Man who opened Iowa city council with Satanic prayer scheduled to give another invocation

Controversy continues to swirl in Ottumwa, Iowa, after a resident offered a Satanic prayer at the opening of a city council meeting earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the Ottumwa City Council opened its meeting with a scheduled invocation from Matthew Dalbey, a former council member who is now a member of The Satanic Temple of Iowa. He addressed his prayer to the “dark father” and ended with “hail Satan.”

What was the response? A local pastor objected to the prayer. After the pledge of allegiance, Pastor Rick Bick of New Life Center spoke before the council and said it needed to reverse the curse that had been placed on the city. He added that the term “hail Satan” was not welcome there. When a councilwoman said his objection needed to wait until the end of the meeting, Bick insisted that immediate action was necessary to, in his words, reverse the curse that Dalbey invoked on the city moments earlier. Despite the councilwoman’s continued objections, the mayor overruled her and at first insisted on a moment of prayer, then corrected himself and requested a moment of silence instead.

How did the mayor respond? WORLD reached out to Mayor Benjamin Foote for comment on the incident. This story will be updated with any response received.

How did the council respond? Councilman Bill Hoffman told WORLD that while the Satanic prayer was allowed by policy, it did not reflect the beliefs of most Ottumwa citizens, and certainly not his own. He said he left the room during the prayer because, as a Christian, he objected to the content. He said he prayed to God for strength and wisdom for himself and asked God to watch over the city.

What did the city say officially? In a statement, the city of Ottumwa said it had been fielding many calls about the Satanic prayer. Officials described some of the calls as cordial, while they said others were filled with profanities. The invocation policy cannot discriminate against a denomination and everyone who was invited to perform the invocation had followed the correct protocol, according to the city’s statement. The council is not forewarned of what will be said for an invocation and it does not automatically endorse what the speaker is saying, according to the city.

Does Dalbey plan to do the same thing again? Dalbey is scheduled to give another invocation Nov. 3, according to the city’s website.