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We’ve heard plenty of stories about non-Christian invocations being delivered at city council meetings, but rarely do they descend into the kind of chaos we saw in Ottumwa, Iowa on Tuesday.
The invocation was delivered by former City Council member Matt Dalbey, a member of the (non-theistic) Satanic Temple of Iowa, who called on the crowd to “embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat from the tree of knowledge” before ending his invocation with a “Hail Satan.”
Thank you, Mayor Council. Let us pray.
Dear Dark Father, let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times.
Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old.
Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations.
Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or all.
That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.
It is done. Hail Satan.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that invocation. It’s uplifting and thoughtful. If you remove the Satanic references, no one would find that controversial in the least.
But this is Iowa. Shortly after that invocation was given and the roll call was complete, New Life Center Pastor Rick Bick ran up to the microphone and demanded the council “reverse the curse.”
“That was a curse put on the city when he said, ‘Hail Satan’ and ‘Dark God" [sic]. And you most of you know that and we need to just stop and reverse it,” he whined.
This is Christian privilege. No one has the right to rush the mic and demand a different invocation be delivered because he didn’t agree with the first one. I think Christian invocations are inappropriate at government meetings, but it would also be inappropriate to demand a secular one be delivered immediately afterwards to undo the damage. There’s a process. And if Bick wanted to deliver a Christian invocation in the future, he would have that opportunity.
Council member Cara Galloway attempted to wrest control of the meeting away from the arrogant pastor, saying he could speak during the public comment portion of the meeting if he wanted. But Mayor Benjamin Foote stepped in to say he ran the meeting, and he insisted they pause the meeting to hold a 30-second moment of silence. That way the Christians could ask God for whatever the hell they wanted.
While Foote may have wanted to prevent this controversy from getting out of control, he made a mistake. There was no reason to have a moment of silence because it was essentially a capitulation to Christians unhappy with the invocation. There’s no world in which a request for a Revenge Invocation after a pastor’s prayer would have been accommodated in any way.
And when Foote explained his decision to Fox News Digital later, he only made the problem worse:
Reacting to the controversy, Foote told Fox News Digital, "This is not a reflection of our community. As the mayor of my hometown in Iowa, I know the people of Ottumwa, and the invocation read at the start of Tuesday’s meeting does not represent the faith or the values of families who call this city home."
He’s lying. That invocation represents the values of someone who lives in the city. Which part was he upset with? Being judged for his actions? Rejecting arbitrary authority that threatens people’s personal rights? Or the fact that Satan was invoked instead of his preferred mythological figure?
If you don’t want non-Christian invocations at meetings, then cancel the useless tradition altogether.
The Ottumwa Courier reports that when the invocation policy was adopted earlier this year, Galloway was the only council member to vote against it and she’s never stood for any of the invocations delivered so far. That policy says invocations are an opportunity to “include our Creator into our decision making,” falsely suggesting everyone’s Christian to begin with. Nevertheless, it appears that anyone can request to give one. Next year’s calendar is already full, and Dalbey is once again on the list. He’s also slated to give one on November 3.
Toward the end of the meeting, Galloway chimed in once more to deliver a well-deserve “I told you so” remark:
… I just want to kind of comment on what happened tonight. So, opening with an invocation means allowing viewpoints that may not reflect our own. And responding to someone’s invocation is a slippery slope to putting a financial liability on the taxpayers and allowing for others to object or respond.
And this is exactly why I had concerns about having an invocation when we first talked about it. I think I even specifically referenced… having someone from the Church of Satan, or a prayer about Satan, when we talked about that—that this could happen and we would need to allow it.
So, I just want to remind us that, again, sometimes things are said that we may not agree with… while you’re allowed to do the moment of silence and that kind of thing, too, I think we’ve opened ourselves up for others to object or respond to others’ invocations. And we need to remember that we are up here to be neutral and allow viewpoints because we’ve opened up invocations.
She gets it. The mayor doesn’t. The other council members didn’t say anything publicly to back her up.
But it doesn’t look like the backlash has died down. On Wednesday, the city issued a formal statement reminding people that opening invocations to everyone (the only legal way to do it) means accepting speakers you may not like.
… It is very clear that many of you have watched at least the first two minutes of the October 6 City Council meeting.
We have been fielding calls all day about the invocation given at this meeting. Some calls have been cordial, while many have been rude and full of profanities.
An invocation policy was passed on January 20, 2026, that started the practice of invocations at regular meetings… We cannot discriminate against a denomination and everyone that is invited to perform the invocation has followed the correct protocol.
We are not informed ahead of time what will be said for an invocation nor do we automatically endorse what the speaker is saying. We encourage everyone to review the policy.
The statement itself is fine, but you have to wonder: What the hell did they expect? Did they seriously think they would only hear Christian invocations? That no one would get upset if a non-Christian was allowed to speak? Just because religious zealots don’t understand The Satanic Temple (and the fact that they don’t believe in a literal Satan), you can bet they’re going to complain if they don‘t get their way every time. That’s how it always goes.
The council should eliminate the invocation entirely and just do their damn jobs. Let people pray on their own time. Because there will be more Satanic invocations after this, and you can expect local pastors to whine about it every time it happens because guys like Bick don’t understand how religious pluralism works.
For what it’s worth, this isn’t the first time a corrective measure to a secular or Satanic invocation has been requested or allowed. It’s happened multiple times in Florida. It even occurred in the Arizona legislature in 2017 when a state legislator gave a secular invocation, only to see one of her colleagues request and receive permission to deliver a Christian one right after.
I reached out to Dalbey to see what he thinks about this backlash but haven’t heard back as of this writing.
Bick, on the other hand, spoke with Christian Nationalist Tony Perkins about his supposedly courageous stand, and Perkins glazed him, saying he commended Bick’s “righteous indignation,” told him he “did the right thing to break that curse,” and said his actions were “appropriate.”
It’s a reminder that Perkins doesn’t believe in religious neutrality at all. He’s a theocrat who believes non-Christians in any aspect of government are illegitimate. He would be apoplectic if an atheist did what Bick did after a Christian invocation, but Perkins is incapable of putting himself in anyone else’s shoes because his religion teaches him never to do that.
Right off the top, the best way to open a meeting of any sort continues to be, "What is the first order of business?" That said, Ottumwa did everything right, and because they did, this character Bick lost his shit about it. He was clearly out of order. Matt Dalbey was NOT. He gave his invocation properly and respectfully.
And per usual, it's the Christians who screwed things up.
𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑎 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟, 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑓 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑎 30-𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑.
Okay, here's a thought. If the privileged Christians can rush the mike and get a second invocation because they didn't like the first, then it's only fair that members of TST can rush the mike for the exact same courtesy. Make sure there is video of the rush and the inevitable arrest for "disruption" so that a judge will either be forced to issue warrants for the pastor for the exact same thing or toss the prosecutor out for wasting his time.