An Iowa city council meeting descended into a dispute after a former councillor opened proceedings with an invocation addressed to the “dark father” and ending with “Hail Satan”.
Matthew Dalbey delivered the address at Ottumwa City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, October 6, after Mayor Benjamin Foote called the session to order. Dalbey urged those present to “embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge” before concluding: “It is done. Hail Satan.” ([bringmethenews.com](https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/hail-satan-prayer-ignites-controversy-at-small-town-iowa-city-council-meeting))
The invocation was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the roll call. A local pastor, Rick Bick, then approached the podium and called for the words to be reversed, describing them as a “curse” placed on the city.
“Let’s just reverse that curse that was just put on our city,” Mr Bick said. “That ending with ‘Hail Satan’ and ‘Hail Dark God’ — that’s not welcome here.”
Councillor Cara Galloway urged the mayor to wait until the public-comment section of the meeting, saying the council should continue with its agenda. Mr Bick replied that the matter “needs to be done now”.
Mr Foote ultimately called for 30 seconds of silence “to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time”, before the council moved on to its consent agenda. ([bringmethenews.com](https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/hail-satan-prayer-ignites-controversy-at-small-town-iowa-city-council-meeting))
Ottumwa’s invocation policy
The council adopted an open-invocation policy in January which allows residents from different religious and philosophical backgrounds to take part. It says the practice is not intended to express the council’s endorsement of any faith, denomination, belief system or lack of belief.
The policy also states that city officials must not review or restrict the content of an invocation in advance, although speakers may be disqualified from future appearances if they breach its rules. The city said residents must apply beforehand and that those invited to speak had followed the required procedure. ([ottumwapost.com](https://ottumwapost.com/ottumwa-city-council-meeting-draws-controversy-over-invocation-p16195-236.htm))
Galloway, who cast the only vote against the policy, said at the end of the meeting that the confrontation was precisely the situation she had feared when the arrangement was discussed.
“Opening with an invocation means allowing viewpoints that may not reflect our own,” she said. “We need to remember that we are up here to be neutral and allow viewpoints because we’ve opened up invocations.” ([ottumwapost.com](https://ottumwapost.com/ottumwa-city-council-meeting-draws-controversy-over-invocation-p16195-236.htm))
Mr Foote later said the invocation did not represent the faith or values of Ottumwa residents. In a statement, the city said it did not automatically endorse what speakers said during invocations and had received complaints about the meeting.
Dalbey has said he is a member of The Satanic Temple of Iowa and that the invocation is used by the organisation but “has nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity”. The Satanic Temple describes itself as non-theistic.
He is scheduled to deliver another invocation at the Ottumwa council meeting on November 3. ([dailycaller.com](https://dailycaller.com/2026/10/08/ottumwa-iowa-city-council-satanic-prayer/))
