Do You Want to Hear "Hail Satan" at Your Next Public Meeting

A borough in Alaska will decide soon on putting to a public vote the practice of opening their monthly meetings with an expression of religion. This happened after a group took the borough governing body to court and won so a variety of religious expression, not just Christian, is now required. Recently someone ended her speech with "Hail Satan."

When I started this blog a few years ago it was publicized on the Fargo Forum web page. More than one critic told me this was a travesty because atheism did not "represent the majority view of the community." Certainly it is not the majority view. According to polls, however, those who do not affiliate with any religious view are the largest group in the U.S. after Christian. I have no doubt this is true also of the upper Midwest where the Forum Publishing Company owns several newspapers.

One way to hear something you do not like in a "public prayer" at a public meeting is to include in your prayer something someone else does not like. Pray to save "unborn babies" and a prayer will be offered to save abortion rights.

There is a simple way to prevent obnoxious prayers from being presented, eliminate all prayers. If there are no prayers of any kind meetings will end a few minutes earlier. And, the same decisions, good or bad, will be made. Instead of perpetuating the myth that prayers contribute something the public would learn prayers contribute nothing.

I really like the work Satanists are doing in matters like these. For whatever reason, atheists have been unable to convince some avid Christians of the abstract idea that when they pray it opens the door for others to do the same. It is only when they are forced to hear and see something painful they understand the ramifications of public religion.

The so called "religious freedom" political movement is going to learn the same thing. When the Satanists use "religious freedom" to annoy Christians in some way that notion will be put on the shelf.