Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith wants to bring invocations back at commission meetings — or at least just before them. Commission meetings haven’t had an invocation since November 2017, as a result of the county being sued in federal court in 2015 by three atheist, agnostic and humanist organizations and five individuals for its previous invocation policy. That policy, in effect, excluded non-theists from delivering the invocation at the start of meetings. The county lost the case in U.S. District Court, as well as losing an appeal, and had to: Pay the groups and individuals who sued the county $60,000 in compensatory damages. Pay the plaintiffs $430,000 to cover their attorney and litigation expenses. The two federal courts found that the county’s previous practice of having clergy give the invocation at the start of County Commission meetings violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by discriminating in favor of certain monotheistic religions. More: County invocation settlement: Pay atheist, agnostic plaintiffs $490,000 in damages, legal fees More: Lawsuit by atheists, agnostics against county over invocations settled for $490,000 The County Commission for the last three years has been observing a moment of silence at the start of its meetings, […]
