A Satanic Temple member who won the right to give the opening prayer at a government meeting in Alaska has prompted a protest from officials after declaring “Hail Satan”.
Iris Fontana’s invocation triggered a walkout by the mayor of Kenai Peninsula Borough, several members of the regional assembly and people in the audience.
The borough had previously restricted people from giving invocations unless they belonged to official religious organisations with an established presence on the peninsula.
It was forced to change its policy in November after the Alaska Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional.
Ms Fontana was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, along with an atheist and a Jewish woman.
During her invocation on Tuesday, she said: “Let’s cast aside our differences, to use reason, logic, science and compassion to create solutions for the greater good of our community. It is done, hail Satan.”
Borough mayor Charlie Pierce and assembly members Norm Blakeley and Paul Fischer were among those who left the assembly chambers before returning for the meeting.
Around 40 protesters gathered outside the administration building holding sighs saying “reject Satan and his works” and “know Jesus and his love”.
One of them, William Siebenmorgen, flew from Pennsylvania to Alaska for the event in Kenai, around 75 miles south of Anchorage.
“God will be pleased with our public prayers of reparation,” he told local radio station KSRM. “We want God’s blessings on America, not Satan’s curses. Lucifer is the eternal loser. Let’s keep him out.”
The Satanic Temple claims it does not believe in the existence of the devil or the supernatural and argues that “to embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press
