As Satanists take Scottsdale to court, Surprise City Council adds prayer to start meetings

Jen Fifield Lorraine Longhi
The Republic | azcentral.com
Stuart de Haan and Michelle Shortt founded the Arizona chapter of the Satanic Temple of Arizona in 2015. The group has unsuccessfully lobbied cities for years to deliver invocations at city council meetings.

Scottsdale will head to court Tuesday to defend a city council decision to block Satanists from leading a council meeting invocation.

Meanwhile, another metro Phoenix city is adding prayer to the start of its meetings, knowing full well what that may mean.

"It's only a matter of time before the Satanists come," Surprise Councilman Chris Judd said.

For the last several years, The Satanic Temple, an international Satanist group, has been asking city councils across the country to lead their invocations. 

The Satanic Temple's Arizona Chapter, based in Tucson, has made these requests in cities such as Phoenix, Sahuarita and Scottsdale, but has never successfully been able to deliver an invocation.

While other cities have gotten away with blocking the invocations by saying their calendar was full or ending their invocation practice altogether, in Scottsdale the council directly denied a request from the Satanic Temple's Arizona Chapter.

That is what led the group to file its lawsuit.

Scottsdale denies Satanist prayer

Under the U.S. Constitution, governments must allow for free speech and cannot discriminate based on religion.

The temple's requests leave public officials wrestling with either allowing the Satanists to lead the invocations and potentially offending their constituents, or denying the request and potentially violating the Constitution.

Cities that have moved forward with the invocations, such as Pensacola, Florida, and an Alaskan borough, have faced public backlash.

Scottsdale initially approved the Satanist's request to give an invocation in 2016. Later, the group was told it couldn't because it had no substantial ties to Scottsdale, according to the lawsuit.

City spokesman Kelly Corsette said, to lead an invocation in the city, the organization must have a substantial connection to the Scottsdale community.

Corsette would not say whether that requirement existed before the Satanic Temple’s request to give an invocation, citing the active lawsuit.

The Satanic Temple says they were never asked in the application process if they had a substantial tie to Scottsdale, according to court documents.

"There’s a clear and obvious pattern of discrimination with city councils," said Stuart de Haan, attorney for the Temple.

Before the Temple requested to speak, most of the invocations were given by Scottsdale churches, although representatives from churches in Paradise Valley and the Arcadia area also gave invocations.  

City officials, in court filings, maintain it is the city's longstanding policy that the invocation be given by a representative of a groups with Scottsdale ties. However, even if the policy was new, it would not be unconstitutional, the city argues. 

Oral arguments in the case will be heard Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court.

What would a Satanic invocation look like?

The Arizona chapter of the satanic group formed in 2015. Shortly after, they requested to lead Phoenix's invocation. In reaction, the Phoenix council voted to end invocations at its meetings.

A month later, Phoenix voted to reinstate the invocations, but, this time, only chaplains for the police and fire departments would be allowed to lead them.

The Satanic Temple's Arizona Chapter says, as it makes its requests, it's apparent that religious discrimination is rampant.

"What we’re seeing in the United States with the term 'religious liberty,' what it really means is Christian supremacy," said de Haan, attorney for the Temple. "They really have no concern with liberty for everybody, only liberty for themselves and those that they like."

Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the Satanic Temple, wrote an invocation and religious discrimination.

The Temple has a prepared invocation written by Lucien Greaves, the spokesman and co-founder of The Satanic Temple, ready to go.

"Essentially it’s a short talk on logic and reason and how to not be controlled by superstition," de Haan said. "We just have a message that is more humanitarian and about earthly logic and wisdom."

The rules for prayer

Only some cities in the Valley have invocations at the start of their city council meetings. Others ask for a moment of silence.

The U.S. Supreme Court has found that, generally, it's constitutional for city councils to host invocations at the start of their meetings.

Where they can go wrong is in their related policies and practices.

A city can't favor one religion over another, said Paul Bender, a constitutional lawyer, and a professor of law and dean emeritus for Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. 

The Supreme Court defines "religion" broadly, and leans in favor of acknowledging religions, Bender said.

"The courts really hate to get involved about whether something is a genuine religion or not," Bender said.

If the Satanist group acts like a religion, and appears to be a religion, and isn't being particularly offensive or disruptive, Bender said, cities generally should let them lead prayers.

Surprise makes rules for its new invocations

The Surprise City Council before their public meetings on June 5, 2018.

Some Valley cities have detailed policies for how invocations should happen, to provide legal protections for the councils that offer them.

In Surprise, City Attorney Robert Wingo advised the Surprise City Council as to what type of policies have held up in court. Mostly, he said, the city shouldn't deny requests based on religion, and the invocation should be kept separate from council business.

"We can't get into the business of determining whose beliefs are legitimate," Wingo said.

The Surprise council voted 5-2 on June 18 to add the invocations. Councilmen Chris Judd and Roland Winters were the opposing votes.

The new policy requires that the invocation:

  • not be longer than a minute long.
  • not be listed as an agenda item.
  • not be reviewed by the city or council.
  • not be used to proselytize nor disparage any faith or belief.

City invocations are mostly Christian

In Scottsdale, most invocations at meetings in the last couple years have been led by representatives of Christian faiths.

In Scottsdale, the mayor's office schedules invocations for the year by reaching out to those who have delivered invocations in the past, with Scottsdale Bible Church being the most frequent, Corsette said.

Other groups that have given invocations in the city include the Valley Presbyterian Church, Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona, Impact Church, Fountain of Life Church, First Baptist Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Missio Dei.

Besides the Satanic Temple, the city has not turned anyone else away, according to Corsette.

Elected leaders in Scottsdale and elsewhere have also recently led the invocations.

That should be fine, Bender said, as long as the prayer doesn't have religious undertones at the same meeting the council was considering a religious agenda item.

"If there's nothing special on the agenda," Bender said, "I would assume the courts wouldn't have a problem with that."

Surprise council: It's worth it to add invocations

In Surprise, Councilman David Sanders said adding invocations will be an opportunity to represent the religious beliefs of the community.

“It has the potential to be an issue, but I feel it’s worth it,” he said.

Surprise Councilman David Sanders said that adding invocations will be an opportunity to represent the religious beliefs of the community.

Mayor Skip Hall agreed.

Councilman Roland Winters said that while he thinks it is a noble idea, he believes “in the separation of church and state.”

“This can be fraught with problems," he said.

Judd said by adding invocations, the council would be adding an “extra layer of drama.” He said he didn’t want to give the Satanists an opportunity to “troll,” or mock, the council.

“They like to come out and they like to troll to see if they can get us to break the rules, make us look silly up here,” he said.

Even with the Supreme Court giving cities the general go ahead, Bender said he personally doesn't believe it's constitutional.

While the U.S. Congress leads invocations, the public does not participate. At city meetings, Bender said, the public is asked to participate.

“I see a big difference between a meeting the citizens participate in, and a meeting that is just a Legislature meeting where citizens watch and don’t have any role."

Jen Fifield covers Surprise and Glendale. Send your best Surprise puns to her at jen.fifield@azcentral.com or at 602-444-8763. Follow her on Twitter @JenAFifield

Lorraine Longhi covers Scottsdale. Send her any questions you have about Satanism to llonghi@gannett.com or 480-243-4086. Follow her on Twitter @lolonghi

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