Phoenix council to take up hot potato of prayer at meetings

Councilman Sal DiCiccio said before Wednesday’s meeting that he wants to keep the invocations but fears they could be replaced in Phoenix with moments of silence as a result of “social engineering for political correctness”.

Under a new system, the mayor and council members would choose the prayer leader on a rotating basis.

“This entire situation has very quickly and effectively revealed the lack of legal savvy, constitutional ignorance, and self-serving audacity of some city officials in Phoenix”.

“Should a prayer ban be successful in Phoenix you will see a ripple effect extending to other cities in the state”, he added.

Members of a Satanic group will give the opening prayer at an upcoming Phoenix City Council meeting on February 17.

De Haan said his group will sue if the council doesn’t either allow his group to present the prayer or do away with the prayer altogether.

The nation’s highest court has upheld public bodies’ prayers during meetings.

“The Satanic Temple is often vilified when they try to use public forums that are open to every religion, and that’s what you’re seeing happen here”, he said.

Stu De Haan, leader of the Satanic Temple, called the move discriminatory and a constitutional violation, ABC News reports. The temple submitted a request in December to give the prayer. 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”.

One man told the councilors at a meeting Wednesday that they should pray on their own time.

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”.

He said the proposal to have council members take turns selecting prayer-givers isn’t acceptable because it favors “majority religions”.