In case anyone cares: Warren's Inaugural Prayer Transcript
Offline Almighty God, our Father:
Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.
It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.
History is your story.
The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one." And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.
We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new president, Barack Obama,
the wisdom to lead us with humility,
the courage to lead us with integrity,
the compassion to lead us with generosity.
Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans--united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.
When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you--forgive us.
When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone--forgive us.
When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve--forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.
May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.
And may we never forget that one day, all nations--and all people--will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, 'Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
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He tried to do a little bit of tolerance. It must've been like passing a kidney stone so he gave up.
As a prayer in a nation full of Christian sheep, it's tolerable.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
If Warren and the rest of the Christians would keep this in mind, realizing it means the freedom to not believe in myths it would be a really important step forward.
Does anyone really think he meant that?
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Yep. I thought it OK. Strip out the God stuff, and it's a sentiment I share.
The God stuff was thick enough that there was very little left after you remove it, though.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
The only thing that particularly irks me about it is that he managed to skirt around the letter of the law and turn it into a sectarian prayer by making it very clear which god he was personally referring to.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
Oh, and that is annoying: that he was able to very clearly invoke the Christian god. It's not even subtle!
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
The prayer served its intended purpose - making Rick Warren the next Billy Graham.
A nit
Minor though it may be, it always irks me when people make this mistake:
Use natural numbers fuckwit! Not real ones. Presidents are members of a set of things that are counted. Therefore George Washington was the first president, not the zeroeth prsident. And this was the 43rd transition of power.
Of course, that would require you to flex that mental muscle of yours on the level of a third grader. Something of which you are clearly not well acquainted.
That is all.
=
Unless you look at John Hanson, who served as President while the US was under the Articles of Confederation.
http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html
Washington was the first president under the Constitution but not the first US president.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
[Hambydammit sits back to watch the presidential trivia dick length challenge]
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
Jesus fucking christ! that's almost as bad a my grandpa's never ending prayers were. Everyone is all sinusy in this humid stuffy church and we have our heads down with our noses running while he blabs on and on about FSM knows what for all e-freakin-ternity. What's wrong with, "rub dub dub, thanks for the grub."?
"I've yet to witness circumstance successfully manipulated through the babbling of ritualistic nonsense to an imaginary deity." -- me (josh)
If god can do anything, can he make a hot dog so big even he can't eat all of it?
Not from me - I have poor white boy's trivia disease. That's one of the few things I remember.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
Look guys, I can appreciate the criticism. BUT, did you read the quote from OBAMA in my sig.
You might not be getting it. Movements, just like women, gays and blacks went through, didn't happen over night. President.....OH BOY DOES THAT MAKE ME GIDDY......President Obama, included us in his speach. He is opening the political door of oportunity, in the future for people other than Christians.
We can focus on criticising the Christian monopoly, or we can keep repeating Obama's quote which is one every citizen of every label should do. By doing such we will be building future generations that will be more open minded. Remember at one time blacks couldnt even get a local office or even be a dog catcher. When I was a kid, and not even 10 years ago did I think yesterday was possible.
Obama is repeating the neutrality that Jefferson clearly wanted in the "wall". He is also making it more possible for people like Keith Elleson(muslim) and Pete Stark(atheist) to be not only part of our Congress, but more and more diversity in local governments as well.
If you didn't read the transcripts of the speach you should.
I am leaving his quote up, probibly and hopefully for the next 8 years. He considers us citizens as well as non-Christians and said so, read his quote in my sig.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
Hope you're not putting too much credit into what sounded like an afterthought.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
No, that was not thrown in on the spot, he mentioned atheists in church speech early in his campain, and my friend saw him give a speech on his train trip over the weekend, and he mentioned our diverse citezenry there too.
He has consistantly mentioned other religions and atheists as being citizens, so it is quite appropreate, and it was either his mom or grandmother who was an atheist, so he has a vested interest because atheists are part of his family. He wouldn't dissown his family unlike Cheny's theocratic backstabbing his own daughter's gayness by not sticking up for her, other than to tell the press to fuck off while still being part of an administration that that treats his own daughter as second class.
I think you are being too much of a synic. Considering his own familyu's diverse background, that comment was not on the spot, nor was it insencere.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
I think the point is that it was there. He said it. George Bush would not have said it. John McCain would not have said it. I suppose that it's something, even if it was an afterthought. I don't think it was.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4
skip to just before the 14:28 mark and that is where it is.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
It might just be his speaking style. I'm going to wait till action meets rhetoric, though.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
There's a few articles out there saying things about Obama being good for science. You take that into account with him saying "and nonbelievers" and you have some promise.
Honestly I think as long as the ID Movement doesn't gain any ground(funding in science is increased, etc) and non-christians are promoted as equals we'll see a better place amongst the states.
I am an Ex-Christian.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
I wonder if this country is capable of electing an atheist anytime in the future. Probably not since the uproar in revamping that prayer, among MANY other aspects, would be just too much for the zealots to bare.
I'm happy he's there but I can't get overly excited. Too much work for him and us to do.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
No work for me. Good luck on fixing your country.
I actually wasn't TOO annoyed with Warren's spiel. At least no more annoyed than I am with any theist who waxes touchy-feely about Skydaddy. Most of his speech struck me as typical theist hoopla, and I just tried to steer my mind around all of the uses of "god" and "lord" and "father" etc.
Strangely, though, I winced extremely hard when he invoked the name of Jesus; not just once, but he actually punctuated his invocation of Jesus by rattling off several pronuncations.
I think it struck me as more of a big deal because mere god talk is relatively benign anymore. I mean, what the fuck do people even mean by God? No one knows, everyone has their own idea, everyone has varying strength of believitude (if they believe at all), and some people only use the word "God" poetically or out of respect of some tradition. So whatever. God talk is no big deal. I felt like most of that would just go in one ear and out the other. But when he said JESUS JESUS JESUS JESUS, I was a little worried.
Please, rest of the world. Don't think we're going to fire up the Jesus missiles. He's just a publicity whore with a Jesus angle.
A place common to all will be maintained by none. A religion common to all is perhaps not much different.
lol, arsehole
Huh? Wha? Oh! Nonbelievers. Whew! For a minute there I thought that we were all gay black women, which I admit sounds kind of fun, but it did confuse me.
It takes a village to raise an idiot.
Save a tree, eat a vegetarian.
Sometimes " The Majority " only means that all the fools are on the same side.
I would say that Obama and his views about the whole religion issue are not the most terrifying thing I've seen yet. He seems to have a pretty neutral view of the whole discussion. Thus far he's the politician I hate the least.
It's not the worst news I've ever heard but I'm not going to get all weepy about it. While religion still has a straight razor to the throat of the world I will take small gestures for what they are... small gestures.
Oh, and the sermon we had before Obama took the stage?!?! Yeah, I couldn't make it through it and turned the fucking thing off. That schmuck stood up there and reminded me what I was watching, a song and dance where the haves numb the have-nots for a few moments. I skipped it and got back to reality. There were enough sobbing and praising wishful thinkers on the lawn to last a life time. I decided they didn't need me watching as well.