One of the few prayers that has stuck with me since becoming an atheist is the Serenity Prayer.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,The courage to change the things I can,And the wisdom to know the difference.
Now that I've seen the secular light, I know that it's pointless to ask of God what we can do for ourselves. This revised "prayer" serves as a reminder to do just that.
Brain, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Revising further, it serves a new purpose. This is a reminder that while encouraging critical thinking and challenging fundamentalism is great, religious debates with some theists are a waste of time and resources. Furthermore, our own beliefs should always be subject to change given new insight or information.
Brain, grant me the serenity to accept the beliefs I cannot change,
The courage to change the beliefs I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
The Serenity Prayer, it's not just for theists and alcoholics anymore.
