Last week, Pensacola City Council President Brian Spencer announced a new policy regarding the invocations for council meetings.
Council members may choose to give the invocation themselves or choose a member of the community to do it.
Andrew Seidel, attorney for Freedom from Religion Foundation, has sent a letter to Spencer and asked that he reconsider the new policy because “it allows Council Members to prescribe the invocation to be given at each meeting instead of utilizing a neutral process that allows people of all belief and nonbelief systems to be selected.”
He wrote, “…we urge you to concentrate on civil matters and leave religion to the private conscience of each individual by ending the practice of hosting prayers at your meetings.”