Will Isern

wisern@pnj.com

The Pensacola City Council will hold a special meeting next week to discuss its invocation procedures after a representative of The Satanic Temple West Florida was scheduled to deliver the invocation at the council's July 14 meeting.

David Suhor, a local religious-freedom activist, was scheduled to lead the invocation on behalf of the temple after a months-long effort of petitioning the city for the opportunity. Suhor has long called for local governmental bodies to end the practice of beginning their meetings with prayer and is one of the complainants in a lawsuit aimed at removing the cross from Bayview Park.

Council President Charles Bare said he will call the meeting for 5:30 p.m. July 7. Bare said he felt he would have opened the city up to litigation had he denied Suhor's request himself, but that the council could take action to prevent it from happening.

"I didn't feel like I could just deny him myself," Bare said. "But if the council takes a vote to decide not to have invocations in the future, that would stop him from delivering his message."

Suhor has described himself as a secular humanist and has delivered non-religious invocations at meetings of the City Council and Escambia County Board of County Commissioners in the past. The invocation at the BOCC led Commissioner Wilson Robertson to leave the commission chambers, and Suhor clashed with Escambia County School Board member Jeff Bergosh when he tried to give the invocation there.

This latest invocation would be the first Suhor has been selected to deliver on behalf of The Satanic Temple.

"My overall message about all these invocations is that the Supreme Court is clear," Suhor said. "You cannot discriminate who gives them — it has to be all or none — otherwise you have the government religiously discriminating."

Normally, the City Clerk's office offers the opportunity to deliver the invocation to local clergy from a list it keeps. After Suhor made several requests to clerk Ericka Burnett, Burnett forwarded the requests to Bare and City Council Executive Don Kraher.

"In this case the individual wasn't invited, per se, he requested to be allowed to do it," Kraher said. "Just the general thinking was, 'It's a recognized church, you're hard-pressed by the First Amendment to say no.'"

Suhor said Wednesday he has planned what he intends to say at the invocation, though he did not want to reveal the details. He also declined to discuss details of The Satanic Temple West Florida, such as when it was formed. The temple was recently made a chapter of The Satanic Temple's national organization, according to news release sent Tuesday.

Suhor, using the name Davidas, described the temple in the release as an atheist group, "that invokes the example of the mythical Satan for his encouragement of free will, knowledge and rebellion against dogmatic authoritarianism — especially in government circles." A description on the temple's Facebook page says, "We stand for compassion, justice, reason, free will, personal sovereignty, and science."

The regular Pensacola City Council meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. July 14.