The Ottumwa City Council meeting turned into a heated scene this week after a former official delivered a satanic prayer during the opening invocation. Former council member Matt Dalbey opened the session by invoking the “dark father,” according to Fox News. He urged those present to embrace the Luciferian impulse and finished his remarks with a “Hail Satan” declaration.
New Life Center Pastor Rick Bick interrupted the proceedings after the Pledge of Allegiance to demand that the council push back against the prayer. Bick insisted on reversing what he called a curse placed on the city. Disrupted political events have made news elsewhere this week, with at least a dozen interruptions at a Trump rally in San Antonio.
Council member Cara Galloway attempted to direct Bick to save his comments for the public discussion portion of the meeting. However, Bick stood his ground and demanded immediate action. “It needs to be done now. I appreciate what Ms. Galloway is saying, but that was a curse put on the city,” Rick Bick said. Mayor Benjamin Foote overruled Galloway’s attempt to move on and requested 30 seconds of silence to allow for prayer or reflection.
The mayor stopped the meeting so people could pray
He later said the invocation did not represent Ottumwa. “This is not a reflection of our community. As the mayor of my hometown in Iowa, I know the people of Ottumwa,” Benjamin Foote told the outlet. Dalbey delivered the prayer after the city adopted a policy in January that does not endorse any specific faith. The policy is intended to express the council’s respect for the diversity of faiths and belief systems among Ottumwa’s citizens.
City Administrator Philip Rath said officials cannot review or restrict the content beforehand. Galloway said after the meeting that the event validated her previous concerns about allowing invocations at public meetings. She explained that the city must remain neutral when it opens the floor, even when the viewpoints are controversial. “Opening with an invocation means allowing viewpoints that may not reflect our own,” Cara Galloway said.
She added that responding to someone’s prayer is a slippery slope, as it could put a financial liability on taxpayers. Galloway said she had previously warned the council that a speaker from the Church of Satan could take part and would have to be allowed. However, the mayor’s moment of silence went ahead over her objection. Dalbey, who is a member of The Satanic Temple of Iowa, said in a private message reported by the Ottumwa Courier that the temple commonly uses the prayer.
He said it has nothing to do with the belief in a satanic deity. Council member Bill Hoffman, who noted that he is a Christian man, left the room during the prayer and returned for the Pledge. However, he defended Dalbey’s right to speak. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to observe his First Amendment right. It just means that I want to use my rights not to observe that,” Bill Hoffman said.
Hoffman said he expects the council to discuss the invocation policy again and noted that the council did not condone the content. Dalbey is scheduled to deliver the invocation again at the November 3 meeting.
Published: Oct 8, 2026 01:45 pm