Brandon Jones, left, and Thomas Coleman, right, lead a rally on the second level of the Hamilton County Courthouse in this file photo.Lawyers for Hamilton County are still deciding whether an atheist minister is eligible to perform an invocation to a County Commission meeting.
Thomas Coleman, one of two men suing the county to put an end to prayers before commission meetings, asked to perform the invocation in November. In January, after being asked in an email by the county what church he represented, Coleman explained he was not religious, did not have an assembly but was an ordained minister and wanted to speak during the invocation.
Since then, he said, he hasn’t heard anything back.
In the meantime, 32 clergy members from various Protestant churches — and clergy of the Baha’i, Russian Orthodox and other faiths — have been scheduled to give the invocation for commission meetings through most of October.
Chris Hixson, legislative administrator for the Hamilton County Commission, manages the invocation list. She said Thursday that, generally, “everyone who has requested has been scheduled.” But that’s not the case for Coleman.