RSS
Home
Lodi: Atheist finds Christians not that bad after all
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
By all accounts, David Diskin is a good neighbor.
His Lodi neighbors don't have to worry about a loud Tea Party or ACORN rally being hosted at his house. Diskin says he has never idenitified with the Republican or Democratic parties.
Diskin is a software trainer who received the Chamber of Commerce's Volunteer of the Year award in 2004, according to a Los Angeles Times article.
He's perfectly fine with living right next door to a church even though he has proclaimed to be an atheist.
However, when he heard that his city of Lodi had council meetings that opened with prayer, most of the time invoking the name of Jesus, Diskin said he had enough.
"When I learned that they were doing that, that was the last straw," said Diskin, a 14-year Lodi resident. "People of all faiths – or no faiths – should feel welcome."
Diskin and others formed "Lodi United" to voice opposition to prayer before city council meetings. After all, a mighty force for prayer was gaining momentum with the help of the Pray in Jesus Name Project led by former Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt.
Last Wednesday's special city council meeting to listen to public comments and vote on invocations was set to be quite a battle. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is the national atheists group that launched the controversy by threating a lawsuit against the city was in Diskin's and his group's corner.
After a marathon meeting lasting way into the night and with more than 700 people attending, the Lodi City Council voted to allow uncensored prayer to open its meetings ... and by all accounts, Diskin remains a good neighbor.
In Lodi, prayer opponents fear that the city's new policy will end up changing little, the Los Angeles Times reports. Despite the city's assertion that it will ask even atheists for invocations, Diskin remains a bit uncomfortable at the thought of Jesus' name still being used for the majority of the time.
There is one thing that might not remain the same with Diskin after this experience ... that is his perception of Christians. He told the Times he anticipated a load of hate messages when he got involved.
"It was quite the opposite," he said. "A very pleasant Christian woman came up to me at the rally and gave me a DVD about an atheist reporter in Chicago who was born again. She said I was the first atheist she'd ever met."
In Lodi, prayer stays, and for at least one man, a message of hate never came.
Photo: Diskin became local spokesman for those opposed to prayer at Lodi City Council meetings. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)
Sources include the Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Lodi News-Sentinel, and News10.net.
More articles by Alex Murashko at LA Church & State Examiner.
Related Articles:
Comments
