Jon Walker

jxwalker@argusleader.com

Amanda Novotny will step forward this week to offer a few words of meditation before the City Council, as many others have done before.

Only she comes as an atheist, a rare sight for Sioux Falls city government.

Her moment is 7 p.m. Tuesday at Carnegie Town Hall. Her two-minute time slot, called the invocation on the meeting agenda, often is when a church pastor steps to the microphone and asks God to bless the meeting.

Novotny will call out a blessing as well. Her thoughts, however, will be in the form of a humanistic contemplation exhorting the council and mayor to work in their own power to address the issues of the day. She hadn't framed what she would say before an interview last week. But one word her comments will not include is God.

The goal is "humans making the world better, not relying on a supreme power to do so," she said.

Novotny is president of the Siouxland Freethinkers. Her occasion to speak to the council arises after a Supreme Court ruling in May upheld invocations of of a town board in Greece, N.Y. The court rejected a complaint that primarily Christian prayers before that board amounted to government establishing a religion in violation of the First Amendment. The court's 5-4 ruling was a victory for defenders of public prayer. But in the ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy said opportunities to lead invocations must extend to "a minister or layperson of any persuasion, including an atheist."

Dave Pfeifle, city attorney for Sioux Falls, said it didn't take a Supreme Court ruling for atheists to qualify for the Sioux Falls agenda. It's always been a possibility, and there's no way to know whether Novotny is first. The invocation is embedded in a city ordinance dating at least to the 1990s. There's no screening and therefore no exclusions.

"People just ask to get on the list," he said. "It's wide open. We never know the religion or the background in terms of any of the volunteers."

In reality, though, the Supreme Court ruling was Novotny's ticket. She called the city clerk the day of the announcement and signed up to speak. Her appearance Tuesday makes Sioux Falls one of dozens of U.S. cities to have atheists volunteer for invocations since the court decision.

"What you're seeing in Sioux Falls is what we're seeing in other parts of the country," said Patrick Elliott, staff attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis.

The foundation last year asked the Rapid City Council to abandon its practice of a prayer before meetings, which had been conducted by ministers since the 1950s. The council rejected that request, and the Supreme Court ruling bolstered the decision. Brad Estes, council vice president, said the mayor's office decides who gives the invocation.

"As far as I know, it's open to any religion," Estes said.

Novotny, 33, is a psychology graduate of South Dakota State University who works for a nonprofit organization. She and her husband, Eric, live in Brookings. She enjoys Fleetwood Mac, car racing, Kurt Vonnegut's books and painting abstracts with acrylics. She and her religious friends give each other space on matters of faith.

"I could definitely be convinced of God if people presented enough evidence, something that could be documented," she said. But she considers the Bible narrative too much of a stretch.

"There might have been a guy named Jesus, though I don't think he died and came back to life," she said.

The Siouxland Freethinkers formed in 2011 to build a community for people with alternative viewpoints, Novotny said. Members include atheists, agnostics and humanists, and a Christian who considers himself a skeptic.

"The common denominator is they don't believe in God," she said.

The group hosts dinners and seminars and does public service projects such as blood drives, school supply collection and litter cleanup.

She does not think it odd that a resident of Brookings would be the one addressing the Sioux Falls council at what could be a milestone in the annals of council invocations. The Siouxland group covers a broad area but has a Sioux Falls base and meets once a month at the downtown public library.

It is ironic, though, that the opportunity comes by way of the Supreme Court, she said. She wanted the New York ruling to go against the town of Greece and end opening prayers at council meetings everywhere. That would have made her Carnegie Town Hall visit unnecessary. But as long as it didn't, she has an opportunity to open Tuesday night's meeting.

"I wish we didn't have to do this. but this is what we have to deal with," Novotny said.

"We don't think freethinkers or anybody should do it, but given the legal framework we're under, it's better than not participating," Elliott said from Wisconsin.

Communities have wrestled with concerns about civic prayer for years and how a council should balance tradition, courtesy and diverse views about God.

It's an easy question — don't do it, Elliott said.

But suppressing religious expression would disregard a common interest of citizens, said the Rev. Val Putnam, pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church and a frequent volunteer for City Council invocations.

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah advises readers in chapter 29 to "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf." In the New Testament, Paul of Tarsus urged in the letter of First Timothy "that prayers ... be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."

The directives do not specify that such praying be public, but other Scriptures implore believers to be good citizens supporting their government.

"I see it as my civic duty as a pastor in this community to ask God's blessing over council members and all who attend and the decisions that are made," Putnam said.

The First Amendment is a protection "of" religious expression and not "from" religious expression, Putnam said. It should lead to a vigorous exchange of ideas in the marketplace, including religious ideas that are genuine and expressed with appropriate courtesy, she said.

Putnam defends Novotny's right to speak and said she will be listening Tuesday.

"It will not be a prayer," Putnam said. "What they bring before the council as they invoke the strength of the universe or whatever, I do not know."

James Foster, assistant professor of philosophy and theology at the University of Sioux Falls, said expressions of faith or secular views should not be filtered through an editing process to fit an audience.

"A humanist should say what he or she believes," Foster said. "A Muslim should say what he or she believes. A Christian should say what he or she believes. There may be appropriate times not to speak, but from a Christian perspective, one of the great virtues is hospitality. If somebody is humanist and wants to offer a meditation, it seems inhospitable to shut them down."

At City Council, the judgment of what to say rests with the speaker. All three council meetings in July opened with prayers of Christian content, but without mentioning Christ. One council member, Michele Erpenbach, gave the invocation July 15, filling in for a pastor who could not attend. She called on a "dear wise and loving creator" to help the council work through the evening's agenda and to "grant ... harmony even when there is honest disagreement." An invocation June 10 by Brett Best, pastor at Emanuel Baptist Church, stood out in contrast. He asked that "politics" become a word standing for cooperation on shared problems and ended by saying "I ask these things in Jesus' name."

Some invocations through the years have made no reference to God or any element of faith, Pfeifle said.

"Sometimes people read a motivational passage. Sometimes it will be secular in nature. More often than not, it's religious, but sometimes it's secular or meditative. That's up to the volunteer presenter."

Novotny said she will have a written script for Tuesday and will keep it under two minutes.

"What I'm planning is an inclusive and positive message," she said.