The City Council recently changed its policy at council meetings to establish a formal policy of beginning each meeting with an invocation. (The council had previously begun each meeting with an invocation, but did not have a formal policy). Under the new rule, the council has invited any Killeen resident the opportunity to give the opening invocation.
While FFRF believes that the best practice for government meetings is to forego the invocation and get straight to work, since a prayer may ostracize some members of the community, unfortunately the Supreme Court ruled that the practice is legal. So, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
We want you to ensure that the nonreligious have equal representation at Killeen meetings. The city has reached out to every church to participate, but the nonreligious can also participate by contacting the City Secretary, Lucy Aldrich, and asking for a slot: [email protected] (meetings typically take place on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 5 p.m. at City Hall). You can find out more details from the city’s press release, attached.
If you do give the invocation, let us know about it! Remember, FFRF runs an annual Nothing Fails Like Prayer contest where we select the “best” secular invocation and award the speaker with an all-expenses-paid trip to FFRF’s annual convention, a plaque, and an honorarium of $500! (see rules of entry here).
