The Pensacola City Council in Florida will hold a special meeting to decide whether to end its tradition of having invocations to stop a planned prayer on July 14 by a member of the Satanic Temple West Florida.
Council President Charles Bare set the meeting on Thursday, July 7, to discuss the process by which invocations are delivered at city council meetings.
The proposal is to replace it with a moment of silence.
In a council memorandum sponsored by Bare, it said that the request by the Satanic Temple to deliver the invocation "has created significant discussion and debate in the local community."
It said the debate revolves around the First Amendment and a Supreme Court case decided in May 2014. In the case, the Supreme Court reversed a decision by an appellate court to say that a town could not discriminate against a minority faith.
"If the Pensacola City Council decides to deny certain groups or individuals the ability to deliver invocations, we may face a challenge of discrimination," the memorandum noted.
According to Bare, "I didn't feel like I could just deny him myself. But if the council takes a vote to decide not to have invocations in the future, that would stop him from delivering his message."
The memo said the moment of silence will provide an "opportunity for prayer without affecting others in the chamber or those watching on television or the Internet."
David Suhor, a member of the Satanic Temple, will deliver the invocation during the city council meeting on July 14.
Suhor had already delivered non-religious invocations at city council meetings and at Escamb County Board of County Commissioners meeting. But this would be his first invocation on behalf of The Satanic Temple if things go according to plans.
"My overall message about all these invocations is that the Supreme Court is clear. You cannot discriminate who gives them — it has to be all or none — otherwise you have the government religiously discriminating," said Suhor, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
He described the Satanic Temple as an atheist group "that invokes the example of the mythical Satan for his encouragement of free will, knowledge and rebellion against dogmatic authoritarianism — especially in government circles."
