A Scottsdale resident and activists petitioned a city commission on Monday to recommend replacing invocations with moments of silence at City Council meetings.

The move comes as Scottsdale and Satanists are locked in a legal battle over the city's decision three years ago to block Satanists from leading a council meeting invocation.

James Eaneman, a commissioner on the city's Human Relations Commission, which acts as an advisory board to the council on cultural awareness issues, pushed for the commission to recommend moments of silence instead of prayer.

"This is a hot-button issue," he said. "Where in any law does it say we can't make a statement?"

However, other commissioners and city staff said they wouldn't make a formal recommendation to the council until the lawsuit with the Satanists is over.

The lawsuit between Scottsdale and the Satanic Temple is expected to go to trial in federal court later this year.

Brent Stockwell, the assistant city manager, said delaying the commission's recommendation was strategic to ensure the city does not have to discuss the matter publicly while fighting the Satanists' lawsuit.

"We do not want to discuss this matter publicly until this matter has been resolved," Stockwell said at the meeting.

Other commissioners agreed with Stockwell, saying that they agreed with public concerns about the invocations, but they did not want to wade into the middle of a city lawsuit.

"I'm not going to go and put myself in the middle of litigation when we can wait two or three months," Commissioner Emily Hinchman said.

The lawsuit's origins

The Satanic Temple, an international Satanist group, has been asking city councils across the country to lead their invocations for several years.

Some cities, such as Pensacola, Florida, and an Alaskan borough, allowed Satanists to give the invocations, but faced public backlash.

The temple's Arizona Chapter, based in Tucson, has made these requests in cities such as Phoenix, Sahuarita and Scottsdale, but has never successfully been able to deliver an invocation.

A request led the Phoenix City Council to replace spoken prayer at meetings with a moment of silence in 2016. The move was later reversed, with the fire and police departments chaplains now delivering the invocations.

Scottsdale initially approved the Satanists' request to give an invocation in 2016. Later, the group was told it couldn't because it had no substantial ties to Scottsdale, according to the lawsuit.

The Satanic Tempe's Arizona Chapter sued the city for religious discrimination in 2018.

Scottsdale spokesman Kelly Corsette said to lead an invocation in the city, the organization must have a substantial connection to the community. He would not say whether that requirement existed before the Satanic Temple’s request to give an invocation, citing the active lawsuit.

No written policy was ever formalized.

Does prayer belong at public meetings?

Scottsdale resident Sandy Schenkat said she has asked the Human Relations Commission three times this year to recommend that council adopt a moment of silence in place of invocations, but her requests have gone ignored.

Some Arizona cities, such as Scottsdale and most recently Surprise, offer invocations at the start of city council meetings. Others, such as Flagstaff and Tempe, ask for a moment of silence.

"Somehow they're still able to run the business of the city without praying first," Tory Roberg, a lobbyist for Secular Coalition for Arizona, told The Arizona Republic after the meeting. "I think that Scottsdale should really follow that lead."

Roberg said she's concerned the invocations, whether in Scottsdale or the state Legislature, are typically Christian.

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With more than 4,000 religions in the world, everyone should be welcome to deliver an invocation, she said.

"We would like to see them be more diverse and welcome the Satanists, or the Wiccans, or the Spaghetti Monster people," she said.

Luke Douglas,executive director of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix, said at the meeting he'd like to see Scottsdale be the next city to strike prayer from its public meetings.

"Church and state should remain separate as per the First Amendment," Douglas said.

What now?

Stockwell said that recommending a moment of silence in place of an invocation falls within the Human Relations Commission's purview, however he recommends waiting until the lawsuit is settled.

"The (lawsuit's) first in the queue," he said. "The city's not going to make any changes or other recommendations on that while it's going through the process."

Lawyers for Scottsdale and the Satanic Temple, in July, presented their arguments in front of U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell.

Campbell denied both sides' request for a ruling without a trial, saying too many facts of the case were in dispute. A trial is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Douglas, with the humanist society, said that the trial could take several months to be finalized.

"Wouldn't a better strategy be just to be open about admitting that you might have made a wrong and try and rectify it?"

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

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