Why we should have ceremonies with religious speeches

A benediction speech during graduation at Midwestern State University. It’s the best argument for encouraging religious performances in public events that I’ve come across in a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqLvV21tsdw

I figure that if you have a zealous religious performance along these lines, anyone with some sanity remaining will be embarrassed or repulsed by such a display. It will reinforce any inclinations they have to keep some distance between religion and things that actually matter.

And if you have a generic performance approaching “ceremonial deism,” well, the result will mostly be thoroughly boring and conventional. Again, people with some inclination toward independent thought will not be impressed, and they will tend to think that there is not much content behind a lot of religious speech.