Ottawa, Michigan, Don't!

Here is the petition:

Urge Michigan Commissioners to Stop Satanic Invocation —
https://www.returntoorder.org/petition/urge-michigan-commissioners-to-stop-satanic-invocation/?PKG=RTOE1985

I'm noting with some degree of consternation that the 11 commissioners include only one Democrat and ten Republicans.

This is basically the worst news story on Republicans since I heard the two Bush presidents were Skull and Bones, or when that veteran Republican opposed Trump on abortion.

So, I fact checked:

Satanists set to give opening prayer for Ottawa County Board
SARAH LEACH Holland Sentinel (31.III.2024)
https://eu.hollandsentinel.com/story/news/politics/county/2024/03/21/satanists-set-to-give-opening-prayer-for-ottawa-county-board/73044088007/

Satanist to give prayer at Ottawa County Board meeting
By: Matt Witkos Posted at 10:28 PM, Apr 01, 2024 and last updated 4:35 AM, Apr 02, 2024
https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/satanis-set-to-give-prayer-at-ottawa-county-board-meeting

So, the update on April 2nd did not state "April fools" ...

Now, this involves a link to statements by Joe Moss (chairman) Republican City of Hudsonville and Townships of Blendon, Jamestown Charter, and Zeeland Charter

Prayer in the Public Square – Free Speech 1000 Miles from Agreement
https://joemoss.com/prayer-in-the-public-square-free-speech-1000-miles-from-agreement

For clarification, the Satanic Temple was not selected or invited to give an invocation, nor was it chosen to represent the community. The statement was misleading.

Some in the community have repeated this narrative to create chaos and confusion, and malign Board leadership by implying the Satanic Temple was invited to pray. This is simply wrong.

Not rotating the group into the meeting schedule— or now removing them from it, would assuredly result in a lawsuit, and provide increased local and national publicity to the group and/or those promoting the narrative. Perhaps that is the intention.

Back to Matt Witkos' article, what did the Minister of Satan say in context? Read some:

"We're really excited to be part of this community and to be able to give an invocation," Satanic Temple of West Michigan Minister of Satan Bender Bones said.

...

"Invocations through TST are usually just calls to act with reason and compassion; they're calls to eliminate superstitious ideas and make decisions that really benefit everyone without the need for a supernatural umbrella to over top of all that," Bones explained.

...

"For people who are conflicted, I just hope that they really use this moment to think about what religion and government actually mean. We're supposed to have a wall up between religion and government. And when that wall comes down, we don't get to filter out which religion comes through. It's everything or nothing," Bones added.

So, the Satanic minister Bones is supposing the Founding Fathers to have "a wall up between religion and government" ... meanwhile Joe Moss (the chairman) is citing case law Town of Greece v. Galloway. As relevant.

Before dealing with Moss' argument, let's give some general background on that case.

Oyez : Town of Greece v. Galloway
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2013/12-696

Question

Does the invocation of prayer at a legislative session violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment even in the absence of discrimination in the selection of prayer-givers and content?

Conclusion

5–4 DECISION FOR TOWN OF GREECE MAJORITY OPINION BY ANTHONY M. KENNEDY

The prayers at the town hall meetings did not violate the Establishment Clause.

No. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority. The Court held that the context and jurisprudence surrounding the First Amendment suggested that the Establishment Clause was never meant to prohibit legislative prayer, which created the proper deliberative mood and acknowledged religion's role in society. The content of this prayer does not need to be non-sectarian, because such a requirement would place the courts in the role of arbiters of religious speech, which would involve the government in religion to an extent that is impermissible under the Establishment Clause.

So, prayer creates a proper deliberative mood and acknowledges religion's role in society.

I doubt a Satanic invocation would create a proper deliberative mood in presumably often Christian Republicans, and the very goal of TST was to subvert the idea of "religion's role in society" — that out of the way, what did Moss cite, what does it actually say?

The overriding principle set forth by the Supreme Court in the Town of Greece case can be summarized as follows:

The First Amendment is not a majority rule, and government may not seek to define permissible categories of religious speech. Once it invites prayer into the public sphere, government must permit a prayer giver to address his or her own God or gods as conscience dictates. . . .

Id. at 582.

The passage is not found in the site from Oyez. However, it could be considered as decuceable from the wording of the question involving:

even in the absence of discrimination in the selection of prayer-givers and content?

But this was a qualifier of the main question, it was not itself the question. Now, the sentiment voiced by Moss actually echoes the justices who were voted down:

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote a dissent in which he argued that, as the Court of Appeals held, the Town of Greece must do more to make its legislative prayer inclusive of other faiths. Despite the fact that the town is not exclusively Christian, the town made no significant effort to inform non-Christian clergy about the possibility of delivering an invocation, and in doing so, marginalized religious minority populations. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a separate dissent that the town's failure to represent a variety of religions in its meetings amounted to the unconstitutional preference of one religion over others. To do so in a public forum where people come to participate in the political process forces individuals who do not agree with the beliefs represented in the prayer to either acquiesce or visibly make their dissent known. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Breyer joined in the dissent.

So, if TST went to court, the Ottawa county board could arguably hope it would be voted down again, especially as one of the dissenting opinions, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is already dead.

Another pertinent question is whether "calls to act with reason and compassion" and "calls to eliminate superstitious ideas" can qualify as prayers. Is it a prayer or an Antifa / extreme Democrat political rally speech?

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Epipodius of Lyons
22.IV.2024

Lugduni, in Gallia, sancti Epipodii, qui, in persecutione Antonini Veri, cum Alexandro collega tentus, ibidem, post dira tormenta, martyrium abscissione capitis complevit.

PS Those knowing Antiquities would normally count Marcus Aurelius as "one of the good emperors" who wanted to act with compassion and without superstition. He ended up persecuting Christians. Like Epipodius and Alexander.