Overview
- Former council member Matt Dalbey used the invocation slot to read a prayer tied to The Satanic Temple that ended “Hail Satan” at the Oct. 6 meeting.
- Pastor Rick Bick rushed the podium to call the prayer a “curse,” and Mayor Benjamin Foote ordered a 30‑second moment of silence before the council moved on.
- The council adopted an open-invocation policy on Jan. 20 that lets any resident request a two-minute invocation and forbids staff from pre‑screening content; Councilwoman Cara Galloway was the lone vote against it.
- City Administrator Philip Rath and other officials said the policy’s broad language enabled the invocation and warned that tightening the rules could expose the city to constitutional legal challenges.
- Dalbey is scheduled to speak again on Nov. 3, and the incident has revived scrutiny of The Satanic Temple’s past actions in Iowa as residents and media pressure the council to decide whether to revise its policy.