Iowa city council debates proper time in meeting agenda to “undo the curse that was just put on our city.”
An Iowa man has kicked off controversy over religious freedom in the small town of Ottumwa, Iowa by opening a city council meeting with a prayer to Satan, which then kicked off a debate about the proper time in the meeting agenda to undo the “curse.”
People often seem to forget that “Religious Freedom” means all religions, not just yours.
Never mind the importance of the separation of church and
skatestateI’m glad you fixed it. Some priests are not down with the separation of church and skate.
He’s going for that sweet Christ Air
Forget air fryers, let’s talk about air friars.
Amen brother
separation of church and skate
sings
Now, Heaven would be a DJ spinning dub all night long
And Heaven would be just kicking back with Jesus packing my bong
And if you don’t believe in Jesus, then Muhammad or Buddha, too
And while the world is warring, we just sit back and laugh at you, singing
If I die before I wake
At least in Heaven, I can skate
'Cause right now on Earth, I can’t do jack
Without the man up on my back
I was actually referring to NOFX, but that’s a solid song too
You will literally hear dumb fuck xtians argue until they are blue in the face that what the Founders really meant to do was to merely allow you to choose among an array of xtian sects. Maybe if you are spicy, you’ll be permitted to be Jewish, because well, Jesus was a Jew. And we will “tolerate” that.
Other xtians just seem to view “religious freedom” as “xtians get special privileges and they should be able to treat certain groups less-than if it suits them”.
And man, they’ll definitely get butthurt when you point out that the First pretty much requires that you have freedom FROM as well as freedom OF. And that “OF” means…anything, not just xtianity. I’ll be a fucking pagan on Monday, fuck you very much because of that OF, and if I please, I’ll be an atheist on Tuesday because of the FROM. Because that’s real religious freedom.
Thanks for your opinion, Charles Darwin
freedom from it, as well.
But mine is the only correct one!
—selfish idiots
That prayer is fire.
Dear dark father, let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds and darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferan impulse to eat off the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old.”
Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not for their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations,” he continued. “Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or all. That which will not bend must break. And that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.”“It is done. Hail Satan,”
What’s ridiculous about it is, if any of the people who were offended actually sat down and analyzed the wording, the only thing they could reasonably object to is the “Hail Satan” at the end. Which illustrates the entire problem with Christian Nationalism. They don’t care about the content, only the branding.
No, there are religious people that object heavily to truth seeking. One must only have faith, you don’t need truth!
Jebus never lies and neither do old racist southern preachers.
Sure. I don’t consider that a “reasonable” objection, though.
“They don’t care about the content, only the branding.” - Which is also the problem with Trumpism.
The venn diagram is a circle within a circle
Not sure if the “luciferan impulse to eat off the tree of knowledge” would slide all too well
At the Tuesday night council meeting, the audience stood up to recite the Pledge of Allegiance the moment Dalbey finished.
The dubiousness of unquestioning nationalism aside, the pledge of allegiance containing ‘under god’ also makes it a religious phrase.
It’s honestly so weird. The whole ritual needs to be done away with
But without idiotic, blind patriotic fervour, what will become of 'Murica?
Won’t nobody think of the flags?!
They should do as Alcoholics Anonymous did. Change god for “higher power”. Because, you know, people need a higher power nanny.
BTW: Alcoholics Anonymous has a direct surrender to God in 4 of it’s 12 steps, and indirect mention in 2 more. And god is obviously a “Him”
Fucking Reagan.
I appreciate the sentiment but what does Reagan have to do with the pledge? It was changed under Eisenhower.
maybe they used the original?
It didn’t used to
Even if they removed ‘under god’ from the pledge of allegiance today (Republicans would probably filibuster any such attempt in the Senate), indoctrinating students at public schools with its daily recital has contributed to an unhealthy level of nationalism that leads to not only a view of American exceptionalism, but also the belief that any overt or covert attempt to replace the governance of foreign countries with institutions closer to that of the United States must inherently be good.
