Religious Freedom Groups Call on Federal Court to Defend Rights of Atheists
ATLANTA 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation urged a federal appeals court today to uphold a ruling that struck down a Florida county鈥檚 exclusion of nontheists from giving opening invocations at meetings of the Board of County Commissioners.
The groups filed the brief at with Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Williamson v. Brevard County.
Brevard County鈥檚 policy that permits only people who believe in a monotheistic God 鈥� and not atheists, Humanists, and other nontheists 鈥� to open meetings with invocations. At board meetings, plaintiffs said they felt pressured and coerced to participate in prayer and excluded from the meetings.
鈥淭he district court correctly held that Brevard County鈥檚 discriminatory policy for selecting invocation-speakers violates the U.S. and Florida Constitutions,鈥� argues the brief. 鈥淭his court should affirm the district court鈥檚 grant of summary judgment to plaintiffs on the issue of discrimination in the selection of invocation-speakers.鈥�
In its recent decision, the district court stated, quoting another case, 鈥溾�榌T]he great promise of the Establishment Clause is that religion will not operate as an instrument of division in our nation.鈥欌�� The opinion continues, 鈥淩egrettably, religion has become such an instrument in Brevard County.鈥�
Daniel Mach, director of the 老澳门开奖结果 Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said, 鈥淭he county has imposed a religious litmus test on civic participation, shirking its constitutional duty to treat all local residents fairly and equally."
Freedom from Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor, said, 鈥淐ourts have historically recognized that the government may not turn believers into insiders, and nonbelievers into outsiders. Governmental bodies opening their meetings with invocations can鈥檛 exclude dissenting points of view.鈥�
Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a statement, 鈥淣o one should be excluded from civic affairs because they do not believe in God. Prohibiting nonbelievers from solemnizing governmental meetings is religious discrimination, plain and simple.鈥�
