Texas city blocks Christian pastor's invocation after his open support for a Pride event

Keller officials booted Reverend Alan Bentrup from giving an invocation because he “offended” conservatives. They may have broken the law doing it.

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City council invocations have always been utterly useless rituals, but when a Christian pastor is prevented from delivering one because he’s too liberal for the elected officials, maybe that’ll finally send a message that the whole practice needs to end.

To make sense of what happened, we have to go back a few months to a Pride festival that took place a few months ago in Tarrant County, Texas (just west of Dallas). St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church was home to the event after rector Alan Bentrup offered his church’s land to organizers so they could host the celebration right between the cities of Keller and Southlake.

Reverend Alan Bentrup (screenshot via YouTube)

The one-day event appeared to be pretty successful. There were over 140 vendors, food trucks, and activities for children. There was even a family-friendly performance from drag artist Madame Lexical on the schedule.

But before the event took place, local Republican leaders claimed the drag performer “espouses violent language against conservatives,” citing various lyrics and social media posts that had nothing to do with the planned event. Despite the fact that Madame Lexical was going to sing “one age-appropriate song that she often sings at inter-faith concerts,” Tarrant County GOP chairman Bo French made it clear this would be the right’s next target for attack:

There is no place in civil society for this kind of violent degeneracy. Leftists, and specifically the mentally deranged “trans” community, have declared war on the right. It is time all of our leaders, from the Trump Administration down to the local level, put a stop to all of this immediately. We should not allow the continued incitement of violence by leftists towards the right.

Even Keller Mayor Armin Mizani weighed in with an insane post on X/Twitter saying that the city was “not involved and does not condone this event” and that the performances “suggest an agenda aimed at exposing children to inappropriate, highly sexualized content.” (That was obviously a lie.)

That led to countless threats made against the performer and the organizers, and Madame Lexical was eventually dropped from the schedule—”for Lexical’s well-being,” they said. Bentrup wasn’t spared either.

Bentrup said in a phone interview that after the Pride festival was announced, he received numerous threats and a barrage of furious phone calls. One of the threats, said Bentrup, included a photo of him with a skull and crossbones. Another included an old photo of his now 15-year-old son, with the person making the threat accusing Bentrup of being a pedophile.

Despite that minor controversy, Bentrup remained supportive of the event:

For his part, Bentrup said he is expecting protests, and the church has public sidewalks where people are free to exercise their First Amendment rights.

“I can’t wait to meet them, talk to them and offer them a glass of water,” Bentrup said.

Bentrup said when he discussed the Pride event with the Vestry (church board) everyone approved of the idea.

“We want to be a good neighbor. We opened up our space just like we do for scout troops and HOA’s.”

Sounds like a pretty decent guy.

Bentrup was coincidentally on the schedule to deliver the invocation at the Keller City Council meeting on December 16th, but wouldn’t you know it, at the last second, city officials told him they accidentally ”double booked” the invocation and he wouldn’t be able to do it.

When the invocation was delivered that day, by Council Member Tag Green, he said he requested that opportunity because his mother was sick. Which was essentially an admission that Bentrup hadn’t been double booked at all. He was just shoved off the agenda by a council member and everyone else agreed to it.

Bentrup, who was now present with nothing to do, spoke during the public comment section of the meeting and praised the police for handling the threats against him and making sure the Pride event ran smoothly. He also said during his comments that when he raised those threats with the mayor, “he largely dismissed those concerns.” On Facebook, he posted the invocation he planned to give, which was Christian at its core and called on council members to make decisions that “bend toward justice, tilt toward mercy, and lead toward peace.”

Had they allowed him to speak, no one would have made a big deal about. Instead, they tried to silence him and created a host of problems for themselves.

That’s largely because the mayor later admitted they just booted Bentrup from the agenda because they didn’t like his views.

Delivering the opening prayer before Keller City Council meetings is a privilege, not a right. It would be irresponsible for the Keller City Council to elevate an individual to lead us in prayer who offended a large majority of our residents when he recently welcomed children to attend an event that exposed them to male drag performers. We will not apologize for or equivocate on this decision.

As he stated, he was allowed, as all residents are, to share his thoughts during public comment, which is his right. Anything beyond that is at the discretion of the Council, and the decision was made not to elevate someone who is out of step with the majority of our community and its values.

In Keller, we will never condone threats or violence, even in the face of deep disagreements. At the same time, we are unapologetic in expressing our beliefs and stand firm in our convictions.

