"I am well aware that many secular conservatives are convinced that they cannot believe in or practice any religion.
To these people, I say: So what?
Once you realize that America’s future depends on Americans affirming “In God We Trust” just as much as they affirm “Liberty” and “E Pluribus Unum,” you have to work on taking God and some religious expression seriously. You should emulate parents who are tone deaf who nevertheless give their children piano lessons.
“Fake it till you make it” is one of the many great insights of 12-step programs. The rule applies to everything good that does not come naturally.
Find a clergyman who shares your values and regularly take your child (or grandchild) to religious services.
Study the Bible with your child or grandchild on a regular basis. Lincoln rarely attended church, but he read the Bible every day. If you need a rational approach to God and the Bible, I suggest beginning with any of my three volumes of Bible commentary, “The Rational Bible.”
Say a blessing before each meal. Even if you’re secular, that shouldn’t be too difficult.
I promise you that whatever discomfort you experience acting religious pales in comparison to the discomfort you will experience if your child or grandchild ends up woke."
:data-laughing:
I say a blessing before every meal. I do it silently and it goes like this: "Thanks be to the workers who made this meal possible. Thanks be to the farmers who grow our food."
Even if you believe the whole world was built and ordained by god I think you are doing a disservice to your fellow humans if you do not acknowledge the labor that went into it. If you thank a mechanic for fixing your radiator you can thank labor for your food at the dinner table.
Personally I like to begin every meal with a meditation on how the most merciful thing in the world is the inability of our minds to properly correlate their contents, and how we live on a placid isle of ignorance amidst the black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
rip to your psyche but mine is out voyaging out into the infinite horizon every day and it loves it.
H P Lovecraft was a punk, I could describe cosmic horrors I just choose not to :swole-doge:
HP Lovecraft's idea of an incomprehensible horror was an italian guy, dude was just racist
But all the pasta shapes are incomprehensible and he smelled of an exotic spice called "garlic"
lmaoooo
I think I'm going to start doing this.
So many indigenous peoples and non-Christian cultures have a gratitude moment before meals, and I think understanding the labor and care that went into it, including acknowledging and thanking the earth for its bounty is important, regardless of religion.