Orange County Atheists

Template for writing to your city officials

Below you’ll find a template for writing to your city officials about invocations during city council meetings. Simply fill in the blanks to personalize it, then send to your city officials via the mail or by email. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages; you might want to do both. Feel free to add/subtract/personalize it in any way you see fit. Remember to be polite, and please CC or BCC contact@ocatheists.com if you email your letter, so I can have a copy.

Dear ______________, (Fill in your mayor's, city councilmember(s)', or city manager's title and name here)

My name is ____________, a resident of _________ (Your city), and I'm writing to discuss with you the issue of invocations at _______'s city council meetings. Upon (reviewing recordings of/attending) the meeting(s) of _________ (list dates), I've discovered that most, if not all, meetings begin with a religious invocation.

For example, during the meeting that took place _________, (fill in details of the invocation you witnessed, including a transcript if you can provide one.)

As a proponent of church-state separation, I have many issues with invocations at public city meetings. These include a perceived bias toward one faith, the involvement of public officials in city-sponsored religious acts, and a feeling of alienation by members in the community not represented in the invocation.

In the Superior Court of the State of California case of Rubin v. Burbank, the court ruled that while cities may have invocations, sectarian prayer as part of City Council meetings is not permitted under our Constitution. The invocation I observed on ________ clearly did contain a sectarian prayer.

In addition to being a member of this community, I'm also a member of Orange County Atheists, a local group currently working to bring all cities in line with the Burbank decision. I look forward to hearing back from you on this issue, and hopefully meeting with you or other city officials to discuss this matter in person. You will find my contact information below.

Sincerely,

(Fill in your name and contact data here)