At an Ottumwa, Iowa city council meeting last Tuesday, resident Matthew Dalbey, a member of The Satanic Temple, opened the session with a satanic invocation, shocking attendees who scrambled to "reverse the curse." Pastor Rick Bick and other residents expressed disapproval, leading Mayor Benjamin Foote to call for a moment of silence. This incident highlights tensions between religious practices and public meetings in small-town America.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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No political leaning scored for article 72408 · logged 2026-10-11
A small-town Iowa council meeting was opened by a resident who stunned the room by delivering a Satanic invocation.
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who → open → invocation
Former council member and current resident Matthew Dalbey led the prayer to kick off last Tuesday's council meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa.
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Dalbey → lead → Ottumwa
At first, residents in the room stood as they normally would, before Dalbey started mentioning prayers to the 'dark father' and ending his introduction with 'hail satan.
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Dalbey → stand → satan
'
Stunned locals looked to one another in confusion and disgust, before the other attendees scrambled and attempted to 'reverse the curse.'
Members of the council continued standing up to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, with many still rattled by the bizarre introduction to the meeting.
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many → look → meeting
Dalbey said to the room: 'Dear Dark father, let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times.
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us → say → times
'Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat at the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old,' footage of the council meeting showed.
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footage → let → meeting
'That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.
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which → bend → demise
It is done It is done, hail satan,' Dalbey said.
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Dalbey → do → ?
Ottumwa resident and a member of The Satanic Temple in Iowa Matthew Dalbey read out an invocation which ended in 'hail satan' to commence a city council meeting last Tuesday
Ottumwa Mayor Benjamin Foote called for a moment of silence after resident Bick raised his concerns
Dalbey is a member of The Satanic Temple, a non-theistic new religious organization headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts.
Before the meeting could continue with its agenda, a disgruntled resident rose to the podium to express his concerns at Dalbey's prayer.
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resident → read → prayer
The resident, Christian New Life Center Pastor Rick Bick, said: 'Let's just reverse this curse that was put on our city.
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that → say → city
That ending with 'Hail Satan' and 'Hail Dark God,' that's not welcome here.'
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that → end → God
Councilmember Cara Galloway asked Bick to withhold until the end of the meeting, to which he replied '[the reversal of the curse] needs to be done now.'
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reversal → ask → curse
Ottumwa Mayor Benjamin Foote commanded the room to pause the meeting and take a 30-second moment of silence 'to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time, and then we will move on to the agenda.
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we → command → agenda
'We have a tendency in Ottumwa to jump to conclusions and fill in the blanks with information that's not really true, based on very little effort and research and background on it,' Dalbey said in defense of his religious beliefs in an interview with KCCI.
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Dalbey → have → KCCI
The Satanic Temple congregation in Iowa recently filed a lawsuit against the state, in which it asks to hold a holiday event at the state Capitol in December.
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it → file → December
Members of the council continued standing up to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, with many still rattled by the bizarre introduction to the meeting
The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religious organization headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts.
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Temple → continue → Salem
Pictured is the Temple's statue of Baphomet, a goat-headed figure which has been adopted by occultists and pagans over the centuries
The lawsuit was filed by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Iowa on behalf of the temple.
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lawsuit → picture → temple
'When the state makes the public space in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda available for religious holiday events, for example, a Christmas or Hanukkah event, it cannot then deny the same right to other religious groups it disfavors,' American Civil Liberties Union Iowa state attorney Shefali Aurora said in a news release announcing the lawsuit.
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Aurora → make → lawsuit
She continued: 'Members of the Iowa congregation of The Satanic Temple Iowa have the same right to express their beliefs as all other religious groups do.'
The Satanic Temple is an organization which advocates for freedom of religion and advocates for various causes in line with their mission, such as reproductive rights, mental health support, addiction recovery and community improvement projects such as blood drives and park clean-ups.
Reaction to the outburst at the meeting was mixed.
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Reaction → continue → meeting
Some people online said that this was simply the resident's way of expressing his religion.
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this → say → religion
One person wrote: 'If Christianity is allowed, then all other religions are too.'
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religions → write → ?
Another said: 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
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's → say → gander
While others bashed the satanic introduction, and made fun of the situation.
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others → bash → situation
A third commenter wrote: 'He won't like it when he actually goes there.'
And another added: 'I’d run outta there so fast!'
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I → write → it
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