New Orleans (LA) City Council Meeting

26 September 2013 | Harry Greenberger | 188 words (2:00)

Secular humanism is not a religion, except in the sense described by Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln said, “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.” Each of us is a minority. It might be race, religion, sexual orientation or nationality, but we’re all gathered here today, both religious and secular, I hope with a willingness to accommodate diversity and I’m sure with the shared belief that we must treat our fellow human beings with respect and dignity.

My invocation is to you, the city council, asking that you utilize the potential within yourselves and each other and apply your talents and your experience to address the problems and opportunities facing our community today. I invoke your ability to govern amid conflicting interests and issues, your sense of the true needs and welfare of the New Orleans people, your attention to a solution to rampant crime, your ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement. Let us commit together to inculcate the concepts of justice, equality, freedom, reason and compassion, into ourselves and our actions. Amen.

http://noshablog.blogspot.com/2013/10/greenberger-delivers-humanist.html

Portage (MI) City Council

23 July 2013 | Tim Earl | 402 words (2:13)

As you gather here today to see to the business of our city, I ask you to consider who you are here to serve. Not a deity, but the diverse population of Portage. This includes not only Christians of many sects, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, non-believers, and others.

As Aristotle said over 2,000 years ago, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Our community is made stronger by the presence of different cultures, traditions, and viewpoints. The freedom each of us enjoys to follow our own spiritual path with no government interference, established by our constitution over 200 years ago, has served as a shining example for the rest of the world, and has contributed to the astonishing success of our nation. When we forget or ignore this principle of inclusion, we turn our backs on the wisdom of the founding fathers and tarnish their legacy, weakening our society in the process.

We don’t have to respect each other’s views. But we do have to respect each other’s right to hold those views and practice their beliefs without fear of persecution, as long as it doesn't infringe upon the rights of others.

But the differences between us are really not that significant. Nearly every religion claims that its holy book serves as the basis for human morality, and yet they’re remarkably similar. Even atheists, with no holy book of our own, share many of the same values as believers. Whereas a Christian may value all life as a gift from God, an atheist values life just as much because he believes that it’s all we have, and all that we’ll ever be. In the end, our goal is the same: to enrich the lives of others and make the world a better place for everyone. It’s our common humanity, not ancient texts, that unites us all and guides us to treat each other with dignity and respect.

And so I ask you to consider that common humanity as you deliberate tonight.

Because in this chamber, it doesn't matter what Jesus would do, or Buddha or Mohamed, or even Jefferson or Lincoln. What matters is what’s best for the citizens of Portage today and in the years ahead. Let that be the principle which guides your decisions.

Arizona State House of Representatives

21 May 2013 | Juan Mendez: | 239 words (1:17)

Most prayers in this room begin with a request to bow your heads. I would like to ask that you not bow your heads. I would like to ask that you to take a moment to look around the room at all of the men and women here, in this moment, sharing together this extraordinary experience of being alive and of dedicating ourselves to working toward improving the lives of the people in our state.

This is a room in which there are many challenging debates, many moments of tension, of ideological division, of frustration. 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…

Carl Sagan once wrote, “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” There is, in the political process, much to bear. In this room, let us cherish and celebrate our shared humanness, our shared capacity for reason and compassion, our shared love for the people of our state, for our Constitution, for our democracy — and let us root our policymaking process in these values that are relevant to all Arizonans regardless of religious belief or nonbelief. In gratitude and in love, in reason and in compassion, let us work together for a better Arizona.

Wilmington (NC) City Council Meeting

2 April 2013 | Han Hills | 66 words (0:36)

As the council gathers here to make laws affecting the people of Wilmington I ask you to lift your heads, to open your eyes and open your hearts. Our most serious duty is to look to the community we share, the examples we make, and the legacies we leave. That should be our greatest, most courageous and noble intention. Let this be our most constant success.