Town Council Meeting in Iowa Opens with Invocation to Satan

Hell breaks loose at council after Satanic prayer read

Matt Dalbey, a former member of Ottumwa City Council, opened up the meeting by addressing the 'dark father' and declaring: 'Hail Satan.'

Iowa City Council Meeting Opens With Prayer to Satan; Preacher Denounces Curse on City

At its meeting on October 6, the Ottumwa City Council permitted the Satanic Temple's Matt Dalbey to offer the “invocation.”

Offensive opening prayer would be protected speech, Osky mayor says

OSKALOOSA — Nobody's ever invoked a Satanic prayer to open an Oskaloosa City Council meeting, like an Ottumwa resident did at an Ottumwa City Council meeting earlier this week, but that's not to say they couldn't.

Ottumwa City Council Meeting Opens with Satanic Prayer Ending in 'Hail Satan,' Spurring Immediate Backlash

For generations, the opening prayer at a city council meeting was one of those quiet, steady traditions that held American civic life together. Nothing fancy....

Pastor objects after Iowa council prayer ends with 'Hail Satan'

A pastor interrupted an Ottumwa City Council meeting Tuesday after a former council member opened the session with an invocation that ended with a salute to Satan, setting off a dispute over how far the Iowa city's new open-prayer policy reaches. The man who led the prayer said he is a member of the Satanic Temple, which he said is widely misunderstood. He said he did not give the invocation to make a point or to put a curse on the city, and th…

'It Is Done. Hail Satan:' City Immediately Regrets New Religious Liberty Law That Allows Prayer at City Council Meeting

Iowa city council debates proper time in meeting agenda to "undo the curse that was just put on our city."