NY town bans atheists from delivering invocations after Supreme Court prayer victory

[LostOne4Ever]

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In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in its favor, the town of Greece, New York issued a new policy that will bar atheists from delivering opening invocations at city functions, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) reports.

According to the new policy, “[t]he invocation shall be voluntarily delivered by an appointed representative of an Assemblies List for the Town of Greece.” That list will be compiled by the clerk of the town board, and will consist of “assemblies with an established presence in the Town of Greece that regularly meet for the primary purpose of sharing a religious perspective.”

This policy dictates that no group lacking a “religious perspective” will be allowed onto the “Assemblies List,” which means that speakers who lack such perspectives will not be eligible to deliver opening invocations. The “Assemblies List” will consist of “all ‘churches,’ ‘synagogues,’ ‘congregations,’ ‘temples,’ ‘mosques’ or other religious assemblies in the Town of Greece” — meaning that the policy specifically excludes anyone who does not participate in a “religious assembly” from delivering an opening invocation.

The Town Board justified its decision by noting that “our country’s Founders recognized that we possess certain rights that cannot be awarded, surrendered, nor corrupted by human power, and the Founders explicitly attributed the origins of these, our inalienable rights, to a Creator.” The policy does not “show a purposeful preference of one religious view over another,” because it does not permit “the faith of the person delivering the invocation to be considered when extending an invitation[.]”


More at link

[Warren Stupidity]

1. ugh.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. I'm waiting for the wiccans and satanists to show up.

Don't they have religious assemblies?

But still, it sucks that they don't allow atheists. They're taking the deism of the Founders and pushing it into Christianity.

Bet they don't know about atheist Buddhists either.

[AlbertCat]

6. They're taking the deism of the Founders

And they also appear to think the Declaration of Independence is some kind of document of US law.... like the Constitution.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Slippery slope. nt

[defacto7]

4. It's always something.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. No problem, I'll just go get my Colander...

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Quick! Somebody in Greece found a church of Satan and then get on the list.