Agreed
they added the Under God part during the Red Scare to show the world that the US wasn’t a secular godless nation like the USSR at the time.
That’s also when they started putting “In God we trust” on our money. Assholes.
Even as a kid growing up in the 90s, knowing separation and state and finding it odd as fuck we had “In God this and that” in various aspects of our lives. Even my developing, super small brain could tell something didn’t add up right. 🤨️
Hail Satan.
Does he drive taxis? Or are you just forecasting the weather to him?
He’s got a flat rate to and from the airport
Is it $6.66, $66.6, or $666?
Depends on the city:
- $6.66 to get to Midway from the Loop
- $66.6 to get to Newark Liberty from Manhattan
- $666 to get to Mccarran from The Strip, oh and the credit card reader is broken so he only takes cash, but only tells you that at the destination.
Mephistopheles is a pedicab driver.
And Jerry is a race car driver.
I hear he drove so goddamned fast.
They only want religious freedom when they’re using their religion as an excuse to infringe on other people’s rights. Hail Satan.
Hail Satan.
Hail Stan
Cthulhu fhtagn!
rAmen
🥇
🥈
🥉
Rick Bick is a party pooper. Don’t be a dick, Rick Bick.
The prayer is a common one used by the Satanic Temple of Iowa. “Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not for their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations,” he continued. “Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or all. That which will not bend must break. And that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.”“It is done. Hail Satan,” he finished.
Another citizen, a pastor named Rick Bick, rushed to the podium. “Let’s just reverse that curse that was just put on our city,” he said. “That ending with hail Satan and hail dark god. That’s not welcome here.”
Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not for their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations.
Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true.
Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or all.
That which will not bend must break. And that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.
Think about it. To me that sounds like a literal slice of heaven, especially that last line.
But this guy’s convinced it’s a curse. Either that or the
multi-syllabicbig words made him scared.Sounds like Rick Bick is thick as a fucking brick.
Honestly it’s very hard to argue with anything in that prayer, it’s pretty reasonable and clear.
Only thing I don’t like is the call for judging. I do think people can change, they should be judged on their actions and intents, but we should reasonably allow for second chances and improvement.
One thing Christianity is good at is taking people who feel irredeemable and reassuring them that they’re still people with a chance in life. As long as people see their wrongs and try to improve, I think we can and should forgive some things.
I hate the people who continue being shit then say God forgives them or Jesus died for them so it’s all washed out. That’s the same energy as throwing stuff on the ground because there’s a janitor. You are responsible for your actions and their impacts, just asking for forgiveness shouldn’t grant it without sincerely understanding and trying to improve.
Imagine being a grown-ass man listening to this, taking the stage and unironically saying “that was a curse put on our city, and most of you know that”. They actually fucking believe that some guy saying “Hail Satan” has the power to “curse” a city.
Another citizen, a pastor named Rick Bick, rushed to the podium. “Let’s just reverse that curse that was just put on our city,” he said. “That ending with hail Satan and hail dark god. That’s not welcome here.”
“Mayor, that should be done at the end,” city councilor Cara Galloway said.
“It needs to be done now, OK.” Rick said. “I appreciate what Ms. Galloway is saying but that was a curse put on our city when he said ‘Hail Satan’ and the dark god and most of you know that. And we need to just stop and reverse it.”
“So what I’m gonna do now…I’m just gonna invite us into a 30 second time of prayer — time of silence.”
“No,” Galloway said. “We are at the consent agenda. I’m sorry, but it’s time to move forward. The invocation happened.”
“As mayor of this city…I’m going to ask right now that we do a moment of silence to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time. And then we will move to the consent agenda,” mayor Benjamin Foote said.
I should start giving incantations, that reaction is gold.
And this is exactly why the Satanic Temple exists.
