Lawrence Krauss
Just about anyone could come up with better moral commandments than the ones listed in the Bible. Massive missed opportunity if God had written them, but since they were written by iron age charlatans, it’s forgivable. What isn’t forgivable is the millions of people today who consider them the wonderful moral laws.
An atheist state lawmaker tasked with delivering the opening prayer for this afternoon’s session of the House of Representatives asked that people not bow their heads.
Democratic Representative Juan Mendez, of Tempe, instead spoke about his “secular humanist tradition” and even quoted author Carl Sagan.
“Most prayers in this room begin with a request to bow your heads,” Mendez said. “I would like to ask that you not bow your heads. I would like to ask that you take a moment to look around the room at all of the men and women here, in this moment, sharing together this extraordinary experience of being alive and of dedicating ourselves to working toward improving the lives of the people in our state.”
“I do not agree with calling secular people ‘nonbelievers’. I have lots of friends who hold on to secular view points and they are passionate believers; Passionate believers in the first amendment. They believe in justice. They believe in living moral and ethical lives. They believe in tolerance and nondiscrimination. So please, don’t refer to yourselves as ‘nonbelievers.” — Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) at the Secular Coalition for America’s recent Secular Summit & Lobby Day.
