Satanists set to deliver prayer at Phoenix City Council meeting
City Councilman Sal DiCiccio has been tweeting about what a bad idea this is. The Satanists are countering with "this is what religious liberty looks like." It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
PHOENIX (KPHO/KTVK) -
The Satanic Temple will open the Phoenix City Council meeting with a Satanic prayer at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 17.
Following years of tension between Phoenix and secular organizations, Satanic Templars Michelle Shortt and Stu de Haan received approval through the City Clerk for the invocation.
The Templars assert that the city council's typical opening prayer constitutes a breach of Church-State separation.
"Church-State separation advocates, Andrew Seidel and Dianne Post, from the Freedom From Religion Foundation [FFRF] have been urging Phoenix, for a number of years now, to discontinue their policy of allowing their City Council meetings to be opened with a public prayer, TST spokesperson Lucien Greaves said in a news release.
Seeing those requests ignored, FFRF has fought hard to ensure that plurality is respected, that any religion enjoys a voice in City Hall, and that atheist invocations will be heard, too. With this open forum now in place, marginalized voices from alternative religious views may now enjoy a degree of exposure that is unprecedented," she said.
http://www.azfamily.com/story/31090314/satanists-set-to-deliver-prayer-at-phoenix-city-council-meeting