[Martinez]

First off, I want to say thank you for all the suggestions. The service went magnificantly and I feel I did a good job of inspiring people. However, in light of recent events (namely the shootings Knoxville Tenessess) I instead choose as a reading our Principles and Purposes since in times like this one's faith can be a powerful source of incouragement. As a faith and as a people, two fatalites and seven injured by a crazed gunman in the name of "gays and liberal religion" really hit us hard. This actually hit me doublely so since two FIRST Robotics students also died my freshman year at Clarkson and my brain likes to make connections like that.

As for the rest of the discussion, it's amazing how well FIRST lines up in to that of Unitarian Universalism. Also I would like to point out, just because someone is a Humanist (which has a strong foundation in Science and Technology) does not make them nonreligous. We of course should invite other faiths and their people to take part, but FIRST in of itself clearly should not try to be one of those bodies. To paraphrase Lord Badden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts: FIRST should be composed of those things core to religion (namely our values), but not be a religion in of itself.