Hail Satan
I used to be a preacher, and am still a Christian. I also have given money to the Satanic Temple because the work they do is important.
Separation of church and state is good for the government, the churches, and society at large.
You’re chill, man. Keep on keepin’ on.
I just bought a hoodie and mug from them. I been on the email list for years. Solid trolling on their part.
Mayor’s worst nightmare came true
Too tight of a schedule to cast that counter spell.
Plus an Oathbreaker only has so many spell slots 🤷🏻
Thick prick Rick Bick is a sick dick.
What’s the matter Rick? Too much freedom for you?
That’s something most Americans don’t understand about our history. We love to claim that the first settlers in the modern-day states (Puritans mostly) were ‘fleeing religious persecution’ and sought a new land where they could gain ‘freedom of religion’. Pretty much all of that is wrong, they were a fringe early-Protestant group who wanted to distance themselves from the new Church of England which they felt was still too Catholic. Once they got here, anything and everything they considered too heretical was… well, see the Salem Witch Trials for a prime example. They were the epitome of “freedom for me, not for thee” and that attitude/practice went on to infect the whole rest of the country as history progressed.
And that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.
🔥🔥🔥
What a simple minded bumblefuck. ‘oh no, a curse’.
The ridiculous part of this whole thing is if you listen to what the guy actually said, if you get rid of the ‘dear dark father’ at the beginning and ‘hail satan’ at the end, it’s actually a pretty good invocation that SHOULD have no problem at a council meeting.
Didn’t at all sound like a curse to me, sounded like good advice for a city council.
…let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds and darkened times. Let us embrace the … impulse to eat off the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not for their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or all. That which will not bend must break. And that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise. …"
If you ignore the Lucifer stuff, it’s a damn solid invocation. Apparently that pastor dude couldn’t see past the Lucifer stuff and called this a curse.
True, but he also probably would have a problem with most of the content as well as the flavoring
When you’re interfacing with the world emotionally, that’s how it goes. I mean, we’re all emotional, but for some people that’s the bulk of it. Emotions create reality. For other people they’re more advisory.
“Let’s be reasonable”
“CUUUUUURSE”
All they have to do to undo the curse is walk three times backwards around the courthouse while wearing necklaces of garlic, wild onion, and nightshade.
“There are two things I know about white people. They love Rachael Ray. And they are terrified of curses.”
its really all you need to know.
edit: ok I thought of a few other things we like: yoga, therapy, music by black musicians that black people dont listen to anymore, bottled water, gentrification, farmers markets, food without spices, and wes anderson movies.
Am very white, nearly see-through, so I know these things.
That prayer was pure poetry. You can state the exact opposite of what’s said in the christian bible and it makes perfect, rational sense.
Is it available on Youtube?
No idea. It’s notated in the article.
Lucifer was the most beautiful of all angels and was cast down to earth for daring to question God’s authority.
Not that any of those cross eyed bear-ing Christians would know that.
Edit: apparently this is Milton’s fanfic.
That’s fan fiction, it’s from Paradise Lost, not from biblical canon
TY! TIL.
Corrected, or at least acknowledged.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve read the old testament.
IMHO it’s all fanfic.
IMHO I agree
The entire new testament is fan fiction. Iēsous of Nazareth didn’t write any of it, the first assumed author never even met him.
The “biblical canon” of today seems to be more or less just whatever was later dictated when Christianity became the Roman Empire’s state religion. Who knows how much other, potentially more accurate reports about Iēsous were lost during that dictatorship?
Now, I agree that Paradise Lost does not have any claim to veracity. I would just also say any claim the new testament has is null and void.
The whole Bible and every other “holy” book is fanfiction, technicaly ¯\(ツ)/¯
yeah I was about to say, just cause ones older than the other doesnt give it any more credibility.
They were still written by men, men with agendas. Same with every translation they’ve gone through, Not only getting translated, but having minor to major tweaks to suit the new agendas.
