After Phoenix vote, Satanic group may ask to deliver invocation at Tucson meeting
TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - The Phoenix City Council voted 5-4 Wednesday, Feb. 3 to end a long-standing tradition and implement a moment of silence at the start of its meetings rather than an invocation.
In early December, members of the Satanic Temple in Tucson filed a request to give the invocation at a city council meeting. Stu de Haan, a member of the temple, said though he's happy the group is being treated equally, he would have rather had the opportunity to speak.
"All we wanted was two minutes," said de Haan, who watched hours of discussion online from his law office in downtown Tucson. "They got rid of a tradition to avoid a lawsuit."
Most of the Phoenix residents who spoke at Wednesday's meeting said they did not agree with the substitute motion to have a moment of silence. Some said they felt the group is trying to silence prayer all together.
Michelle Shortt, who was scheduled to lead the invocation at the Feb. 17 meeting, said they plan on asking the city of Tucson to give the prayer at one of its meetings.
"It's not their choice to decide whether or not we're a religion," she said about the Phoenix City Council. "We have to be allowed the same constitutional rights as anybody else."
De Haan said they are going to continue to fight for what they believe in despite the decision.
"This started with me writing a two-sentence email," de Haan said. "Then here we are. That wasn't our option. We didn't raise that motion, that was them. If that's what they vote for, at least it's legal unlike what they're proposing in the first time."
According to Tucson City Clerk Roger Randolph, his office has a list of ministers or individuals who have expressed interest in giving the invocation. He said they typically rotate through the list.
Randolph said the invocation must be nonsectarian and ecumenical in nature.
KOLD News 13 attempted to contact City Attorney Michael Rankin to see if the Tucson City Council would allow members of the temple to give the invocation, if they asked. Rankin was not available for comment.
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