Now Accepting Members to the Church of Rationality

Bill Maher on Religion and Society

"...anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you you don’t. How can I be so sure? Because I don’t know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not. The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that’s what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a littany of getting shit dead wrong… " (click link to read)

http://www.endhereditaryreligion.com/2009/03/bill-maher-on-religion-and-society/

Graduation Speech Rules 2009

Whoever is chosen to give a college graduation speech has the honor of getting 15 minutes to share something profound with thousands of people. I can imagine how daunting of a task it is to avoid disappointing the audience with 15 minutes of cliche, uninspiring words. Of course, there are basic guidelines:

1) Say something about the collective experience of the university graduates (for the graduates)
2) Say something about the value of the investment in that particular university (for the parents)
3) Say something about the need for graduates to stay connected with the university (for the endowment)

Because I attended multiple graduations for the class of 2009, I am entitled to comment on a 4th rule:

4) Say something exciting about the role of the graduating class in electing President Obama - something along the lines of "Yes we can, Yes we did" (for everyone who voted for Obama?)

And what about members of the audience who had not voted for Obama, because believe it or not, there are some! At Georgetown commencement, Gwen Eiffel advised that the best speeches are written with consideration of the audience. It became clear from the scope of her speech that by audience she meant those present who share her particular political affiliation. Addressing the entire class as the electors of the current president fails to speak on behalf of the entire audience, Gwen. Also abiding by this year's guideline #4, a student speaker at Brown congratulated the class of 2009 for a successful presidential election. While it may be safe to say that there are no conservative voters at Brown, it would be bold to assume that Obama was the unanimous vote. For those who don't understand that it is impossible to address a diverse crowd with specific political affiliations without also alienating members of that crowd, I would like to offer a revised guideline:

4) Say something celebratory about the universal success of the graduating class. (Shocking note to all speakers: Political successes, by definition, are not considered universal)

Say a Little Prayer... then Email it

Prayer takes various shapes and forms. Yesterday was my first exposure to prayer via email. It's no surprise that as BearingPoint collapses in on itself, so too does the general morale of the remaining workforce. One of the last men standing took it upon himself/herself to summon the company to prayer yesterday afternoon as the bankruptcy court determined the fate of employee severance packages. In an email to all emplyees he wrote;

"We have an hour to focus only on what we want, not what we don’t, so I urge you to pray with me:
God, please shed light, clarity and love on the courts, judges, lawyers, and especially the creditors that they see how important the BearingPoint team is and how deserving they are of the severance and PTO that is coming to them. May all BearingPoint employees receive their severance and PTO."

Yesterday the court ruled in favor of employee's receiving severance according to company policy, but determined that PTO needs to be considered further and should not be paid out at this time. What we can conclude from this chain of events is that God was in fact in the courtroom yesterday, and while we can thank Him for protecting our severance, we have to assume that He may have sat back while the court was in debate over employee PTO. To be fair, God doesn't get to take vacation days, so why should we?

(The email prayer was recalled a few hours after it was sent)