Satanic invocation opens Ottumwa city council meeting and sparks objections

Invocation ends with “Hail Satan” and prompts immediate objection

An Ottumwa city council meeting on Tuesday opened with an invocation that concluded with the words “Hail Satan.” The invocation was delivered by Matt Dalbey, described in the meeting record as an Ottumwa resident and a former city council member, and it drew an immediate vocal objection from a local pastor.

What was said and how the meeting reacted

According to the meeting recording, Dalbey addressed a “dark father” during the invocation and invoked what he called the “Luciferian impulse” before finishing,

“It is done. Hail Satan.”

New Life Center pastor Rick Bick interrupted the proceedings to object. Mayor Benjamin Foote responded by calling for a 30-second moment of silence “to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time,” according to the meeting account.

Policy that allowed the invocation

The invocation was permitted under a council policy adopted in January that allows residents of different religions and belief systems to open council proceedings with a prayer or reflection. The measure notes the city seeks to respect “the diversity of both organized and unorganized religious denominations, as well as other faiths, belief systems, or the lack thereof,” and was approved despite a single dissenting vote.

Council member Cara Galloway cast that lone vote against the policy and warned at the time that a Satanic invocation was a possible outcome. She said,

“Opening with an invocation means allowing viewpoints that may not reflect our own,”

and cautioned that selectively blocking a speaker now could expose the city to legal liability, according to the council record.

Public reaction and the city’s response

The city said on Wednesday it had been flooded with calls about the prayer, many of them described as “rude and full of profanities,” and emphasised that officials cannot discriminate between denominations or belief systems when enforcing the policy.

According to IOL (republishing RT News), the recording of the meeting had drawn more than 12,000 views on the city’s YouTube channel by Wednesday afternoon, making it the most-watched video ever posted there.

Follow-up and context provided by the speaker

Dalbey is scheduled to deliver another invocation at the council’s November 3 meeting, the meeting record shows. He told the Ottumwa Courier that the words he used are part of a prayer used by the Satanic Temple of Iowa, of which he is a member, and said the prayer “has nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity.” The Satanic Temple was described in that account as a non-theistic organisation.

Why this matters for municipal meetings

Municipal invocation policies are intended to balance respect for diverse beliefs with the need to keep public meetings orderly. When a policy permits all residents to offer invocations, it can lead to moments that some find offensive and others view as an exercise of religious or expressive freedom.

Practical consequences commonly include heated public reaction, increased media attention and questions about how officials should respond while respecting legal constraints. In this case, the council’s existing rule and the warning issued when it was adopted framed the response from both critics and supporters during the meeting.

What to watch next

The council’s handling of future invocation requests, the scheduled November 3 appearance by Dalbey, and any further statements from officials or community leaders are likely to determine whether the episode becomes a sustained controversy in Ottumwa or a short-lived flashpoint.

The incident underscores how local governance intersects with freedom of expression and religious pluralism, and how those tensions can draw national attention when recorded and shared online.