Atheists hold press conference on lawsuit over pre-meeting prayers

The Atheists of Florida will hold a press conference this morning about the group's lawsuit asking the city of Lakeland to end its invocations before city council meetings.

According to the suit, the group wants to "protect individual civil and Constitutional rights, including the right to be free from government intrusion into, entanglement with, and endorsement of religious matters."

The organization, which filed the suit Monday, suggests in the lawsuit that the city could hold a moment of silence, in which those attending could remain seated. This would allow attendees to pray, while also providing relief to those not wanting to participate in the formal invocation.

"That way no one is uncomfortable," said EllenBeth Wachs, director of the Lakeland chapter for the Atheists of Florida. "It's not government's business to tell me what to do in my religious life."

The press conference will be at 11 a.m. on S. Combee Road in Lakeland, in front of the group's "One Nation Indivisible'' billboard.

The organization said it spoke at City Council hearings in the spring about this issue and two representatives had a private meeting with Mayor Gow Fields.

Wachs said the atheists have been met with resistance and some people have been condescending at the public meetings. In March, the group had a private meeting with Fields, who remained adamant that the invocation was going to continue, Wachs said.

"They are forcing us to symbolically speak against our will," Wachs said.

Tim McCausland, city attorney for Lakeland, said he isn't surprised the state's atheist organization filed a lawsuit. The group became vocal and members said they felt unwelcomed or targeted after taking a stand not to pray, he said.

McCausland, however, disputes that assessment.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," said McCausland, who hadn't seen a copy of the lawsuit. "Our city commission has a very long track record of being open and respectful of people's issues."

He said the city sends out letters to churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations asking for someone to voluntarily participate in the invocation.

Religious leaders who respond are placed on a rotation to lead the prayer at the City Council meeting. The city doesn't review or edit the prayers. The invocation has helped start the meetings since the 1940s or 1950s, McCausland said.

In the lawsuit, Atheists of Florida contends that the people who are chosen have a bent toward Christianity and regularly invoke the name of Jesus Christ, which the organization believes is insensitive to other beliefs and inappropriate in government.