Longwood switches back to silent meditations

The controversial issue of prayer in government surfaced again in Central Florida last week when Longwood commissioners agreed to open their meetings by asking those attending to stand and bow their heads in silence, ending a nearly four-year policy of beginning with a religious invocation.

“I feel that a moment of silent meditation is very inclusive, and I think it’s the way to go,” said Commissioner Brian Sackett, an ordained minister who made the motion to change the city’s policy. “It’s time … to be respectful of everyone’s personal moral values and let people pray as they see fit within that moment of silent meditation.”

For years, many government meetings across Central Florida started with a prayer with few people taking notice, until a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld sectarian prayers as

long as public bodies make a reasonable effort to allow other community members, regardless of belief or lack of belief, to deliver an invocation.

Since then, city councils, county commissions — and now even the Florida House of Representatives — have allowed atheists, agnostics or humanists to deliver the opening words. State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, invited Tee Rogers, a University of Central Florida humanist chaplain, to give the invocation to open the Jan. 11 House session.

It was a first for the legislative body, according to state historians and Fred Piccolo, spokesman for House Speaker Richard Corcoran. Smith cited inclusivity as the impetus for his invitation. Rogers’ 74-second invocation quoted the words of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and called on legislators to be guided by integrity and compassion for all.

“The time is always right to do what is right,” she said.

David Williamson, cofounder of the Central Florida Freethought Community, an association of “non-believers” that opposes prayer in government meetings, questioned why it’s necessary for a government body to start its proceedings with any kind of prayer or invocation.

“For the government to basically suggest to have a prayer is a bit offensive to those who don’t want to pray with others or ... those who don’t want to pray at all,” he said. “The purpose of the meeting is not served by prayer. The purpose of the meeting is to bring people together and to get down to the business of government.”

If governments insist on an invocation, Williamson’s group prefers they start with a moment of silence.

In Winter Garden, Joseph Richardson, a member of the Freethought group, has repeatedly challenged the city’s invocation policy, saying it is used to exclude the participation of non-believers because mostly Christian pastors open the meetings.

He would prefer the city dump invocations or switch to a moment of silence, following the example of cities including Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary, Longwood, Mount Dora and Winter Springs.

Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoefer defended the invocation policy, which was created by a 2015 resolution that stated the city “desires to preserve and maintain the tradition of solemnizing its City Commission proceedings .... ” The rules require the person giving the invocation to be a city resident or a member of a nonprofit group based in the city.

Invocation speakers are asked to refrain from proselytizing, denigrating nonbelievers or rival faiths or threatening damnation.

“We’ve had a humanist … We’ve had several nonreligious groups do the invocation,” Bollhoefer said, noting the city keeps a database of eligible speakers and groups. “I’m working to diversify that list. I just haven’t been able to find in the Yellow Pages a listing for humanists.”

In Longwood, commissioners opened meetings for three decades with a moment of meditation silence.

But after the 2014 Supreme Court ruling, then-Mayor Bob Cortes — who was running for the Legislature — persuaded fellow commissioners to begin meetings with an invocation. He was later elected to a House seat.

Now with four new members since then, the Longwood commission unanimously decided to go back to the moment of silence because it’s more inclusive and will relieve the burden on staff who vet residents who want to deliver invocations.

“From a staff perspective, it’s easier and cleaner to go to a silent meditation,” Mayor Ben Paris said.

Elsewhere in Central Florida, the Seminole County Commission chairman opens meetings by announcing the person who will deliver the invocation and inviting the public to stand and bow their heads. Williamson, however, delivered a non-religious invocation at a Seminole commission meeting last year.

In Orange County, Mayor Teresa Jacobs delivers a brief biography of the person delivering the invocation. After the invocation, she leads the person to the dais, where they are greeted by other county commissioners.

Williamson said he is uncomfortable with government officials urging those attending a meeting to stand and bow their heads to join in prayer, saying it is “coercing residents to pray.”

Praying in government meetings should be as inappropriate as a city manager, for example, inviting their staff into their office at the start of the work day to join in prayer, he said.

In Tallahassee, Smith said he often stands outside legislative chambers during the invocation, which is delivered before roll call.

“I don’t need to pray before I do the will of the people in government,” said Smith, who was raised Catholic but no longer practices the faith.