KENTWOOD, MI — An atheist group that sparked debate in West Michigan last fall over the necessity of God and religion has made good on their vow to sue a Rochester Hills county club for canceling an appearance by author Richard Dawkins.

The Kentwood-based Center for Inquiry-Michigan, a chapter of the nationwide atheist group, filed suit in federal district court Friday against the Wyndgate Country Club for allegedly denying use of the facilities to the public based on religious beliefs.

The complaint calls for unspecified damages based on breach of contract, and that the club be stopped from discriminating against others on religious grounds. The group is asking for a jury trial.

The suit alleges the club violated Title II of Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Michigan Civil Rights Act, which prohibit discrimination in public places based on religious beliefs — or lack thereof, claims CFI Michigan.

The suit follows a cancelled 100 seat, $95 per ticket dinner on Oct. 12 with noted atheist Richard Dawkins. The event was relocated to the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester.

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CFI Michigan claims in the lawsuit that club employees acting under the direction of owner Larry Winget called them to cancel the event because Winget “does not wish to associate with certain individuals or philosophies.”

Dawkins is something of a rock star among secularist circles and the lawsuit alleges the event coordinator at Wyndgate told CFI Michigan organizers that Winget made the call after seeing Dawkins on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Oct. 5.

During the O'Reilly interview, Dawkins discussed his new book, partially aimed at children, called, "The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True." Watch the segment here.

Dawkins is a British ethologist and evolutionary biologist. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and has written several books on atheism. His 2006 book “The God Delusion” sold more than 2 million copies and stayed on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list for more than 50 weeks.

CFI-Michigan executive director Jeffrey Seaver is a plaintiff in the suit. He blogged about the Wyndgate snub last October:

Seaver was one of the individuals who helped erect a controversial billboard in Grand Rapids last fall that read "You Don't Need God — To Hope, To Care, To Love, To Live." The billboard was immediately controversial in the heavily-religious West Michigan region and helped boost attendance at subsequent CFI Michigan gatherings.

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The Center for Inquiry identifies itself as an “international, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that encourages evidence-based inquiry into science, pseudoscience, medicine and health, religion, ethics, secularism, and society.”

CFI Michigan was originally formed as the Freethought Association of West Michigan in 1997 by Jeff Seaver, Don Hansen, and Charles Leedy.

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