@TheMiddleWay Equal time must be given to any group, religious or not. Many have been allowed to give secular invocations. It is the usual hijacking of everybody's rights by the Christian. Theoretically, even they would not be able to stop Muslims, Buddhists or any other religion from saying prayers.

@TheMiddleWay As it normally is used yes it is like a prayer or appeal to a god. But this is the standard definition but not the only one. FFRF often prints secular invocations in their newsletters (but I searched and couldn't find one right away). Just like so many things there is often more than one definition: As alternative to prayer: "An invocation can also be a secular alternative to a prayer. On August 30, 2012, Dan Nerren, a member of the Humanist Association of Tulsa, delivered a secular invocation to open a meeting of the City Council of Tulsa.[1] Nerren was invited to perform the invocation as a compromise following a long-running dispute with the City Council over prayers opening meetings. The invocation was written by Andrew Lovley, a member of the Southern Maine Association of Secular Humanists who had previously used the invocation in 2009 to invoke an inauguration ceremony for new city officials in South Portland, Maine.
In this usage, it is comparable to an affirmation as an alternative for those who conscientiously object to taking oaths of any kind, be it for reasons of belief or non-belief."

Freedom From Religion Foundation often gives an award for the best invocation. Many politicians hate this as it is a way of acknowledging the secular members among their group.

It would be an "invocation". I think the idea is that if religious people get a specific time to talk (pray), atheists should get the same (invoke). I guess are words are not as magical as theirs, so they don't count.

@mzbehavin Barker in the article said his higher power was we the people of the United States of America. Invoking something does not require you invoke a person or entity.

Example: "I invoke the power of education to transform the lives of millions."

@mzbehavin Barker knows that that is a jump too far. If one group gets free time to talk, so should another. (And apparently THAT was a jump too far in this instance. But we still keep up the good fight.)

@TheMiddleWay As Bart Simpson once said, "Christmas is the time of year when people of all religions come together to worship Our Lord Jesus Christ."