It’s always nice when elected officials are so dumb, they openly admit to doing something illegal...

Because while having an invocation at city council meetings is legal, it must be open to anyone who wants to speak provided there’s a fair process for doing it. Bentrup went through that process and was on the agenda weeks in advance. The mayor is now saying Bentrup was removed from that spot because his views “offended a large majority of our residents”—a statement that’s based entirely on lies. But if being “out of step with the majority of our community and its values” is the concern here, the city could theoretically use the same argument to ban atheists, Muslims, and even progressive Christians from ever delivering an invocation, too, and that would be illegal.

These city council members are so damn ignorant, they’re going to get themselves sued because they can’t help but confess to their own crimes.

For his part, Bentrup doesn’t appear to want to stir the pot any further, no matter how much I want him to. He posted a response to all this simply saying the city council lied to him about being “double booked” before challenging them to explain which of his values went against the community:

My invitation to offer the invocation was rescinded by the mayor because, I’ve been told, my values do not align with the values of this community.

So let me ask plainly: What values don’t align?

Love?

The conviction that every person bears inherent dignity and deserves safety and care.

Support?

Showing up for neighbors who are hurting, including those who have made threats against me and those who protect us from harm.

Care?

For people who are hungry, unhoused, refugees, or struggling to survive.

Respect?

The belief that disagreement never excuses dehumanization, and that civility matters in how we speak about one another.

Justice?

Working so that our shared life bends toward fairness and equity for all.

Community?

The belief that our communities are strongest when we widen the circle of belonging, rather than shrink it.

I moved back here because this is home. My kids go to school here. I volunteer at their high school, sit in bleachers at band competitions and sporting events, donate money to pay for field trips and lunch debts for kids I’ll never meet.

I care about this community and those who live here.

I’ve dedicated my life to caring for this community and those who live here.

This past year our church donated more than $80,000 to food pantries, homeless shelters, and refugee ministries. That’s more than 15 percent of our entire annual budget. We do this because we believe in loving and serving our neighbors with no agenda beyond compassion.

Does that not align with the values of Keller?

If offering a prayer grounded in love, dignity, care, and respect for all people disqualifies someone from praying for this city, then we all should ask what “community values” really mean here.

When the mayor posted about Bentrup being “out of step with the majority of our community and its values,” Bentrup made clear his issue wasn’t with not being allowed to deliver the invocation but rather with the city council blatantly lying about the reason behind it.

Mizani couldn’t help himself. He responded by whining about how Bentrup “sought out the media,” as if people on the right never use media outlets to amplify their views.

BENTRUP: I have no complaints that I didn’t get to pray. As you say, that is your right.

What I object to is that you had a city staffer tell me it was a scheduling mixup.

If you stand firm in your convictions, you should stand firm in your convictions.

That’s what I’m doing.

…

MIZANI: … and yet you, sir, sought out the media and rushed last night to post on social media “despite you having no complaints” that you didn’t deliver the opening prayer. So yes, we will be absolutely clear about our position and continue to stand firm on our convictions.

The city’s convictions are based on bigotry and ignorance. Not sure that’s the flex he thinks it is.

So here’s where we’re at: A conservative city council punished a man of faith—you know, actual religious persecution—and MAGA cultists appear to be fine with it because they have no actual principles other than using their power to hurt anyone they disagree with because they have no ability to listen to anyone outside their bubble.

The best solution would be to get rid of the invocation altogether. It’s unnecessary and, as we can see in Keller, it obviously doesn’t make the elected officials more capable of thinking clearly. If anything, it just gives them another incentive to go all in on a culture war fight. They would rather do that than make decisions that are best for everyone in the city.

If they’re going to use the invocation as a loyalty test, there’s no reason to have it on the agenda at all. Hell, in this case, all it did is create a reason for the mayor to lie before admitting the truth—which makes the whole council look petty.

Against that backdrop, Bentrup’s response is devastating precisely because he’s so restrained. He’s not sending out nasty message on social media, demanding special treatment, or threatening a lawsuit. All he’s doing is pointing out that his values better represent the city than the hate being pushed by the mayor and his right-wing allies. He represents the kind of civic virtue these invocations pretend to honor, while the officials who silenced him showed how pointless the ritual really is.

Ultimately, if a Christian pastor can be excluded from giving an invocation because he’s practicing compassion too visibly, then there’s no defense for having invocations at all. Keller doesn’t need more prayers or different speakers. They need better city officials, period.

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