Atheist calls on 'holy trinity of science' in Iowa House invocation

[trotsky]

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/atheist-calls-on-holy-trinity-of-science-in-iowa-house-invocation-20170405

DES MOINES — An atheist urged members of the Iowa House to “invoke the holy trinity of science made up of reason, observation and experience” as they went about their work Wednesday.

The trinity, Justin Scott of Waterloo said in offering the “opening prayer,” would allow lawmakers to address issues before them “without allowing confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance or intellectual dishonesty to blindly guide positions and votes.”

Scott, believed to be the first atheist to offer the morning invocation in the House, said his trinity isn’t rooted in dogma or doctrine and “doesn’t care what our feelings are or what our deeply held beliefs are.”

Scott, the guest of Rep. Timi Brown-Powers, D-Waterloo, said he put a lot of thought into preparing for the invocation but it didn’t hit him until about 4 a.m. that the message should be about process, “because at the end of the day, we are all humans and when we face challenges, all we can count on is ourself, the abilities we’ve been born with, the talents we’ve developed.”

[beam me up scottie]

1. Cue the conservatives who will squawk: SEE? THIS PROOFS SCIENCE IS A RELIGION!!

Herp derp derp!

Nicely done, Rep. Timi Brown-Powers! Let's hear it for reason!

[guillaumeb]

2. The "holy Trinity of science"?

Cultural conditioning in action.

Also interesting of Justin Scott to display the same bias and intellectual dishonesty he claims to oppose.

[Lordquinton]

4. What do you mean by cultural conditioning?

Seems an odd choice of words.

[guillaumeb]

5. I thought it was quite obvious.

Google "holy trinity" and apply that to my response.

[Lordquinton]

7. I know what holy trinity means

It's just not clear what you meant, doesn't make sense in this context.

[edhopper]

8. where was he

intellectually dishonest?

And what cultural bias?

[guillaumeb]

9. In his framing of what he apparently sees as his opponents. eom

[beam me up scottie]

10. Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how his colleagues treat non-Christians?

WICCAN PRAYER IN IOWA HOUSE HIGHLIGHTS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PROBLEM

Last week, when Wiccan priestess Deborah Maynard delivered the opening prayer for the Iowa House of representatives the leader of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) in Cedar Rapids became just the third Pagan priestess to offer such a prayer before a state body. Some members of the Iowa house boycotted her prayer by arriving late, and Rep. Rob Taylor (R-West Des Moines) actually turned his back to Maynard claiming it was a form of peaceful protest in response to a practice he perceived as spiritually evil.

This incident occurred almost one year after the Town of Greece v. Galloway decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that “sectarian” prayers before government meetings are constitutional, so long as no one is coerced to participate and the government doesn’t deliberately exclude representatives of other faiths from taking their turn to offer the prayer.

***

Rep. Taylor’s response to last week’s prayer shows why inclusion is not a simple solution. When minority religions give opening prayers, there have been retaliations from the majority in the form of political protests and—in some cases—vandalism and death threats. So the promise of rotating in prayers by minority faiths is less viable in practice than on paper. At worst, the language of pluralism in these contexts becomes a fig leaf that allows the religious majority to circumvent the Establishment Clause. According to RadioIowa, Dave Heaton (R-Mount Pleasant), a Christian, said “If we want to make a stink about who can do this and who can’t, we’re liable to lose the whole thing.” The “whole thing” in this case refers to opening prayers that are sectarian and predominately Christian.

http://religiondispatches.org/wiccan-prayer-in-iowa-house-highlights-religious-freedom-problem/

Or how they recently treated a gay Democratic opponent?:

Adel lawmaker accused of using gay slur

A central Iowa lawmaker has been accused of using a gay slur while making fun of a former political opponent at a public forum over the weekend.

State Rep. Ralph Watts, an Adel Republican, said in an interview Monday that the critics are wrong about the slur: They misunderstood a homonym.
"It was not a slur," Watts said.

A video taken at the Saturday forum at the Adel library shows Watts referring to business owner Bryce Smith — the Democrat whom Watts defeated in November to win his seventh term in the House — as either "Red Ryder" or "red rider."

The terms sound the same and are one letter apart. But the meanings are drastically different.

One Iowa, the Des Moines-based advocacy group, said in a news release Monday evening that "red rider" is a slur used to describe a gay man.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/07/adel-lawmaker-ralph-watts-accused-using-gay-slur/97578294/

And given the kind of legislation being proposed in the Iowa house I think his 'framing' is spot on.

Does Iowa need a law protecting religious freedom?

An Iowa lawmaker says he wants to see the state enact a "religious freedom restoration" bill modeled after the Indiana law that sparked national controversy amid concerns it discriminated against the LGBTQ community.

"What we have now is we have the freedom to worship as long as you’re worshiping at your church all by yourself," said Sen. Dennis Guth, a Republican from Klamme who said he's planning to introduce the legislation. "… You’re allowed to have your faith as long as you keep it to yourself, where we really should be able to openly carry our faith."

***

In the first four days of the session, which typically are marked by organizational meetings and ceremonial action, Senate Republicans have filed 60 pieces of legislation focused on issues such as abortion, gun rights and removing tenure for university professors. House Republicans have filed six bills, all of which are "housekeeping" bills related to legislative procedure.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/15/religious-freedom-bill-bold-action-big-distraction/96497766/

Rep. Brown-Powers should be given a medal of honour for trying to bring tolerance and reason into that house.

[Lordquinton]

15. Well put

[edhopper]

11. Oh I see now

what you are using in a pathetic attempt to discredit him.
Boy is that a weak and vacuous argument.

[IMG][/IMG]

[trotsky]

12. Precisely.

"Well well well, he used religious terminology so therefore he proved that religion is awesome and atheists need to shut up."

[edhopper]

13. To not understand the use

of a rhetorical flourish is quite interesting in showing his bias. cultural or otherwise.

[trotsky]

14. Oh, snap! n/t

[Lordquinton]

16. So you still haven't answered here

Last edited Mon Apr 10, 2017, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)

What did you mean by cultural conditioning?

[trotsky]

17. I suspect it's because he holds an opinion that is near and dear to many religionists.

(Regardless of where on the political spectrum they fall - because I've seen the same reasoning from them all.)

Namely, that religion (specifically Christianity) created the culture and social structure and entire zeitgeist of "the West", allowing atheists to function as something other than the immoral beasts they would normally be in a state of their own construction.

It's the polite way to put such an abhorrent and bigoted thought. One (thankfully) former DUer once stated the position quite succinctly when he said "None of us would want to live in a society without some sort of an ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith."

[guillaumeb]

19. I suspect you wish to frame my opinions and then attack those positions.

Feel free to link to my posts supporting your suspicion.

[trotsky]

20. When you refuse to answer the questions posed,

you leave others no choice but to speculate. You yourself have no problem doing that, so what's good for the goose...

[guillaumeb]

18. Conditioned by one's culture.

[Lordquinton]

21. That's not an answer

That's just reversing the words. Why are you so reluctant to actually stand behind what you wrote?

[rurallib]

3. IIRC last year they had a pagan

and what repubs stayed in the chamber rose and turned their backs to her. That is, If I recall it correctly.

Wonderful, respectful people.

[warmfeet]

6. Kick & recommend.