Christian News Network — A professing atheist recently delivered an opening invocation before the Iowa House of Representatives, in which he promoted atheistic ideals and converted a well-known Old Testament passage into a secular “prayer.”
The Iowa House has a longstanding tradition of opening its meetings with prayers, which are typically offered by local pastors. However, on Wednesday, Justin Scott of the Eastern Iowa Atheists organization delivered what was reportedly the first ever atheistic invocation before the House.
“Instead of closing your eyes and bowing your heads today, please keep your heads up and your eyes open to be fully alert in this moment,” Scott began.
“As you convene here in the people’s House, let me implore this body to invoke the holy trinity of science,” he continued. “Made up of reason, observation, and experience, this trinity has allowed humanity to explore the deep reaches of space, develop life-saving medicines, and vastly improve the human experience.”
“This body should be able to tackle the many difficult issues facing the great people of the state of Iowa without allowing confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, or intellectual dishonesty to blindly guide positions and votes,” he added.
Scott, who is a self-employed Iowa native, went on to contrast the “trinity of science” with religious dogma and claimed that truth propels evolution forward.
“The trinity I invoke today isn’t rooted in any kind of doctrine or dogma,” he stated. “In its pursuit of truth, it doesn’t care what our feelings are or what our deeply held beliefs are on a particular issue. Truth can sometimes be uncomfortable, but it plays a large part in the ongoing evolution of our species.”
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