American Atheisits

Event Article
On the American Atheists website there was an invitation sent out that read "Prayer at Cobb County Commission Meeting Tues. 7/28" which drew my attention, I thought atheists didn't pray. So it intrigued me into opening the invitation and reading that Dr. Ed Buckner the President of American Atheists has been chose to deliver the "invocation" at the next Cobb Country meeting in Georgia. But I thought "invocation" mean an act of "calling on a higher power." Ed Buckner was one of the plaintiffs in a 2006 law suit which challenged the practice of having sectarian prayer to open County Commission meetings. Those chosen to deliver the prayer reflected a sectarian, often evangelical Christian point of view. One result of the suit was that the court criticized this practice, and since then the county has been trying to keep prayer in government by randomly selecting people to deliver an "invocation."
The American Atheists group are trying to make a statement, to the Cobb County that every meeting should not begin with prayer. Many Atheists hope that this will change how many more counties will begin their meetings. Religion being involved in country meeting is making out country de-secular, and despite many who believe that the U.S. is increasingly secular, I believe that our country is as religious as ever.