Bow Your Head? Close Your Eyes? How to act when saying grace 101.

[Robert Karp]

My guess is that this has been covered in another forum but I wanted to throw it out there;

 

So who among us has been the following situation: You are sitting at a friends or even a family's dinner table and everyone gets ready to say grace. Everyone bows their heads and or closes their eyes.  What do you do?  Do you close your eyes and or bow your head out of respect and think to yourself "omg this is such bs", or do you hold your atheist head up high with a kind of "suck-it" mentality I am not going to coddle you just because you expect me to, I'm an atheist dammit and proud of it!!! 

 

Would love to hear your thoughts and stories!!

[Robert Karp]

I love the thought of leading a secular prayer! Like a preemptive strike!!!!! They wont know what hit them!!!!!! I love it.

[Ray Simmons]

On occasion, when we have had religious people over for Thanksgiving, I said something simple like, "Thank you Mother Nature for our food today and thank you for our wonderful friends and family".  The more religious people will look startled at first and then smile.  It seems to satisfy everyone somewhat.

[Will]

I always say.....WE bless the plants and animals that have given their lives so we may sustain ours.

 

No mention of god.

[Will]

Honor and extend gratitude, for the most part. I think people can bless all life, even their friends and family, without involving the notion of god. In fact, It is only US that can bless anything, since we are the only real beings. And I guess I think we should claim that role.

[Southern Skeptic]

Someone I know does that. Everyone joins hand and then he intones "We are very grateful for the food we are about to eat", or something like that.

 

I like that, but I would never do it. 

[IEatDinosaurMeat]

Okay, I understand and like what you have to say.

[Jonathan Danilowitz]

Being gay at an orthodox wedding is great. I prefer dancing with men anyway.

 

[Robert Karp]

lol!

[Southern Skeptic]

Somehow I don't think that they would approve :-)

[IEatDinosaurMeat]

Yeah, someone made a better analogy below that I wish I had thought of. The national anthem one works great for this.

[Jonathan Danilowitz]

Just as I want others to respect my wishes & opinions, so I respect theirs. I can't see anything wrong in sitting quietly during their cermeonial garbage (thinking about the meal, a movie I just saw, or the host's great collection of cds - anything pleasant) while they do their thing.

[Brandon]

My family has always prayed before any "gathering" type of meals. However, none of them actually attend church regularly (hell, they aren't even Easter/Christmas Christians). I used to be the one to pray at every get-together. When I left the delusion the arbitrary ritual was more or less passed down to my youngest cousin. He chants the familiar "god is good, god is great" prayer (and the shortest version I've heard, at that). I don't stand in great protest, but I more or less take the opportunity to watch them all bow their heads out of habit and see the "hurry-the-hell-up" expression most of them make. I would not doubt this will soon pass by the wayside. I look forward to the day when they realize the stupidity of going through the motions.