Arizona State Representative was so Upset an Atheist Rep. Didn’t pray, he Prayed Twice

I missed this one last week, sorry.

So here’s what happened.  Arizona State Representative (and secular humanist) Juan Mendez gave an invocation that did not include God.  They take turns giving the invocation, it was his turn and he gave an invocation based on his beliefs.  Which is totally his fucking right.

Representative Steve Smith was so upset about it, he offered up a special prayer the next day for “repentance of the previous day.”  In addition to a prayer he’d already given.  Because he had to make up for Mendez, I guess.

Oh god, please forgive my fellow legislators for being tolerant of beliefs other than their own. As I’m the only one of them without sin, I’m going to cast the first stone.

Now let’s step back for a moment and ask what the appropriate response would be had Mendez given a Hindu prayer.  Or a Jewish one.  Or an Islamic one.  Would that have been OK because he’d mentioned a god or gods (even if they weren’t the right one)?

Assuming Smith’s response had been the same (two prayers to make up for the lack of a Christian one), would he have taken flak for choosing to disrespect any belief system other than humanism?

I’ll bet people would have been pissed as hell.  Not just Muslims or Jews or whatever other religion he’d chosen to disrespect but Christians as well.

As it is, Smith will be applauded by the religious right for standing up to the godless left even though the godless left has had to tolerate Christian prayer in the Arizona state house for every day except one.

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