Prayer to Satan opened Iowa city council meeting: 'Dear dark father, Hail Satan' - LifeSite
The Ottumwa City Council later issued a statement saying 'we cannot discriminate against a denomination.'
Thu Oct 8, 2026 - 10:52 am EDTThu Oct 8, 2026 - 11:20 am EDT
OTTUMWA, Iowa (LifeSiteNews) — The Ottumwa City Council’s regular October 6 meeting drew national attention this week when resident and former council member Matt Dalbey opened the meeting with an invocation to Satan.
“Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds,” he said. “Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the Tree of Knowledge and dissipate our comforting delusions of old. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise. It is done. Hail Satan.”
Reaction to the stunt dominated the following several minutes, with New Life Center Pastor Rick Bick speaking up to urge the council to “reverse this curse that was put on …