A Scottsdale employee acknowledged she received more than 15,000 emails from a church protesting the decision to let the Satanic Temple give an invocation in 2016.

The city eventually walked back its decision to let a temple official give the invocation.

The deluge of emails was a key discussion point in U.S. District Court Thursday as Scottsdale faced off against the temple about whether the city violated their First Amendment rights.

Kelli Kuester, the mayor’s administrative assistant, said on the stand that the emails had been routed to her email address after shutting down servers in the city. She said the emails were sent with the subject line “No Hail Satan Prayer.”

The name of the church behind the emails wasn't mentioned in court, and city officials did not immediately provide the information.

Attorneys for the temple were attempting to establish a timeline showing that the city acted purposefully to block the temple from speaking based on pushback from the community.

The city's attorney, meanwhile, continued to assert that the Satanic Temple could not classify itself as a religion and did not experience religious discrimination as a result.

The trial wrapped up Thursday afternoon after two full days. Timing on a decision from Judge David Campbell is unknown.

Satanists vs. Scottsdale goes back to 2016

The Satanic Temple of Arizona asked in February 2016 to give an invocation at the council meeting, and Kuester went ahead and put them on the schedule, eventually set for July.

When the public learned of the planned invocation, emails began pouring in. Mayor Jim Lane, Councilwoman Suzanne Klapp and other city politicians publicly expressed their disapproval of the group being allowed to speak.

Kuester, in responding to the temple's attorney, said she had responded to some of the constituent emails at the time by saying that the mayor found the group "personally repugnant and does not condone their beliefs."

She also acknowledged replying to constituents that if the mayor and council did not allow the Satanists to speak, they would have to end the practice of allowing invocations at council meetings.

Michelle Shortt, the former head of the Arizona chapter of the temple, intended to give the invocation, but the city ultimately rejected the request in May.

Brian Biesemeyer, who was acting city manager at the time, said the city's reasoning for barring the temple was that those giving the invocation must have substantial ties to the community.

Biesemeyer, in response to the temple's attorney, said there had been no vetting process to judge whether someone wanting to give the invocation has a substantial community tie. No other group had ever been denied to his knowledge.

Kuester also said she had never backgrounded any of the scheduled speakers or asked qualifying information of them.

"Only the Satanic Temple was subject to these requirements," Matthew Kezhaya, the temple's attorney, said. "Only the Satanic Temple was ever denied."

Shortt sued Scottsdale in 2018.

City questions Satanic Temple as religion

A key part of Scottsdale's legal argument hinges on whether the Satanic Temple is a religion.

Doug Misicko, better known as Lucien Greaves, the co-founder of the Satanic Temple, spent much of the day on the stand to shed light on the Satanic Temple's practices.

The temple's headquarters is in Salem, Massachusetts. It earned tax-exempt religious status from the IRS last year. The temple has its own unique symbols, monuments and canonized texts, such as John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Anatole France's "Revolt of the Angels," Misicko said.

Scot Claus, the city's attorney, pushed to play clips from a 2019 documentary, “Hail Satan?” which purported to show Misicko and other temple leaders disparaging the concept of religion.

Claus argued the temple’s rituals had no religious significance and that "a religion is not predicated upon mocking the deeply held religious beliefs of others."

The attorney went into detail about some of the temple's controversial rituals, including a 2013 instance where Claus said Misicko rubbed his testicles on the grave of the mother of Fred Phelps, the former pastor for the Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro is a Kansas-based church known for its harsh anti-gay rhetoric.

Claus said the temple's sole purpose in delivering an invocation in Scottsdale was to make a mockery of the proceedings.

Misicko said the rituals were conducted when he had just joined the temple, and that today, he would not let any chapter disparage the viewpoints of any other religion or individuals.

He and Shortt both said the temple's invocation was not meant to be offensive.

Misicko said when Shortt requested to speak in Scottsdale, they had members in the city. He could not say if that was still the case.

Judge questions both sides

Campbell questioned both sides at the close of the trial.

Claus had argued that the city couldn't have discriminated against Shortt or the temple because they didn't know her or talk to her.

The judge asked Claus how Scottsdale officials could reasonably claim they did not know the religious beliefs of the Satanic Temple, despite their beliefs being referenced in their name.

He questioned the temple's attorney about how they could reasonably call themselves a religion.

Campbell put it simply: "What is religion?"

Kezhaya said any group that addresses fundamental and imponderable matters, or is centered around a specific figure that takes the place of God in their life, should be considered a religion.

Have a tip out of Scottsdale? Reach the reporter Lorraine Longhi at llonghi@gannett.com or 480-243-4086. Follow her on Twitter @lolonghi.

Support local journalism.Subscribe to azcentral.com today.