atheist remarks.

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If your faith can't be questioned, how strong can it be?

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Their faith is actually very weak. Weakness is why they get so defensive when someone challenges their faith in any way.

I always get more shit about being Atheist than I ever do about being Gay. Then I hit them with leviticus 20:13 and ask them why I should worship a murderous monster that calls for my death as a Gay man.

The topping is telling the Paul insists marriage is only for those xtian reprobates that cannot keep it in their pants.

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And only one, if your spouse died, it was game over.

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They do the invocations more to convince themselves they’re right than for any other reason. Well, not really more than forcing their views on others.

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That's because most of them are high level narcissists. They're all trying to hide the fact that they're insecure and full of shit.

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They absolutely can't stand having their deeply held religious beliefs treated as if they didn't represent reality. Yet, when brave atheists like this guy go out in public and stand up for a secular and reasoned government, there is a dearth of lightning bolts smiting them. I fear for his safety, though as some stochastically enraged terrorist is likely to come after in today's environment/ I hope he is on his guard.

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If truth was the product of belief, we would be living on a flat earth at the center of the universe.

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I’m a mere woman so you can be sure I’ll never talk back to you lest you beat me. As is your biblical right. How can anyone deny that these pre-science declarations can be challenged!? 🤦🏻

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Impie ! How dare you disrespect the Great A'tuin !!! I, hereby, condemn you to be stoned to death !

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I knew France was a long way off but I didn't think it was on the Disc.

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Since the city council insisted on a do-over, then every religion represented in Floriduh gets to do-over that do-over. Too fucking bad if the council has to sit there all day.

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Just wait until it's the Pastafarians turn, Christians would ask "What kind of nonsense is this?" without ever realizing the irony of their question.

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Lol. Christian Enlightenment is their goal, self-enlightenment not so much.

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Always others that need teaching, Never themselves because they already know it all. No wonder they are seen as insufferable assholes.

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🎯

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This is why we're not supposed to give religion a place at the table of governance. They just can't keep it in their pants and have to wave it in everyone's faces.

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𝐴𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠-𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 “𝑑𝑜-𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟.”

Except when you want to r̶e̶m̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶"̶C̶h̶r̶i̶s̶t̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶N̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶"̶ urinate on the Constitution.

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It's typical behavior. I hope that those Satanists who choose to deliver invocations continue to do so. In the future, make reference to another invocation that will follow. "A Christian here, today, will feel the need to invoke the name of Jesus to rectify through prayer the thoughts I have just imparted to you. My words stand alone to the truth, justice, humanity & compassion which we all hold in our hearts regardless of religious affiliation. I do not need to apologize for them, no one here needs to do that also and I take offense if they do."

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My thoughts, as well. You put it far better than I could.

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If you don't call in the right cleric to do the spell, then their council meeting might be infested with Satan and they might start hating on immigrants, refugees, poor people, and outcasts... wait, wait... no, I'm sorry, that is Supply Side Jesus who does that stuff... Satanists... uh... are body positive, for equality, and reason?

Wow.. yeah, you can see why they want to use their magic powers to nip that shit in the bud.

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Richardson needs to end his invocations with "no backsies". : )

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How about something like this:

𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑇𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠' 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝐻𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢 𝑜𝑟 𝐽𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑢𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑑.

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑂𝐹 𝑈𝑆.

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Troublesh00ter, Let’s just focus on an Islamic prayer and of course all joining in bowing to allah. Because it has been underrepresented for so many years, it’s their turn for the next 5 years. The christians would riot! Biggest hypocrites and divisive people on the planet!

I jest…but let them get a taste of “fairness”

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Too many big words.

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Bravo!

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I just watched 'Strays' last night. It seems that rule number one for dogs is the same as rule number one for Christians: "Whatever you pee on is yours".

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Yahweh apparently gets miffed if he doesn't get sufficiently name-dropped.

"Puny god."

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Hmph. I thought this story sounded familiar. It makes me wonder how scared / intolerant the mayor has to be to feel as though something as foreign to him as a SECULAR invocation requires the false balance of a Christian prayer to somehow counteract what went on before.

I'm pleased to see not only that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is on this case, but that they seem ready to totally go to the mat for Mr. Richardson and the other non-believers of Tavares. I see that as necessary, to remind those on the city council that the government they serve is SECULAR.

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When Hemant says "Portions of this article were published earlier", that just means he changed names and places on one of the four generic stories of christians behaving badly.

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In other words, Same Shit, Different District.

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Not for denazillon and his cringies.

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