Some Christians objected Tuesday when a member of the Satanic Temple of West Michigan delivered the invocation before a meeting of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, but others said it was only right to uphold the US Constitution’s 2nd Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion for all religions.
Satanic Temple member Bendr Bones pointed out to WOOD that the temple does not actually worship Satan and is a group of atheists who provide charitable services to the community. He said he was pleased with the evening, however, despite the chaos in another room, where people watched the invocation on video and erupted into shouts.
“We appreciate the figure of Satan and Lucifer as a kind of a mythological icon that represents rebellion against arbitrary authority,” Bones explained. “One of our primary pursuits is to actually try to benefit our community and to run charity drives, and different community-oriented services that help us reach out to other people and provide our services to them.”
Chaos erupts in a viewing room for the overflow crowd at the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting during an invocation given by @satanic_temple_ pic.twitter.com/vNTrRsKCmM
— Left of Center MI (@leftofcentermi) April 23, 2024
In the other room, one constituent passed out cookies with John 3:16 on them, while others wore shirts with Christian slogans and carried signs.
“I, and other commissioners, voted against Joe Moss’ changes to the board rules last January. We knew changing the tradition from commissioner invite only to a simple sign-up sheet was ill-conceived,” Commissioner Jacob Bonnema.
“Although I may have personally disagreed with it, I will always stand for people to have their First Amendment rights upheld,” said Kristen Meghan Kelly.
Ottawa County voted in January to allow religious leaders to “sign up” to lead the invocation, a change from its invitation-only format, after an LGBTQ pastor filed suit against the county when he was systematically passed over to lead the invocation. That pastor, St. John’s Episcopal Church Rev. Dr. Jared Cramer, applied last year after the commissioners, led by chairman Joe Moss, changed the county to a “constitutional county” so it could reject “red flag laws” on gun ownership and “pandemic mandates.”
Cramer was allowed to lead the invocation in February. He told WOOD that while he doesn’t believe there should be an invocation before government meetings, if there’s going to be, it should be open to all religions. His lawsuit is ongoing, he said, because he wants to make sure the commissioners don’t backtrack.
In the room with the video monitor, people erupted into shouts of “Jesus is lord” while carrying signs that said “Satan has no rights.” A man who yelled “Hail Satan” turned out to not be a member of the Satanic Temple, MLive.com reported.
After the meeting, several people lined up for public comment, where they read bible passages.
While the chaos at the meeting was loud, the meeting remained peaceful.
Moss, meanwhile, said he’d heard from several pastors who support the change in invocation rules, even if atheists are allowed to give it.
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[Featured image: MLive.com]
