Atheists target tiny towns

Church said if cities choose to hold prayer, they must be prepared to face the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly of First-Amendment speech. Church said cities cannot limit the content of a devotional.

Andrews said he and his fellow atheists intend to push city officials out of their comfort zones.

"I think some of the comments might offend someone. But the Supreme Court says it doesn't matter if you're pagan or wiccan," Andrews said. "When it comes down to it, (city officials) are not in favor of religion, they're in favor of their religion. . . . The point we'd like to make is that we don't think it's politically a good idea to have prayer."

Most Davis County cities have modified their prayer policy to allow participants to give either a prayer or a thought. Some cities, however, say they will continue with their present policy of having a prayer. And one city, Woods Cross, apparently did not receive a letter from the atheists.

The Davis County Commission doesn't open its meetings with a pledge of allegiance or prayer, and commissioners can't remember when either might have been offered at a county meeting.

Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson said his city sent letters several months ago to local churches and community organizations inviting them to participate in opening City Council meetings with a thought. The council agenda, which formally listed prayer, has been changed to "thought."

"We could continue to call it prayer, but we'd get into a lawsuit," Johnson said. "Why get in a lawsuit?"

Clearfield, rather than open what might be a can of worms, decided to quit having prayers, City Attorney Larry Waggoner said.

"We've been contemplating this for a while now and decided it was time to make a change," he said.

The cities of Kaysville, South Weber, Syracuse and Farmington haven't made a policy change at this point. West Bountiful is looking seriously at its policy and might do something similar to what Bountiful is doing, City Manager Wendell Wild said.

On the advice of its attorney, Sunset is opening council meetings with a moment of silence.

Church says he thinks the letters are a good idea.

"I think it's a healthy exercise in reminding people," he said.

Church said small cities are always in need of reviewing their policies, particularly because most of them lack any solid institutional knowledge that transcends the turnover of elected officials.

Andrews said so far his organization has received only one response, from Riverdale, which indicated it no longer will have prayer at meetings.

Members of Utah Atheists intend to make appearances at council meetings across Utah beginning in February.

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