…because it seems to work for Muslims.

Wisconsin atheist group pressures Pueblo, Colorado to stop public prayer.

After one Colorado city council canceled opening prayers at public meetings under pressure from a Wisconsin-based atheist group, at least one other community is being urged to draw a line in the sand.

The Pueblo City Council dropped opening prayers after the city received a letter from the Freedom of Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., arguing it is unconstitutional to coerce people at a government meeting to participate in what is typically a Christian prayer. That prompted a bitter outcry in Colorado Springs, 45 miles to the north. In a forceful editorial in the Colorado Springs Gazette, columnist Wayne Laugesen urged that community to stand up to the atheist group and blasted Pueblo for caving in.

“As its name implies, this confused organization believes we have government-protected freedom from religion in addition to our freedom to pick and choose religious beliefs or to ignore and avoid them all,” conservative columnist Wayne Laugesen wrote in an editorial posted Thursday on the Colorado Springs Gazette website.

Sort of surprising – I lived in the Springs and worked in Pueblo – Pueblo has heavily liberal and a Democrat stronghold but is also heavily Catholic. Not surprising for the Springs, it is home to several military bases and is strongly conservative.