The invocation triggered an uproar after a pastor accused the speaker of placing a \u201ccurse\u201d on the Iowa community<\/p>\n
An Iowa city council meeting erupted into controversy after opening with a Satanic invocation that ended with the words \u201cHail Satan,\u201d prompting a local pastor to demand that officials \u201creverse this curse.\u201d
\nMatt Dalbey, an Ottumwa resident and former city council member, delivered the invocation at Tuesday\u2019s meeting under a policy allowing residents of different religions and belief systems to open council proceedings with a prayer or reflection.
\nDalbey began by addressing a \u201cdark father\u201d and invoking what he called the \u201cLuciferian impulse\u201d before concluding: \u201cIt is done. Hail Satan.\u201d
\nThe invocation immediately drew objections from New Life Center pastor Rick Bick, who interrupted the proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a curse put on the city,\u201d he said. \u201cMost of you know that, and we need to just stop and reverse it\u2026 \u2018Hail Satan\u2019 is not welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mayor Benjamin Foote then called for a 30-second moment of silence \u201cto reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time.\u201d
\nDalbey\u2019s invocation was permitted under a policy adopted by the council in January. The measure states that Ottumwa, a city of some 25,500 people, seeks to respect \u201cthe diversity of both organized and unorganized religious denominations, as well as other faiths, belief systems, or the lack thereof.\u201d
\nCouncil member Cara Galloway had specifically warned that a Satanic invocation could happen when she cast the only vote against the policy in January. \u201cOpening with an invocation means allowing viewpoints that may not reflect our own,\u201d she said, warning that selectively objecting to one now could expose taxpayers to legal liability.<\/p>\n
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The city said Wednesday that it had been flooded with calls over the prayer, many of them \u201crude and full of profanities,\u201d but stressed that officials cannot discriminate between denominations or belief systems.
\nThe recording of the meeting had drawn more than 12,000 views on the city\u2019s YouTube channel by Wednesday afternoon, making it the most-watched video ever posted there.
\nDalbey is scheduled to deliver another invocation at the council\u2019s November 3 meeting. He told the Ottumwa Courier that the prayer is used by the Satanic Temple of Iowa, of which he is a member, but \u201chas nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity.\u201d The organization describes itself as non-theistic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The invocation triggered an uproar after a pastor accused the speaker of placing a \u201ccurse\u201d on the Iowa community An Iowa city council meeting erupted into controversy after opening with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t