Belfast Mayor doesn't do Grace before meal. People freak.

[EmainMacha]

The new Belfast Lord Mayor is a 28 yr old mum of one who is an atheist. At her installation she didn't ask anyone to say Grace and just had the food served. Apparently some people can't eat without a publically verbalised prayer and were horrified  Ah Northern Ireland. So not like the rest of the UK.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/09/04/belfasts-new-atheist-mayor-skipped-grace-at-dinner-and-everyones-freaking-out/

 

[Flossie]

Seems like the new Mayor did just fine.  Say nothing, just serve the food.  She wasn't holding anyone at gunpoint to make sure no one prayed.  A couple of tables held their own prayer, others just tucked in.  And there were probably people at the non-Grace saying tables that bowed their head for a private prayer and then ate their meal.

The article said that saying Grace at the installation dinner has been a standard for the last 25 years.  Belfast has been around a lot longer than that.  What happened 26 years ago when Grace wasn't said?

[47of74]

We don't normally do grace anymore.  Maybe at large family gatherings but otherwise on a day to day basis we just don't do it anymore. 

[Ais]

Only in Northern Ireland. Everything becomes an argument about religion, including the absence of religion! 

[acheronbeach]

Aaaand this is why all my relatives left Belfast for Canada, Australia, South Africa, England, and anywhere else that'd take them.  The Anglo-Protestant majority just get more vocal and regressive as they keep losing more and more of their privilege.