From the Rose Law Group Growlery
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer
The Phoenix City Council’s decision to allow two Satanic Temple members to give the invocation at the Feb. 17 meeting is bound to grow legs in weeks to come, especially on social media where religious tweeters will no doubt rail hell (pun intended).
Whether those believers like it or not, Satanism is a church, is a religion. Like it or not, Satanism is protected by the United States Constitution. Like it or not, several governmental bodies in Arizona have in the recent past allowed non-traditional religions to open meetings with a prayer.
Satanic organizations have different purposes. Some are public, while others are private. Public groups are sometimes incorporated as non-profit religious organizations and can even have tax-exempt status in the United States. This subset of Satanism produces the most literature and is even recognized by the United States military.
All that said, I side with Councilmen Jim Waring and Sal DiCiccio.
Waring said he thinks the city should have denied the invocation request and let a court settle the matter.
“Another dumb idea by the City of #PHX,” DiCiccio tweeted.
The phrases that come to mind here are “unintended consequences, slippery slope, Where should the line be drawn?” even, “What’s the harm?”
The line should have been drawn before the council okayed the Satanic Temple’s request, lest we hear next from the Westboro Baptist Church that pickets funerals with hateful messages, or followers of Charles Manson or Don Imus’ comedic “Church of the Burning Bush and Gooey Death.”