Bible is an astrological sungod myth for the dawn of the age of Pisces (fish), end of age of Taurus (dead bull), and looking forward to age of Aquarius (guy with water pail). It tells the winter solstice, dying for 3 days and rising again, the spring equinox triumph over darkness, and helped civilizations track the 2250-year constellation progression into Pisces. In 2250 we’ll need a new Bible for Aquarius.
I prefer just calling him by his English name, Joshua, or just Josh for short.
“I am just joshing around” “Jesus christ”
You gotta specify which Josh though, he’s Josh with the ointment
The biblical canon is written by flawed, biased narrators though. I think it’s perfectly valid to project an alternate canon onto their story.
Most of the bible is fanfictions “according to (insert prophet here)” i think its closer to a Hatsune Miku situation where any bible verse can be canon
I’m not saying Paradise Lost is a literary achievement on par with the Bible. I’m saying the Bible is a literary achievement on par with Paradise Lost.
So the figure of Satan is exclusive to that specific book and religion then? (“the Bible”). You know that it’s largely based on other religions and books, right? 👀 Bible doesn’t have more or less authority over Satan/Lucifer/Bahomet/AnyOtherOriginName than Paradise Lost or any other holy or not holy book 😬
apparently along with several other angels that rebelled with him, depending on which lore you want to get into.
The word “Lucifer” appears only once in the Bible (Isaiah 14:12), and is a Latin translation of the Hebrew “hêlêl”, which was referring to Nebuchadnezzar II, not Satan or an angel or any other supernatural being.
I’m in Texas, where this kind of nonsense is standard. I’ve spoken out at multiple school boards to successfuly stop in-school prayer time. Most of the evangelical folks pushing it grumble about it without understanding that we are saving them from themselves.
The most interesting address was a devout Christian lady who had come from a district where they approved it early. She said one day her daughter came home doing sanitaria and when she complained, the school said that there was nothing they could do. She begged the schools not to make the same mistake.
Do you mean Santeria?
No, she ain’t got no crystal ball.
They also had a million dollars… But they spent it all…
We need to find that jaina and that Sancho that she’s found
pop a cap in Sancho and slap that damn behind
What about 1 million dollars?
Yes… Autocorrect. Anyway, I’m leaving it
Nah sangria, the Spanish Catholics decided to have fun with the communion wine
I don’t practice Santeria/I don’t listen to Sublime/So why is it stuck in my head/All of the ti-i-iiime
Santeria is some cool shit. The history of it is fascinating, and the rituals are beautiful.
What do you call people who believe in Satan?
Christians*
* yes, yes, not just them, others too.
I can’t help but wonder at the fundies that want to insert their beliefs into the government. The separation of church and state protects the church from the state just as much as it protects the state from the church.
After all there’s no guarantee that the official state sanctioned religion couldn’t end up being Mormonism or Islam or any of thousands of other religions that you might object to. Even some of the founding fathers were deists who created the depictions of blindfolded justice and lady liberty to be new gods of America.
Even as a Christian myself, I’m glad that the satanists are there to help teach this lesson.
The number of Christian sects in the U.S. isn’t 1, isn’t 5, isn’t 10, isn’t 20. It’s more than 200. It’s very clear that Christians don’t and have never agreed with each other so it is absolutely rediculous for any Christian to think “what we believe” means all Christians. Hell there are so many people that call themselves non-denominational simply because they don’t want to claim parts of the Bible hated by others.
If we tally it up according to Christians all Christians will go to hell, which they made up.
This is also not getting into the innumerable folk branches of Christianity which basically range from Neo-Nazis to Celtic-Americans who are borderline anarchists and think all organized religions are cults.
Can you imagine what Trump would have done if he had control over an official state religion?
We’d have official Trump bibles in every school. They’d be changing doctrine to more closely align with Trump’s values. He’d be threatening them if they ever spoke against him
