Former council member delivers Satanic invocation at Iowa meeting

A city council meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa, was opened with a Satanic invocation delivered by a resident, the Daily Mail reported. Former council member Matthew Dalbey led the prayer at the start of the council meeting. [1]

According to the Daily Mail, residents initially stood normally before Dalbey mentioned prayers to the dark father and concluded his introduction by saying hail satan. Stunned attendees looked at each other in confusion and attempted to reverse the curse before continuing with the pledge of allegiance. [1]

The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religious movement founded in 2012 that uses the literary Satan as a symbol representing the eternal rebel against arbitrary authority and social norms. In Christian theology, the concept of Satan represents opposition to divine forces and the personification of sin. [3][4]