Phoenix Lawmakers Battle Satanic Temple Over Ceremonial Prayer

A group of Arizona lawmakers are trying to block a Satanist group from delivering a traditional prayer at an upcoming City Council meeting.

Four members of the Phoenix City Council on Friday moved to stop the Satanic Temple of Tucson from delivering the invocation at a meeting on Feb. 17, according to local NBC affiliate 12 News. The legislators submitted an emergency clause to urge the council to change the process in which it selects who leads the prayers at meetings.

Satanic Temple members say they are a religion but do not worship the devil, 12 News reported. A chapter leader of the group hinted members would take legal action if denied the right to give the prayer.

“If they want to commit a constitutional violation, we will respond in turn,” leader Stu De Haan, a Tucson criminal defense lawyer, told the station. “This is clearly discriminatory and targeting one group.”

[12 News]