For Immediate Release: June 19, 2014

Contact: Paul Fidalgo, Communications Director

press@centerforinquiry.org - (207) 358-9785

Press Conference with Center for Inquiry President Immediately Following

Atheist Dan Courtney will deliver an invocation at the July 15 board meeting of the Town of Greece, New York, the municipality involved in the recent case of Town of Greece v. Galloway, in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of sectarian prayer at government meetings. The president of the Center for Inquiry, a secular advocacy group based in Western New York, will speak at a press conference immediately following the meeting.

CFI will be represented at the press conference by Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), an attorney, and author of the upcoming book The Necessity of Secularism. Last year CFI – an internationally renowned organization whose headquarters is in Amherst, NY – submitted an amicus brief to the Court in Greece v. Galloway urging them to rule against sectarian prayer at government meetings, on the grounds that they are exclusionary and discriminatory to those who do not share the majority faith.

“The Supreme Court’s ill-reasoned decision in Greece v. Galloway opened the floodgates to government endorsement of particular religions, casting nonbelievers and those with minority religious views as second-class citizens,” said Lindsay. “But one recourse available to nonreligious Americans is to ensure that the beliefs of the majority are not the only ones expressed at these meetings, and that the voices of atheists, humanists, and other nonbelievers are also heard. It is fitting that we undertake such an effort at a board meeting of the Town of Greece itself.”

Dan Courtney, a member of the Atheist Community of Rochester, will deliver the invocation and speak at the press conference, as will representatives of other organizations in support of church-state separation. Courtney’s invocation will center on the theme of inclusion in America, and how the Supreme Court’s decision in Greece v. Galloway conflicts with that ideal.

WHAT: Atheist invocation by Dan Courtney at board meeting of the Town of Greece, plus press conference with Ronald A. Lindsay of the Center for Inquiry.

WHERE: Greece Town Hall, 1 Vince Tofany Blvd, Greece, New York 14612

WHEN: Board meeting: 6:00pm ET; Press conference immediately after, approx. 6:15pm ET