OSKALOOSA, Iowa  — Home to more than 20 Christian denominations, this small southern Iowa city has broken with tradition and accepted an invitation from an advocate for atheism to give the opening invocation at Thursday’s city council meeting.

Justin Scott, founder and director of the Eastern Iowa Atheist group, said he wants to make the community aware not all Iowans are believers and atheists should also feel free to participate in government.

City Manager Michael Schrock said normally a member of the local clergy delivers the invocation at city council meetings, but others are also invited to speak. He said the atheist group asked to appear and “we obliged and said sure. And that’s the extent of it.”

The announcement of Scott’s scheduled council appearance sparked numerous unfavorable and favorable comments on the Oskaloosa Herald’s Facebook account.

“How can an atheist give an invocation?” asked Andrew Hall. “That’s a complete oxymoron. If you don’t believe in God, whose help are you asking for guidance or protection?”

Added Sean Ault: “This5ptsFeatured is exactly the kind of crap that is wrong with this country. If you so much as stand up for Christianity, you are shunned, racist, closed minded, a bigot, and so on. If you stand up for anything else besides Christianity, you are perfectly normal. Completely backwards, and not to mention just plain wrong.”

But Kilie Steel saw it as a positive statement for separation of church and state.

“I don’t always agree with our city council, but this is a fabulous decision by them,” she commented.  “I don’t care what your religion is or who you pray for, it has no business in government affairs on any level.”

Scott said the city has been “nothing but totally generous and welcoming.” He said he has spoken at other city council and government meetings across Iowa, including an appearance before the state House of Representatives in Des Moines in April.

Scott said his group has a two-fold purpose in asking to deliver the invocation opening the city council meeting in Oskaloosa, a community of 11,500.

“[First] it’s to get the city of Oskaloosa to be aware that there are atheists in the community,” he said. “And secondly, it’s to inspire those atheists to come out and want to take part in the city government.

“If it takes me doing this as an out-of-towner, I’m willing to do it. If in the future they invite me back, great. Ultimately, I’d like to stand next to an Oskaloosa atheist the next time it gets delivered and maybe start to form an atheist group down there.”

Scott said he was raised in a family that went to church on Sundays, but he said  he never considered himself a devout Christian and seeds of doubt about “this whole God story” eventually made him an atheist.

Details for this story were provided by the Oskaloosa, Iowa Herald.