At this writing the Supreme Court is deliberating the legality of prayers being said before town government meetings in the town of Greece, New York. They took up the issue 30 years ago and decided that it was OK to say a non-sectarian prayer before Nebraska state legislature sessions. The complaints about prayers in Greece seem to focus mainly on the predominately Christian slant of the prayers.
We have the usual array of churches here in Wellfleet but I have a hard time imagining a clamor to have prayers said before our town meeting, whether because of our belief in strict separation of church and state or a large percentage of non- believers. Maybe we just figure town meeting has drama enough on its own without involving a higher power.
What gets lost in the debate about sectarian vs. non- sectarian prayer is those to whom prayer of any sort is an affront. Christian, Muslim—apparently in Greece they’ve had a Wiccan say the prayer. But what about atheism: I wonder if any of the town’s nonbelievers have gotten up to make a pitch for a life not hovered over by an Almighty or Supreme Being.
We’re supposed to have separation of church and state but there’s still “In god we trust” on our money. What about those of us whose motto, if we had one, would be “in godlessness we trust”?
Even the Supreme Court that will be making an influential decision about prayers in government kicks off its sessions with “God save the United States and this honorable court.”
Prejudice seems to be built into the very nomenclature. The term “atheism” sounds so negative, as in “the town atheist”, that contrarian crank whose main joy in life is trashing other peoples’ cherished ideas. But it’s hard to find a positive- sounding term. Even “secular humanism” implies that there is no spirituality–no spirit, no soul–to life not shadowed by a transcendent dimension..
What we need is a less bulky version of “Life-is- meaningful-in-its-own-terms-ism.”
It is amazing (to atheists) that such a large percentage of fellow humans is convinced that there is no intrinsic meaning to life, or not enough, so that “God”-based, extrinsic meaning is required for a liveable life.
You would think a doctor who spends his life saving lives would know firsthand about an intrinsically meaningful life. But Eben Alexander, MD has written a book, “Proof of Heaven,” about contracting a strange disease leading to a coma and “near-death-experience,” out of which he brings us the great news: “This life isn’t meaningless.” As if, neurosurgeon though he is, his life has hitherto been meaningless and the rest of us are surely stumbling around cluelessly in a desert of futility.
At a demonstration at the nuclear power plant in Plymouth in June one of the speakers took the microphone to urge the assembled to go to church as somehow related to the effort to close Pilgrim. The implication was that thie demonstration itself, this spirited, principled—and yes, soulful– defense of human life against a perceived threat were not enough, not meaningful enough, not spiritual enough in its own terms. As if worldly efforts couldn’t possibly get the job done without help from on high.
When it comes to important life stuff such as caring for each other, making a better world, being creative in solving life’s problems—even achieving a modicum of satisfaction and happiness–the godless can, and do, hold our own.
Without having to figure out which way works better, we need to begin to see that to make the debate only amongst variations of believers (many of whom are at each others’ throats) leaves out a minority (in countries such as France, England, Germany, a growing minority of up to 32%) with a whole other sort of spirituality, believers in a whole other meaning to life.
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