AZ lawmaker praised for opening session with atheist ‘prayer’

By C. J. Refsland on May 23, 2013 • ( 0 )

(RNN) – An atheist state representative from Arizona began Monday’s session with what has been described as an atheist “prayer” at a time when the Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of religious prayers at official political meetings.

According to the Phoenix New Times, State Rep. Juan Mendez, of Tempe, opened the session by asking people not to bow their heads as they normally do, but instead look around at their counterparts. He proceeded to talk about his “secular humanist tradition” and quoted popular science writer and atheist, Carl Sagan.

“This is a room in which there are many challenging debates, many moments of tension, of ideological division, of frustration,” Mendez said. “But this is also a room where, as my secular humanist tradition stresses, by the very fact of being human, we have much more in common than we have differences. We share the same spectrum of potential for care, for compassion, for fear, for joy, for love.”

Mendez continued, “Carl Sagan once wrote, ‘For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.'”

The atheist “prayer” was widely commended by atheists who saw Mendez’s opening statements as a form of sticking up for atheist beliefs.

“Thank you Rep. Juan Mendez for representing nonbelievers and secular humanist values!” tweeted Brianne Bilyeu, who blogs about atheism and science.

On her blog, Bilyeu continued: “Thank you for the god-free invocation, for being a role-model for other politicians who might wish to be more open about their lack of religion but who feel unable to do so in our current religulous political climate, and for upholding the constitution of the United States.”

The “religulous” was a reference to comedian Bill Maher’s 2008 documentary about his view that religious belief s a mental disease.

The Secular Coalition for Arizona, which was in attendance, commended Mendez on its Facebook page.

“We applaud the courage and character of Representative Juan Mendez for publicly standing in solidarity with Arizona’s secular community,” the statement read.

Two days later, however, Republican Rep. Steve Smith said Mendez’s statements were not prayer at all and asked other members to join him in a prayer of “repentance.”