Meaghan McDermott

Staff writer

Before a room full of cameras and reporters Tuesday, Dan Courtney of Hamlin became the first atheist to deliver a secular opening invocation before the Greece Town Board.

The national spotlight -- reporters representing Reuters and The Associated Press were among those present -- was prompted by a a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that allowed prayer before public meetings.

As soon as the atheist invocation was over, people began leaving the meeting and interrupting efforts by the Town Board to have a moment of silence for Deputy Supervisor Jerry Helfer, who died Sunday at age 48.

The invocation sideshow drew one protester who said he felt compelled to come, but not enough to identify himself.

Courtney was among the first people to contact the town in order to get on the invocation schedule after the decision came down on May 5, upholding the town's prayer practice as long as the town does not discriminate against minority faiths or non-believers.

A member of the Atheist Society of Rochester, Courtney, an engineer, quoted the Declaration of Independence and called upon common principals that unite all Americans.

Listening to recordings of the oral arguments in the case of Greece v. Galloway, Courtney said he was struck by a rhetorical question from Justice Antonin Scalia.

"He asked 'What is the equivalent of prayer for someone who is not religious?' and there was this laughter in the courtroom," said Courtney. "That revealed this huge blind spot, not just of Justice Scalia, but of many thiests who don't understand how a nonbeliever can participate. I felt I needed to step forward and show that nonbelievers can participate and can provide invocations."

Two Greece residents — Susan Galloway, who is Jewish, and Linda Stephens, who is atheist — recently lost their challenge of the town's pre-meeting prayer practice. They had argued that the mostly Christian prayers preceding each meeting were exclusionary and unconstitutional. However, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, saying the prayers were in line with national legislative tradition, as long as the town does not discriminate.

Robyn Blumner, executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, said she hopes Courtney's words will help lift the stigma placed on non-believers.

"We envision a world where someday there will be no social costs for being secular," she said. "We are asking all people who are secular to come forward and offer invocations at their local meetings."

Blumner is part of Openly Secular, an organization that seeks to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance of secular people by encouraging atheists, agnostics, humanists and nonreligious people to be open about their beliefs. She took part in a conference call on Monday with Courtney and David Niose, immediate past president of the American Humanist Association.

Niose said that if there is a silver lining in the cloud of the Supreme Court decision, it is that it provides an opportunity for inclusiveness. His group has launched an secular invocation program that so far has drawn more than 150 applicants, more than two dozen of whom have already delivered invocations at local government meetings nationwide.

"It is doubtful that most municipalities go out looking for atheists and humanists to give invocations; they have no duty to go out and look for every religious minority so it is on the religious minority to assert their right to be part of the program," he said. "So we are giving them the tools they need so they can assert themselves in their local communities and be part of the program to give occasional invocations along with the Catholics, the Protestants and everybody else."

Courtney, a Palmyra native who was raised Christian and grew to nonbelief in his 20s, said he has been surprised by the media attention surrounding his invocation.

"I would like it to get to a point where this would not be news at all, but at the same time, I appreciate the attention because this is important in a society that to a large extent doesn't respect nonbelief," he said.

That sentiment was echoed by Blumner.

"By offering public secular invocations, we are creating a culture where everybody is accepted," she said. "We are taking a page from other groups that have come forward and said 'this is who we are' and joined forces with two dozen other secular organzations to make it possible for Americans to know that some of their friends, coworkers, loved ones are among the seculars who do not subscribe to a particular religion or who hold non-theist beliefs."

MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/meagmc