GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — City Council members have taken a moment to pray, reflect or stand quietly at each Monday meeting, during an invocation usually given by a local religious leader.

An atheist group wants to end that.

Thirteen members of the Western Colorado Atheists asked City Council in a letter this month to eliminate the invocation. They say the prayers violate the First Amendment and make residents who don't hold religious beliefs feel unwelcome.

"We do feel excluded and marginalized. We wonder who else out there is feeling excluded and marginalized," said Anne Landman, a group member who joined the letter.