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At an Ottumwa City Council meeting in Iowa, former member Matt Dalbey read a satanic prayer during the invocation, prompting outrage from pastor Rick Bick who demanded that the “curse” be reversed. The incident led to Mayor Benjamin Foote calling for 30 seconds of silence and sparked debate among council members about the policy allowing invocations from any faith or philosophy, with Council Member Cara Galloway expressing concern over potential controversy.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Tuesday in Ottumwa, Iowa, a city council meeting erupted when former member Matt Dalbey began by reading a satanic invocation that included phrases like "Hail Satan." This prompted immediate backlash from New Life Center pastor Rick Bick, who demanded the "curse" be reversed. Mayor Benjamin Foote then called for 30 seconds of silence to allow reflection on the incident. The city's policy allows for invocations of various faiths but is intended not to endorse any specific religion. Despite this, tensions rose as some attendees felt uncomfortable with the satanic prayer, leading to an awkward disruption in what was supposed to be a routine meeting.
Written for “Satanic Prayer Controversy Iowa” on 2026-10-08,
grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 64271 · logged 2026-10-07
An Iowa city council meeting erupted into an awkward tizzy Tuesday when an attendee took the podium to read a satanic prayer — prompting outrage from a watching pastor who demanded the “curse” placed on his city be lifted immediately.
asserted
curse → erupt → city
“Dear dark father” and “Hail Satan” were the words that kicked off the Ottumwa City Council’s first meeting this month after former member Matt Dalbey stepped up to read its regular invocation.
asserted
Dalbey → kick → invocation
“Let us embrace the Luciferianian impulse to eat at the tree of knowledge,” Dalbey said.
asserted
Dalbey → let → knowledge
“Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations.”
asserted
individuals → let → norms
Some in the standing crowd behind him appeared to look on perplexed as Dalbey continued, while at least one person promptly dropped to his seat.
asserted
person → stand → seat
When Dalbey was done, the council members faced the American flag without a word to recite the pledge of allegiance.
asserted
members → do → allegiance
But a pastor in the audience wasn’t having it — he headed straight for the podium Dalbey had just left and demanded everyone gathered in the room “reverse this curse that was put on our city.”
“That ‘Hail Satan’ is not welcome here,” New Life Center pastor Rick Bick told the council, footage from the Ottumwa Courier shows.
asserted
footage → have → Courier
“It needs to be done now,” he said after council members told him to wait until the meeting’s public comment section.
asserted
members → need → section
“I appreciate what Ms. Galloway is saying, but that was a curse put on the city,” Bick said.
asserted
Bick → appreciate → city
“Most of you know that, and we need to just stop and reverse it.”
asserted
we → know → it
Ottumwa Mayor Benjamin Foote then announced there would be 30 seconds of silence “to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time” — and after city council members tried to move the meeting along, the mayor butted back and the silence continued.
asserted
silence → announce → meeting
The meeting proceeded, but not before Council Member Cara Galloway raised her concerns about recent legislation that had allowed Dalbey to recite the satanic prayer.
asserted
Dalbey → proceed → prayer
She was referring to a January-approved invocation policy which stated prayers or statements from any faith or philosophy would be allowed to open Ottumwa’s city council meetings — which Galloway argued would be a “slippery slope” towards controversy.
asserted
Galloway → refer → controversy
“I think we’ve opened ourselves up for others to object or respond to others’ invocations, and we need to remember that we are up here to be neutral,” Galloway said at the meeting’s close.
“
asserted
Galloway → think → close
I think I specifically referenced that having someone from the church of Satan or a prayer about Satan when we talked about that, that this could happen and we would need to allow it,” she added.
uncertain
she → think → it
Dalbey stood by his satanic prayer afterwards, telling the outlet he was a member of the Satanic Temple of Iowa, “but has nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity.”
asserted
he → stand → deity
Despite its frightening name and rhetoric, the Satanic Temple of Iowa describes itself as “resolutely non-theistic.”
asserted
Temple → describe → itself
That’s in line with most predominant Satanic churches, which don’t worship Lucifer as a dark god but are more devoted to individualism and personal freedoms.
asserted
which → ’ → individualism
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