The city of Maitland is at the center of conflict between church and state.

For years, every City Council meeting has begun with an invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Now, that opening prayer is being replaced with a moment of silence.

It's all because an activist group is flexing some legal muscle if the city doesn't abide by a Supreme Court ruling.

Monday marked the first time in decades a Maitland City Council meeting began without an opening prayer.

"It has been an honor of mine for the last five years to share those duties with other council members," said Councilman Ivan Valdes.

There was silence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and then a brief discussion on why. City Attorney Cliff Shepard explained in order for Maitland to comply with the law, the city needs to do one of three things: Get rid of the invocation, replace it with a moment of silence, or change their policy by allowing anyone in the community to lead them in an invocation.

"What I know is, if we continue to do what we're doing, we're going to end up in court," Shepard said.

The Central Florida Freethought Community, an activist group that promotes the separation of church and state, is behind the push to make sure all Central Florida cities and counties comply with a 2014 Supreme Court ruling on the matter of invocations and government meetings.

 "They've ignored our request," said the CFFC's David Williamson. "They've disregarded the rule of law in this case."

Williamson said the group sent its first letter to the city of Maitland in May 2014, but received no response and continued to see council members give an opening prayer.

The group said invocations should not be led by local government officials. Instead, that role should go to any citizen, whether or not they have religious beliefs.

"It seems like they understand the law, and they just don't like it very much," Williamson said.

The group has heard a silent victory so far, but council members said they are eager to rewrite their policy at their next meeting to avoid being sued and to keep their moment of prayer from being silenced.

"We will continue, in some form or another, to have invocations in the very near future," Valdes said. "It would just be something that will comply with whatever the letter of law is."

Maitland's next council meeting is Monday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m.

The Central Florida Freethought Community has already filed a lawsuit against Brevard County commissioners for failing to comply with the Supreme Court ruling regarding invocations at government meetings. They are scheduled to have a mediation in the spring, but are prepared to go to court in the fall of 2016.

Central Florida Freethought Community's letters to the city of Maitland