Satanic invocation interrupted by Christians with Lord's Prayer at city council meeting in Florida
Voices praying the Lord's Prayer drowned out a Satanic invocation during a city council meeting in Pensacola, Florida last week.
The invocation was recited by David Suhor from the West Florida Satanic Temple, who requested to deliver it as a representative of the Satanic Temple, according to Christian News.
As he began his invocation, many people in the room also started to pray the Lord's Prayer, drowning out his chants.
City council president Charles Bare commanded order in the room and warned that those who would not keep quiet would be escorted out.
Some people left the room while others stayed and prayed silently with their hands lifted in worship to God as Suhor sang a Satanist song: "That which is destroyed by truth should never be spared. Its demise, it is done. Hail Satan!"
"Quit pushing Christian privilege as we've seen with the Bayview cross and so many other issues and instead go to a moment of silence, that lets everybody pray or not according to their own conscience," he said when the invocation was done.
Council meetings are usually opened with a prayer. Usually, the city clerk chooses from a list of local clergy and invites them to lead the prayer.
However, last month, Suhor filed a request to be allowed to give the invocation, on the basis that the Satanic Temple is, technically, a church. Suhor reasoned that all churches should have equal opportunity to deliver invocations and the local government should not favor one religion and discriminate against others.
Bare granted his request, fearing Suhor would pursue a lawsuit if his request is denied.
"My overall message about all these invocations is that the Supreme Court is clear," Suhor said last month when he was requesting to deliver the invocation. "You cannot discriminate who gives them — it has to be all or none — otherwise you have the government religiously discriminating."