WAVERLY, IOWA -- The Eastern Iowa Atheists (EIA) is proud to announce that it has successfully lobbied the mayor and city council of Waverly, Iowa to change it's unconstitutional prayer practice before city council meetings. Mayor Charles Infelt announced at last night's meeting that he and the council had developed a policy for prayers/invocations that would open the practice up to more voices and worldviews
instead of just his.
For the first time since September 2016, someone other than Mayor Infelt delivered the opening prayer/invocation. A Muslim Wartburg student from Iran shared a traditional Muslim invocation, marking just the fifth time since 2014 that Mayor Infelt hasn't delivered the prayer or invocation to start a council meeting "Waverly’s diversity and long treasured value of inclusivity shall be reflected in this organizing process, I hope we enjoyed and feel anchored by today’s invocation," Mayor Infelt added after the invocation.
Watch the full video of last night's city council meeting and announcement by Mayor Infelt here.
This change came after two months of pressure by the EIA. On April 3, 2017, the EIA approached the mayor and council at their regular council meeting to demand a more inclusive prayer/invocation process, requesting that an atheist be allowed to deliver an invocation before a meeting. The mayor responded with "there is no representation beyond the theistic approach" and that atheists at city council meetings are expected to "just say (their) own quiet little reflection". Mayor Infelt's prayer process replaced a longstanding practice in which the opening prayer had been delivered by various religious leaders, council members and Waverly residents.
The April 3 discussion about prayer and who should be allowed to deliver them and whether they're appropriate at all set off a series of discussions at meetings through April and May where the mayor clarified his position on atheist invocations, stating that he would be open to them taking place in a future meeting but offering no further details about whether that would happen, and led to an interesting discussion between council members on where they stood with prayer at governmental meetings, with a few stating that these prayers made them uncomfortable.
During a TV interview with KWWL-TV in Waterloo on May 3, 2017, Mayor Infelt shared that something different would take place at the June 5 meeting but didn't disclose any details as to what would be different. Nonetheless, the EIA sees this change and the newly drafted policy as a step in the right direction for the City of Waverly.
"The Eastern Iowa Atheists applaud the mayor and council for not only drafting this policy for prayers and invocations, providing some much needed clarity to the process but also for recognizing the importance of having a prayer/invocation process that is open to every voice and worldview," said EIA founder and Director Justin Scott, who attended the meeting last night and thanked the mayor and council for this change during the public comment section. "In a perfect world, prayers and other religious ceremonies would have no part in our secular government but since the US Supreme Court has ruled them to be legal, we want to insure the most inclusive and constitutionally sound process is offered by cities that choose to include this practice so that atheists have an opportunity to take in the process and have their voices heard."
About the Eastern Iowa Atheists
The Eastern Iowa Atheists is an advocacy group for atheists and other non-religious Iowans with roots in Eastern Iowa. We work to protect the separation of religion from government in local city governments and public schools across Eastern Iowa while promoting positive atheism. The EIA serves Eastern Iowa through various volunteer and activism opportunities as well as through community outreach and education efforts.
The EIA delivered the first ever atheist invocation at the Iowa State Capitol in April 2017, delivered the first ever atheist invocation at city council meetings inWaterloo
(May 2016) and Bettendorf (May 2017) and are scheduled to deliver the first ever atheist invocation at a city council meeting in Oskaloosa on July 6, 2017. In addition, the EIA is responsible for three of the four "Day of Reason" proclamations that have been issued by cities in Iowa, including Waterloo, Iowa City and Coralville, which issued its first Day of Reason proclamation in April 2017.
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