Dustin Gardiner

The Republic | azcentral.com

A sharply divided Phoenix City Council voted 5-4 Wednesday to stop having an opening prayer at council meetings and instead observe a "moment of silent prayer," a move that blocks a group of Satanists from giving the invocation at its next formal meeting.

But the decision sparked protests from some residents and city leaders, who said having a moment of silence is akin to banning prayer and gives the Satanists a victory.

Followers of the Satanic Temple, a group promoting religious agnosticism, had been scheduled to give the prayer at the council's Feb. 17 meeting. News of the planned Satanic invocation became public last week and went viral almost instantly. Council members said constituents and others inundated them with comments.

That outrage was in full force Wednesday as more than a hundred people filled seats at the council's meeting, many opposing the Satanic invocation. The emotional testimony went on for more than two hours.

Council members had been expected to vote on a proposal intended to block the Satanists but keep prayer at meetings. Last week, four councilmen introduced a plan to let the mayor and council members take turns inviting different religious groups to give the prayer. Their aim: Indirectly uninvite the Satanists.

City Attorney Brad Holm said that would be a violation of the First Amendment, if applied retroactively. Holm said the city cannot change its invocation practice to specifically block Michelle Shortt, a temple member from Tucson expected to give the prayer.

However, Holm said the city could not allow anyone to give a spoken prayer going forward if it immediately adopts a “moment of silent prayer.” That way the city would not be excluding minority religious groups in order to favor a more widely held viewpoint, he said.

"But mayor and council cannot decide that this woman would not be allowed to offer her spoken prayer," Holm said, noting the Satanists had indicated they would sue. "Our view as the city's attorney's office and my view personally as the city attorney is that we would be likely to lose that case."

Moment of silence

The notion of replacing the prayer with a moment of silence drew sharp criticism from many residents in the audience and some council members.

"I am not for the silent prayer," said Pastor Darlene Vasquez, who began to cry at the microphone. “I want those who believe in the one true God to pray. It breaks my heart to hear what is going on."

Stu de Haan, a Satanic Temple member who submitted the prayer request, has said the group is trying to exercise its rights and ensure minority religious voices are included. He said the group does not believe Satan actually exists and instead views the biblical Satan as a metaphor for rebellion.

"If they don’t want to accept, constitutionally what must happen is that all voices must be taken down from the public forum," de Haan said last week. "It’s basically all voices must be heard or none at all."

No Satanists addressed the council at the meeting.

Councilman Sal DiCiccio warned that creating a moment of silence gives the Satanists a "big win." He said the Satanic Temple is not a real religion and that the group's ultimate goal has always been to ban prayer entirely. He said the religious community would collect signatures to put the issue on the ballot and overturn the council's decision.

"This is what that Satanist group wants," DiCiccio said. "A moment of silence is basically a banning of prayer. It’s to agree to the Satanic goal to ban prayer."

Mayor Greg Stanton and four members of the council voted to support the change, many echoing the concern that the city could wind up in a costly legal battle if it prevented a specific group from praying.

"The First Amendment to the Constitution is not ambiguous on this issue," Stanton said. "Discriminating against faiths would violate the oath that all of us on this dais took. I personally take that very, very seriously."

Stanton and council members Kate Gallego, Laura Pastor, Daniel Valenzuela and Thelda Williams voted to support moving to a "moment of silent prayer." DiCiccio and Councilmen Bill Gates, Jim Waring and Michael Nowakowski opposed the move.

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