The Satanists allegedly plan to deliver their invocation at an upcoming council meeting in Phoenix. However, a group of lawmakers exerts their effort on trying to block the Sanatist group from performing their traditional prayer at the city council meeting for the February session.
According to ABC 15, the Phoenix City Council meeting planned for mid-February is expected to begin with a Satanist prayer. But then Arizona lawmakers are planning to vote this week for a possible change to the rules, effectively making it impossible for Satanists to deliver the opening invocation.
The new rules reportedly would only allow people invited by elected officials to deliver the prayers at the opening of meetings.
In fact, Time Inc. Network claimed that the four members of the Phoenix City Council tried to stop the Satanic Temple of Tucson from delivering the invocation at a meeting on February 17. The legislators submitted an article to urge the council to change the process of selecting the leader of the prayers at meetings.
But then, the Satanic Temple members stated that they are a religion, but do not worship the devil. A chapter leader of the group even somewhat pointed out that the members would take legal action if denied the right to give the prayer. "If they want to commit a constitutional violation, we will respond in turn," leader Stu De Haan, a Tucson criminal defense lawyer, told the station. "This is clearly discriminatory and targeting one group."
Michelle Shortt and Stu de Haan, from the Tucson branch of the Satanic Temple, are set to give the invocation. However, speaking to the Arizona Republic, councillor Jim Waring mentioned that he is against the decision and believes "some of the intent is to make a mockery of the invocation". This claim was later on denied by Shortt, claiming that the invocation will be respectful and that people should not expect costumes.
De Haan, who works as an attorney in Tucson, criticized council members objecting to them, stating that none of the lawmakers asked them what was the message of the prayer and that they just made some assumptions. He added that the city council of Phoenix doesn't get to pick and choose religions and what they think is appropriate, which he believes is unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the Tucson branch of the Satanic Temple still insists that the prayer would not cover their beliefs, but is about "religious liberty and democratic plurality. But for now, despite that the council members are angry at the idea of the group leading the invocation, the request of changing the method of the invocation is still in queue for now.
