Let us pray.
No, let us prey.
Let us prey on those who, in the good names of diversity and inclusiveness and acknowledgement of a higher power, continue to defend a practice that has now morphed into a meaningless, trivializing gimmick. That is the tradition of City Council — following the Pledge of (“…One Nation, under God…”) Allegiance — starting each meeting with an invocation delivered by a token invitee. Ostensibly generic and sort of secular, but inevitably an unholy alliance.
The invitees have generally been Christians (usually ministers), occasionally Jews (typically rabbis) and once, memorably, an atheist. But in a politically correct era, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a pick-a-number experience with animists, agnostics, Buddhists, Confucians, Hindis, Muslims, et al queuing up for their share of nominal inclusiveness. And where do we draw the line? Santeria? Scientology?
What in Jesus’ name are we doing? Oops. See how hard it is to stay secular?
Anyway, I see where Alan Snel, the City Hall gadfly and diversity proponent who has weighed in on this issue, has been invited to deliver the invocation Jan. 15. Well, I would like to officially go on the record right now that if invited, I’d be pleased to deliver one myself. And although I acknowledge that I’m a George Carlin Catholic, I would promise to keep my invocation utterly generic and non-sectarian. In fact, here it is:
“Let us not be presumptuous enough to think that a deity — by whatever identity and one that not everyone agrees even exists — needs to be invoked in matters of liquor licenses, sewer repairs, local taxes and the like. Let’s simply focus on the reality that this Council has been elected to represent the best interests of Tampa. And remember that doing the right thing is not synonymous with doing the popular thing. And that what is good for the individual political careers of Council members is, candidly, not very important.
“Let us now take a brief moment of silence to reflect on this city’s priorities and what it meant to take that oath of office.”