A plutocrat, a pagan, and an atheist walk into a diner... Okay, it was a library, and it wasn't exactly a joke: On New Year's Eve Mayor Bloomberg held his annual interfaith breakfast at the NYPL and, for the first time, invited a group of six atheists to partake in the pancakes. “I also want to welcome, for the first time, those who don’t profess a faith but who do love our city,” the mayor said this morning. The controversial move was inspired by President Obama, who gave a shout-out to non-believers in his inauguration speech. The atheists elicited interesting responses from all across the religious spectrum, according to City Room.
"This Episcopalian priest turned around and kind of saluted me, and smiled, and it was like 'hey, welcome guys,'" said one guest, Jane Everhart, director of communications for New York City Atheists. Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian egg eaters all seemed equally unperturbed. The atheists themselves were respectful. There was some discussion of whether they would chime in with an invocation, alongside their faith-based compatriots, but in the end they sat and listened quietly, according to the Village Voice.
Vada Vasquez, the teen who survived a bullet to the head in November was another guest at the event. It was her second meeting with the mayor. Together with the Bloomberg, the priests, rabbis and pagans addressed a number of issues relevant to New Yorkers of all religious proclivities, like community outreach as a way of curbing gun violence.
