February 28, 2007
Atheist Group Applauds Villa Park Decision, Warns More Work Still Needs To Be Done
SANTA ANA, Calif., February 28, 2007 - The Villa Park City Council made the correct decision to choose not to have a prayer before council meetings, an Atheist civil rights organization said today.
Council members voted 3-2 Tuesday against the state-sponsored prayers, noting that mixing religion and politics in government meetings was inappropriate. While applauding Villa Park's ruling, Orange County Atheists warned that many city councils in Orange County are still in defiance of the 2002 California appellate court ruling banning sectarian invocations, further blurring the line between church and state.
According to Orange County Atheists, more than two-thirds of the city councils, including those in eight of the ten largest OC cities, still have a religious invocation or "moment of solemn expression" before every city council meeting. The invocations are scheduled and put on the council agendas as an official piece of city business.
In addition to the various city councils, the Orange County Board of Supervisors and Orange County Transit Authority also have religious invocations before their meetings.
Religious invocations have been found constitutional in the past. Sectarian invocations, however, including those mentioning specific deities, violate the Establishment Clause of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In the 2000 California Superior Court case of Rubin v. Burbank, the court found invoking Jesus Christ constitutes a sectarian prayer. In 2002, the California Court of Appeals upheld the decision.
Following the 2002 ruling, many cities renewed or began enforcing their policy of having no sectarian invocations at meetings. Other cities, however, continued to use language in their invocations specifically mentioning Jesus Christ. These included Anaheim and Santa Ana, the county's two largest cities.
Michael Doss, President of Orange County Atheists, said that cities need to follow the court's ruling, or face possible backlash. "Invocations have no place in city council meetings - they're a waste of taxpayer's time and totally unnecessary to conducting council business," said Doss, "But if city decides to include invocations, they must follow the law or risk lawsuits from groups dedicated to the civil rights of non-Christian and non-religious citizens."
Doss also commented that the issue goes far beyond the interests of those who identify as Atheists. "Americans of all religions, including Christianity, have a stake in making sure religion and government stay out of each other's business," Doss said, "No one wants to go before a city council for a matter of civic business thinking their religious beliefs are at issue."
In order to remedy this situation, Orange County Atheists has begun contacting various city councils to inform them of their non-compliance with the law. After being contacted by Orange County Atheists, Santa Ana reviewed their invocations policy to bring it in line with the ruling. Other cities have not yet responded. Further action will be considered for cities that continue having sectarian invocations.
ABOUT ORANGE COUNTY ATHEISTS
Orange County Atheists, founded in 2005, is a civil rights and social issues group headquartered in Santa Ana, California. The group exists to further the issue of church-state separation and as a social outlet for atheists, agnostics, humanists and freethinkers. The group's website is www.ocatheists.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS
For more information, please contact:
Travis Puderbaugh, Media Contact
travis@ocatheists.com
February 23, 2007
Charity Walk
Folks, this is from Norman Abshear, who runs Atheists United of OC. Discuss and add feedback here! - md
-----
Greetings All
Here is an interesting idea that I do want some feed back on and some volunteers. Who would be interested in doing a charity walk for March of Dimes. This is an opportunity to demonstrate publicly that Atheists also care about birth defects etc... Please email me with your thoughts and comments. Thanks Norman.
February 19, 2007
Getting noticed!
Niko sent me the following, and he's one of the mentioned "mockers and deriders of God". Click for a larger image.
Good work, Niko!
February 15, 2007
March Meeting
The Next Orange County Atheists meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:30PM at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine, near John Wayne Airport.
A map to the location is available here. Please RSVP at this page to let us know you're coming!
February 05, 2007
February Meeting
The Next Orange County Atheists meeting will be held on Thursday, February 15 at 7:30PM at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine, near John Wayne Airport. Update: We're not changing the date. We're still on for Thursday.
A map to the location is available here. Please RSVP at this page to let us know you're coming!