Our (meaning O=II staff, not OTO U.S. Grand Lodge) favorite political theater group, The Satanic Temple’s latest escapade is causing its usual revelatory brouhaha. Satanic Temple members Michelle Shortt and Stu de Haan applied through formal channels and were granted the opportunity to give the opening invocation at the Phoenix City Council’s February 17 meeting. Temple members have stated that their intent is to insure that the honor of giving said invocation is open to a full range of faiths.
If local politicos had any sense they would have let this happen without further ado and this might have well happened without much public notice. But, as the ST likely foresaw, certain folks took the bait, raised a hue and cry in protest and now it’s national news — as well as any attempt to limit religious freedom and responsible free speech aught to be.
