Rather than closing our eyes or bowing our heads, it is customary in a Humanist invocation to keep one’s eyes open. Look around at your neighbors, your colleagues, your fellow Human beings. Humanists have no holy books, only the literature and philosophy of humans who have gone before, whose ideas stand or fall on their own merit. My reading today is from the twentieth century activist Saul Alinsky:
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins, or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.”
This character, to some the personification of evil, and to others a poignant metaphor for freethought and the importance of challenging traditional authority, may divide people of different faiths, but no matter our creed, may a fair and religiously neutral government unite us all.
With these reflections, let us turn our hearts and minds to building a society where hearing all voices is not radical. Thank you all.
For the full story, check out Hemant Mehta’s blog post here.