WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — A disagreement over prayer in the city of Winter Garden is sparking controversy once again.
In 2014, some complained the city opted for a moment of silence instead of an invocation before its City Commission meetings.
It then switched back to an opening prayer in 2015.
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A man who was at the center of the controversy back then is now claiming discrimination.
He's part of a nonreligious group that lives in the city and is on the list of candidates to do the invocation.
He said it's been more than four years and he keeps getting passed over.
Inside Winter Garden commission chambers, Joseph Richardson is no stranger.
He caught an exchange on cellphone when he refused to stand for a prayer and the pledge in 2014 and was escorted out by police.
The move prompted change, as a moment of silence took the place of prayer.
But prayer was voted back in less than a year later, with a new policy the city called nondiscriminatory, which Richardson now believes is a farce.
Richardson said May will mark five years since he put in a request to do the invocation and he's still waiting.
City manager Mike Bollhoefer explained city commissioners rotate picking someone to do the invocation for each meeting.
The list includes mostly pastors and records show some have done it four times since 2015.
Richardson, who is part of a secular organization called Central Florida Freethought Community, has done invocations in other local government meetings.
He calls what happens in Winter Garden discrimination, but the city manager doesn't think so.
Bollhoefer said they have had other nonreligious groups, including an atheist in 2015.
Richardson now has an online petition going that he plans to present to commissioners in May asking them to change or eliminate the invocation policy.
Prayer controversy in Winter Garden. At 6: why one city resident believes the city is discriminating against him and others because of their beliefs...by choosing some people to do the invocations before city meetings, but not others. #WFTV pic.twitter.com/TGifCUk9P6
— Jeff Deal (@JDealWFTV) January 30, 2019
Cox Media Group
