The Levy County Commission may have denied a request to place an atheist monument beside one for the Ten Commandments on the lawn beside the county courthouse, but the matter is far from settled.
Williston Atheists, the local organization that made the request, isn't discouraged by the denial, organizer Ray Sparrow said. The group will follow the lead of its parent organization, American Atheists, in terms of how to move forward.
The monument would dispel the illusion that only Christians can be represented beside the Levy County Courthouse, Sparrow said.
“We're trying to get something done in a community that is majority deeply religious, and it goes against the grain,” he said.
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County coordinator Fred Moody said the biggest thing that denial was based on was the fact that staff couldn't find documentation verifying that Williston Atheists is a legally recognized entity.
It isn't registered under a fictitious name or as a partnership or professional association, for example, according to the county staff report. Without that legal status, the organization lacks the authority or ability to either make the agreements or to obtain the insurance or bond needed in order to establish and maintain the monument.
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The staff report also stated that the quotations that would be inscribed on the monument did not include the entire text of the document as required.
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Williston Atheists doesn't plan to let this matter drop, Sparrow said. The new organization of a dozen or so members started hosting meetings a few months ago, but they're difficult to advertise for since some people are afraid they could be retaliated against and become pariahs if they make their atheism known.
It's a foregone conclusion that everybody believes in God here, he said, although that isn't true.
Group vows to keep fighting for atheist monument
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