The Phoenix, AZ City Council, with a decades-long tradition of opening their deliberations with a prayer, found themselves pitched into a confused fury when Satanic interlopers presented a bid to offer an invocation of their own. Unable to engage in religious viewpoint discrimination without committing a Constitutional violation, the Satanic invocation was scheduled to take place this past Feb. 17th. Some Council members and other public officials expressed little concern for legal quibbling or tedious Constitutional “political correctness”, calling immediately for The Satanic Temple to be blocked from speaking.
February 03, 2016, the City Council of Phoenix, AZ convened to consider proposed measures aimed specifically at blocking The Satanic Temple (TST) from delivering any invocations in the “open forum” of their Council Chambers. During the public hearing, state rep. Kelly Townsend, who had been organizing a “prayer rally” to combat TST’s alleged evil, bore false witness before the Council, testifying that TST’s real mission was to silence religious voices. The Council voted to instate a Moment of Silence policy that lasted just long enough to prevent any uncomfortable non-Christian messages from enjoying Free Speech, only to vote one session later to reinstate prayer, but with the restriction that the prayers will be delivered only by approved chaplains. As TST considers its legal approach, Rep. Townsend is self-congratulatory and, naturally, The Satanic Temple is unimpressed.
At which others chimed in as well…
During all this, Townsend remained silent but for mysteriously tweeting a link to a particular criticism while only offering a comment of “Love it.”
Requests for elaboration weren’t long in coming.
And this is where something truly remarkable happened. Suddenly, rep. Kelly Townsend feigned ignorance regarding the entire issue.
Further requests for elaboration were fruitless.
The whole incident further underscores the dishonesty of those who adamantly impose Christian privilege in the name of “religious freedom.” The shame of it is that the people of Arizona will have to pay the bill for the Constitutional ignorance of their representatives. And, as this plays out, it’s predictable that each of the Council members and officials responsible for their clearly illegal behavior will distance themselves from what they’ve wrought.
It will be our duty and pleasure to remind them.