Four members of the Phoenix City Council moved late Friday to block a Satanist group from delivering the traditional prayer before a council meeting next month.
Members of the Satanic Temple of Tucson are scheduled to deliver the invocation Feb. 17. Group leaders say they are a religion but they do not worship the devil.
City Manager Ed Zuercher said in a statement Friday night that, at the council members’ request, he would add an agenda item for next Wednesday’s meeting that would change the way the city schedules groups that lead the prayer.
The current system allows groups to call the city clerk’s office to schedule a date. The new system would mimic what the state legislature does: The mayor and eight council members would select the prayer leader on a rotating basis.
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