Atheists claim Lakeland prayers discriminate against non-Christians

If you want to pray before a Lakeland city commission meeting, the Atheists of Florida prefer you do it silently.

The organization has even filed a federal lawsuit to prevent vocal prayer at the start of each of the commission's meeting.

Ellen Beth Wachs is the president of the Lakeland chapter of the Atheists of Florida. She's also named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city of Lakeland.

"Unfortunately their invocation practice is discriminatory against non-believers and believers of non-Christian faith, so we want to be fair to everybody," Wachs said.

The city of Lakeland currently invites clergy from a variety of religions and denominations to come offer the invocation at commission meetings. City officials say they've patterned the practice to be consistent with an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that allows prayer in public meetings.

Wachs argues through her lawsuit that a moment of silence would be far more appropriate and less discriminatory.

"It offends nobody, and everybody can choose what they want to do during that moment of silence. If you choose to pray you're free to pray. If you want to do a grocery list during that moment of silence you're free to do a grocery list. Nobody knows what you're doing, but nobody's stopping you from praying," Wachs said.

Wachs and her attorney, Eric Husby, held a news conference along Combee Road in Lakeland. The location is significant because it's the site of a billboard paid for by the Atheists of Florida. The sign reads "one nation indivisible".

Bernita Gigowski owns a business just across the street from the billboard and came over to the news conference to voice her Christian opinions about the organization's efforts.

"It's just a slap in the face to people of faith," Gigowski said. "It never ends. Until God is completely eradicated from our country and our traditional values people of non-faith will not stop. They will not be satisfied."

Husby said the lawsuit is not about eliminating any god from society. It's about removing all gods from government.

"Our Count One of our complaint is the establishment clause under the Constitution which means that the government should not be endorsing, sponsoring and preferring a particular religion or religion over non-religion," Husby said.

Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields, who is also specifically named in the lawsuit because he chairs the city commission, said he couldn't really comment on the lawsuit because the city hasn't received a copy of it yet.

"We have heard various iterations of it from various sources, but at this time we're really not prepared to answer any questions or try to delve into it any further, and at the appropriate time our attorneys will be responding," Fields said.

City officials say they do not plan to make any changes to their invocation practice in light of the lawsuit. They say prayers will continue to be a part of their meetings, held the first and third Mondays monthly.