Atheists sue Lakeland over prayer at city council meetings

The Atheists of Florida are suing the City of Lakeland over the issue of prayer at city council meetings.

The council routinely opens meetings with a prayer. The city of Lakeland says this practice dates back to at least the 1940s.

The Lakeland director for the Atheists of Florida Ellen Beth Wachs stood under a billboard to announce she's suiing to stop the tradition.

"Their invocation practice is discriminatory against non-believers and believers of non-Christian faith," she said. "So, we want to be fair to everyone."

The atheists' lawsuit says the prayer violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the city's invitation to local clergy to offer prayers is constitutional, provided the government makes an effort to include all religious faiths.

The director of the atheist group said the city of Lakeland has not made that effort.

The lawsuit was officially filed in federal court on Monday and names the city of Lakeland mayor Gow Fields as the defendant.

Fields said he expected the lawsuit.

"Clearly we're at odds with the belief that the atheists have," he said. "We have designed our practice after what the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled to be constitutional."

Richard Geringswald is one of many Christians who have led the public prayer.

"Why should we be bullied?" Geringswald asked. "Why should we be silenced?"

He calls the lawsuit an attack on America.

"It's back to our roots. It's our tradition," Geringswald said. "It's our nationality. It's our patriotism. It's our faith. It all rolls into this."

Wachs, the woman behind the lawsuit, wants the city to replace the invocation with a moment of silence.

"Nobody is stopping anybody from praying and that is not our purpose," she said.

The city plans on praying throughout the lawsuit.

The atheists and church groups started battling in Lakeland by way of billboards last fall.

However, this is their first lawsuit against a city in Florida. Athiests have also spoken out against prayers at public meetings in Port Richey, St. Petersburg, and Tampa.