Gathering Together, Assuming Risk, and Praying

THE PERILS AND PITFALLS of family holiday gatherings are well known to most. The drunk uncle. The eccentric uncle The religious fanatic. The pompous over dressed pseudo intellectual who simply must share. The strident political animals, left, right, and all stops in between. Even disparate football loyalties can engender stony silences, smirks, or even heated debates and violant outbursts. The coming together in a single kitchen, living room, home, or bathroom of people who are related by only blood but not proclivity or opinion is tantamount to a pile of dynamite stacked next to a gasloline can. As Goethe said: "We are united by sentiment, sundered by opinion." The rule of thumb is; keep your mouth shut and full of good food. Thus enters the proud self proclaimed atheist with his or her own agenda. Namely, to seek and insist on equal respect and participation in a world filled with pushy, intolerant evangelical Christians. They can become violent, and they pack heat. Our atheist is every bit as devoted to his religious views, of lack thereof, as any obnoxious, overbearing, preachy fundamentalist evangelical Christian who ever walked the planet or preached behind the pulpit. And, like many of today's devout, he feels persecuted. He believes, strangely, that there is a war against atheism, against the sacred constitutional ideal of freedom of religion or lack of religion. He envisions America as a place dominated by the Christian majority, a mob of fervantly faithful folk whose primary goals consist of converting every living soul on Earth to the true faith, which happens to be their faith, and, above all else, declaring America a Cnristian country by formal legislative action or presidential decree. Whatever is necessary, whatever works, as we say. Our Christian crusader family member and dinner guest is convinced that God's will includes prayer before every football game and town council meeting, white crosses at busy insersections, images of the handsome white Jesus looming over every hamlet, small town, or mega (MAGA) city skyline. Down to dinner sits the avowed atheist, with family and close friends clustered closely around an overcrowded table, a table festooned with heaping platters of sliced turkey, bowls and bowls of mashed 'taters, dressing, gravy, green bean cassoerle. The oldest man present, granddad, the patriarch, will of course say grace.Heads reverently bow, and the gentleman witness to the truth starts preaching and praying. "We thank thee oh Lord for the sacrifice of your only son, our sins washed away in the blood of Christ. Forgive us our sins, save us unto and into heaven, bless us, and our food"... The usual orders given to God, as we worship Him. What does the atheist do? He bows his head, closes his eyes, and pretends to pray, but of course does not. He does not believe in superstition, doesn't like bloody sacrifices, and knows damned well that his beliefs are as valid, (actually more vaild), worthy of respect and acknowledgment, neither of which he has any hope of getting in this retarded, brainwashed crowd. His choice is to either remain silent, or make some remark or comment plainly indicating to everyone present that he has no intention of taking part in their pointless ritual, but will magnanimously sit through it. The atheist has options. For may part, non - religious though I am, I pray. And I do it sincerely. I am, actually, a great prayer leader, because of my language skills. I can improvise a long, passionate, prayer praising God, without ever mentioning Chrisianity, and get way with it. Not only that, they'll love it, and be moved. Like Neils Bohr said when asked why the great scientist's study had an upturned horseshoe on the wall. "Because it might work, even though I don't think it does." Brilliant answer.