Atheist group to sue Brevard over invocation policy

Update: Tuesday, 1:10 p.m.

A coalition of atheist and agnostic groups is suing Brevard County over a policy that excludes religious non-believers from giving the pre-meeting invocation at the start of County Commission meetings.

The federal lawsuit comes on the same day the County Commission voted unanimously to affirm that policy.

Original story

Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith says he wants to make it clear that representatives of atheist, agnostic and secular humanist groups are more than welcome to address commission meetings. Only not during the invocations at the start of the meeting.

The commission has been at odds with several such groups, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, over whether atheist and agnostic representatives can be part of the rotation of speakers giving the invocation that opens commission meetings.

Smith wants to clarify the issue with a proposal that will come up for discussion Tuesday that puts in writing what commissioners have said in the past. The atheists and agnostics can make a statement about their beliefs during the public comment period, but the pre-meeting invocation is reserved for representatives of the "faith-based community."

"The invocation is for worshipping the God that created us," Smith said Monday. Atheist and agnostic "are not going to take the place of the godly invocation. Absolutely not."

Smith said he believes the issue could wind up in court.

Smith said County Attorney Scott Knox crafted the 11-page resolution related to the pre-meeting invocation policy, after commissioners received a joint letter from the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

That letter, dated May 26, asks the commissioners to allow five listed "nontheistic individuals ... or other representatives or members of nontheistic organizations ... be permitted to deliver nontheistic invocations at the opening of the Board of County Commissioners meetings." Four of the five people listed in the letter as requesting to give the invocation are Brevard County residents.

"We will treat a failure to respond to this letter as a denial to our requests," the letter states.

In his proposal, Smith suggests specifying a policy that "allows the traditional faith-based invocation prior to the beginning of the board's secular business agenda, and subsequent 'secular invocations' during the public comment section of that secular agenda."

The agenda report to commissioners on this issue indicates that, based on research by the county attorney's office, "it seems very likely" that the County Commission's "pre-meeting invocation process will end up in litigation."

Smith said, with his proposal, "we've basically outlined our defense" to a potential lawsuit "right from the get-go."

Research by the county attorney's office found that the County Commission, for at least the last 44 years, has observed the tradition of calling for a ceremonial invocation, in the form of a short prayer, delivered before the start of the commission's business meeting.

Currently, commissioners, on a rotating basis, select members of the clergy to present the invocation. For Tuesday's meeting, for example, County Commission Chairman Robin Fisher chose Brevard County Sheriff's Office Chaplain Roger Alexander to present the invocation.

Knox contends in his report that "supplanting traditional ceremonial pre-meeting prayer" with an invocation by atheists or agnostics "could be viewed as county hostility toward monotheistic religions whose theology and principles currently represent the minority view in Brevard County." Furthermore, "such action may be deemed to violate the Constitution of the state of Florida."

County commissioners in August and November unanimously supported the current policy of faith-based invocations at the start of meetings, in spite of claims by supporters of atheist, agnostic and secular humanist groups that the policy was discriminatory.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 and dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54