After losing his state lawsuit and appeal against Gillette public officials over prayers at city council meetings, an atheist and his “church” are suing numerous people in federal court to place the church’s 21 Rules monument in Gillette City Park alongside a 10 Commandments monument.
Bruce Williams, 73, and the Hypatian Society, which is a religious or charitable “church” he co-founded, are also demanding about $240 million in damages in a federal lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
The lawsuit complaint calls Judaism the “First Abrahamic Sect,” Christianity the “Second Abrahamic Sect” and Islam the “Third Abrahamic Sect,” referring to the Old Testament religious patriarch all three faiths revere, Abraham.
What infuriates Williams, he wrote in the lawsuit, is that he can’t present his church’s 21 Rules to an area young people visit in the same way the city has presented the 10 Commandments there.
“The mere presence of the first 2 Abrahamic sects (sic) demands from their God being present in the park in the only open area that separates the Twin Spruce junior high and the city swimming pool where a large number of youth are present infuriates (me) in particular,” wrote Williams in his lawsuit complaint, which he filed on his own behalf and on behalf of his church. “Because the government of the City of Gillette will not allow Plaintiff to present their views to the same youth.”
Williams said the Judeo-Christian monument isn’t a problem on its own: The problem is that his church’s 21 Rules aren’t sitting alongside it on a monument of their own.
Willaims lost his prior state-level lawsuit and appeal against city officials — which presented other but similar complaints — because the city has sovereign immunity from being sued on his claims.
What They Say
The 21 Rules Williams attached as an exhibit to his lawsuit complaint urge people to protect children, avoid lying, lead an active life and help the poor but watch for the charlatan, along with other moral instructions. They demand an egalitarian and meritocratic society.
“There are no gods, only people born to believe in gods,” says rule No. 21. “Science will provide the correct answers given enough time and critique, including the answer to when someone is dead.”
Rule No. 1 articulates a pro-choice outlook, saying, “Life begins when a woman wants to bring the pregnancy to fruition, or when the fetus can be sustained outside the womb.”
Who’s Being Sued
The lawsuit is against the following officials:
Gov. Mark Gordon; the city of Gillette, Wyoming, its mayor, previous and current city attorneys, previous and current city administrators, and previous and current city council members from 2014 forward.
Williams and his church are asking the court to compel the city to let him to put his church’s 21 Rules monument in the Gillette City Park “in a manner equivalent” to the 10 Commandments monument now sitting there.
The lawsuit also demands that a Christian pastors’ association not be allowed to determine the schedule rotation of who can say prayers at public meetings, and when.
It demands public officials allow atheistic invocations “in proportion” to the number of atheists in Wyoming, which has been estimated at about 6%. It asks the court to make sure that when government officials deliver meeting invocations, those shall be “nonsectarian.”
A local man is suing to display the atheist 21 Rules next to the 10 Commandments in Gillette City Park. (Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily) 
A local man is suing to display the atheist 21 Rules next to the 10 Commandments in Gillette City Park. (Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily)
A Decade Now
The controversy started in 2014, when Williams started asking if he could perform invocations at city and other public meetings.
An official at one point said she’d have to check with the pastor running the rotation, later clarifying that a pastor’s association had the prayer schedule of who was to pray when.
Williams has criticized this in multiple court documents, saying public officials should not be letting Christian pastors determine who can pray and when.
He’s also complained about being allowed to pray just once per year early on, about some city council members walking out during his invocation, and about other alleged discriminations he says atheists face in America.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
