Over the Christmas season, you often get to observe people giving thanks
for a meal who wouldn’t do it ordinarily. You can tell it’s a special event
because they refer to it as “saying grace”, as if it’s some kind of annual sacrament
rather than just another in a thrice-daily series of simple, grateful responses to God’s generosity. Often the head of the family feels compelled to do the
honors.
Now, from time to time it happens that the person drafted to perform this
duty has given little or no thought to the question of God’s existence one way
or the other. He is now put on the spot. It can be fun, and a bit awkward, to
watch someone pretend to address a Supreme Being they don’t truly believe in. Their
whole “grace” thing usually gets mumbled out strung together like it’s one
word: Forwhatweareabouttorecieve ...
Hey, it helps to have a familiar liturgical formula to recite. Anybody
can pull that off, believer or no.