Ottumwa, Iowa council meeting opens with satanic invocation; pastor demands it be reversed

Right · 2At Tuesday's Ottumwa City Council meeting in Iowa, former council member Matt Dalbey read the opening invocation, addressing a "dark father" and ending with "Hail Satan". 1 2 Right · 1Dalbey's prayer urged listeners to embrace the "Luciferian impulse" to eat from the tree of knowledge and to judge individuals by their actions rather than by social norms. 1 Right · 2New Life Center pastor Rick Bick, who was in the audience, went to the podium and demanded the council "reverse this curse that was put on our city". When council members told him to wait for public comment, Bick answered, "It needs to be done now". 1 2

Right · 2Mayor Benjamin Foote called for 30 seconds of silence for prayer or reflection and kept it going when council members tried to move on. The outlets differ on the order of events: the New York Post says the council recited the Pledge of Allegiance right after the prayer and before Bick spoke, while Fox News says Bick interrupted after the pledge and roll call. 1 2 Right · 1Foote told Fox News Digital that the invocation "is not a reflection of our community" and "does not represent the faith or the values of families who call this city home". 2 Right · 2Council member Cara Galloway said afterwards that she had warned when the policy was discussed that a prayer about Satan could happen and would have to be allowed. She called responding to invocations a "slippery slope" and said the council must stay neutral. According to the Ottumwa Courier, as cited by the New York Post, she was the only member to vote against the policy in January. 1 2

Right · 2The January policy lets prayers or statements from any faith or philosophy open meetings. Fox News quotes it as saying it does not endorse any faith and aims to respect "other faiths, belief systems, or the lack thereof". 1 2 Right · 2Dalbey told the Ottumwa Courier that he is a member of the Satanic Temple of Iowa and that the prayer "has nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity". The New York Post adds that the temple describes itself as "resolutely non-theistic". 1 2 Right · 1Council member Bill Hoffman told Fox News Digital that he left the room during the prayer and returned for the pledge. He said he defended Dalbey's First Amendment right to speak, said the council did not condone the content, and expected the policy to be discussed again. 2