Satanists Will Deliver Invocation At Phoenix City Council Meeting

By Kelly Frazier --
04 Feb 2016 --

It is expected that the event of invoking Satan will attract more observers to Phoenix City Council Meeting.

The local chapter of The Satanic Temple has made plans to offer an invocation during the council meeting of the City of Phoenix. A press release states that Stu de Haan and Michelle Shortt, two Satanic Templars, has received approval from the Clerk's Office of City of Phoenix for this invocation.

Satanists Will Deliver Invocation At Phoenix City Council Meeting.[/tweetthis]

The council permits invocation prayers during meetings. Although they are predominantly Christian, a few other faiths are coming up to invoke too. The Satanic Temple achieved this green light after much persistence.

According to Haan, in the case of an event that hosts a few particular faiths, and is sanctioned by the government, then they should also include everybody as per the constitution. That is the reason Satanists are taking part in forum.

The speech to be given by the Satanists on February 17 has been explained by Lucien Greaves, the spokesperson for The Satanic Templars. He said that for many years, advocates of church and state separation, Dianne Post and Andrew Seidel from Freedom from Religion Foundation, were requesting Phoenix for years to discontinue the policy of permitting the meetings held by City Council to open with public prayers. After repeated ignoring of such requests, the Freedom from Religion Foundation has taken steps to make sure that plurality must be respected and that any faith could enjoy a say in City Hall. There will be atheist invocations as well. The open forum will make sure that the marginalized voices hailing from alternative religion will now enjoy an unprecedented degree of exposure.

It is expected that the event of invoking Satan will attract more observers to Phoenix City Council. Greaves said that Christian convocations are many in number and they are bereft of novelty. Anybody can discover a place to worship God. Satanism, conversely, remains an enigma to general public. It takes advantage of this mystery to attract a large audience. The Freedom from Religion Foundation members have expressed gratitude for the public forum Phoenix has given to Satanists and people can expect Satanists to regularly contribute to the religious milieu. Greaves thanked the City Council for doing its part.

Satanists to do invocation at Phoenix City Council meeting (from @AP) https://t.co/EgelF0hw0E
— Patrick Whittle (@pxwhittle) February 1, 2016

Brad Holm, an attorney working for City of Phoenix, issued a statement that a representative sent by The Satanic Temple has recently signed to pray at the Council meeting of Phoenix City. The city will abide the U.S. Supreme Court decision and it cannot dictate the prayer content or the religious viewpoints.