Excerpt:
For the first time since Lincoln County commissioners approved an all-inclusive prayer policy more than two months ago, a non-Christian speaker is scheduled to deliver an invocation at a county commissioner meeting.
Duston Barto, who helped form Foothills Interfaith Assembly shortly after the policy was approved on May 18, will read the first chapter of the Quran to open tonight's semi-monthly government meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the James W. Warren Citizens Center in Lincolnton.
"I just hope to open dialogue," Barto said. "I hope to maybe shift the paradigm. People think that we're so different for some reason. When they hear the prayer. When they hear the familiar tones, hopefully (that'll change)."