Huntsville City Council prayer

Huntsville City Council President Mark Russell (right) delivers the opening prayer before the March 8, 2012, council meeting. (Bob Gathany | bgathany@al.com)

(Bob Gathany Gathany, Bob 337-0956)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – For possibly the first time ever, an atheist has been invited to deliver the opening prayer at a Huntsville City Council meeting.

American Atheists Regional Director Charles Miller announced Monday evening that Kelly McCauley, an atheist and member of the North Alabama Freethought Association, will give the invocation at Thursday's City Council meeting.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. on the ground floor of Huntsville City Hall, 308 Fountain Circle.

"This is a small step in the right direction to bring Huntsville's ceremonial practices in line with recent court decisions and make Huntsville's claim of being an 'Inclusive Community' a reality," said Miller.

In 2012, the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue Huntsville over its tradition of inviting mostly Christian ministers to offer a public prayer, known as an invocation, before council meetings.

The city responded by creating a list of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Baha'i and other religious leaders to deliver the invocation on a rotating basis. Miller said he contacted the city in the spring of 2013 to point out that several religious groups as well as "the non-religious" were omitted from the list.

Blake Kirk, a Wiccan priest, delivered the invocation without incident at the council's Jan. 23, 2014, meeting but had his scheduled June 26 appearance canceled by the city.

City Attorney Peter Joffrion said the invitation was rescinded because of calls from citizens alarmed about Kirk's faith once the agenda was made public. That meeting began instead with a moment of silence.

The decision to un-invite Kirk triggered a letter to the city from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

Miller said he told Huntsville Multicultural Affairs Director Kenny Anderson last year that council invocations "must include every faith group and those with no faith -- in other words, anyone in the community that wished to offer the invocation.

"Inclusive means everyone, or it means nothing" said Miller.

He said the Rev. Frank Broyles, a longtime Interfaith Mission Service leader who works with Joffrion to coordinate council prayers, recently offered to let an atheist give the invocation.

"I was disappointed that the City of Huntsville was initially unwilling to work with us," said Miller. "But now that the Interfaith Mission Service has made an effort, I look forward to full inclusion of all groups and people that have been disenfranchised.

"This was never about having an atheist give an invocation; it is about following the law and treating everyone as equals."