Council’s kibosh bedevils satanists
MCAD complaint says group denied from giving invocations
A Salem-based satanist group that claims it was denied a chance to say the invocation at a City Council meeting has filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
The City Council traditionally opens meetings with an invocation, typically a prayer by a clergy member. But when The Satanic Temple asked to deliver the invocation at any available date, it alleges, the council denied the request, saying that invocation speakers are scheduled by invitation, and council members can choose whomever they see fit.
“The idea of an invitation-only policy being nondiscriminatory is nonsensical,” said Lucien Greaves, a temple spokesman. “It’s the very definition of discrimination.”
The commission and City Council President Andrea Campbell did not return calls Thursday.
Councilor-at-Large Annissa Essaibi George said through a spokeswoman that she never told temple members they weren’t allowed to give the invocation at a meeting.
“She just invites clergy based on a personal relationship she has with them or if they’re directly related to work that she does,” Greaves said. “She’s never specifically prevented someone from giving the invocation.”
The temple argues that while the practice of opening public meetings with prayers or invocations was deemed legal by the Supreme Court in 2014, the ruling made clear that municipalities are not free to engage in viewpoint discrimination in determining which religions may offer prayers or invocations, nor are they free to preference faith over nonbelief.
Founded in 2013, the temple describes itself as a nontheistic, religious organization that sees Satan as “representative of the eternal rebel, enlightened inquiry and personal freedom, rather than a supernatural deity or being,” it said in a statement. “The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.”