The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling on the Tulsa City Council to stand firm in its commitment to inclusivity and resist pressure from Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Superintendent Ryan Walters and other Christian nationalists to restrict opening invocations after a pagan prayer was delivered at a recent board meeting.
“If the council is going to start with prayer, then it has to be open to all-comers,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “However, this controversy shows why religion in government is divisive and why the wisest course is for public bodies to drop opening prayers.”
A “priestess of the goddess” delivered the opening prayer at the Nov. 20 council meeting, making several references to deities such as Medusa, a figure from Greek mythology. She urged the council to “protect … the sovereignty and autonomy of all our people” and “to be champions for all in this city, not just those in power.” She continued, “Shine a light for them that they may walk the path of justice, protected and prepared, illuminating the darkness. Endow them with the fire of courage, the waters of compassion, the air of truth, and the strength of the Earth itself.”
A video of the prayer spread quickly on social media over the weekend, where it was mistakenly described as “satanic.” Gov. Stitt addressed the prayer on X, putting pressure on council members to discriminate against non-Christians and imploring citizens to vote out those members who support allowing “actions like this”:
Satan is trying to establish a foothold, but Oklahoma is going to be a shining city on the hill.
Tulsa City Council needs to stand strong against actions like this, and Tulsans need to remember who allowed this at the ballot box.
Supt. Walters also chimed in, threatening “the person who allowed” a non-Christian prayer to be delivered:
Satanic prayers are welcome in Hell but not in Oklahoma. Satanism is not a religion. Tulsa should immediately move to ensure this never happens again and the person who allowed it should be held accountable.
It was disappointing to see Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has been one of the few officials standing up for the separation of state and church in Oklahoma, refer to this non-Christian prayer as “sacrilege.”
FFRF is encouraging the Tulsa City Council to stand up for true religious freedom by ensuring that it continues respecting religious plurality and does not start discriminating against non-Christian citizens if it chooses to continue opening with prayer.
FFRF reminds the council that legislative prayers must be inclusive and cannot favor a specific religion. In Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that while invocations at government meetings are permissible, they must be nondiscriminatory and open to all faiths, including nontheistic beliefs. Ignoring this guidance could expose the City of Tulsa to potential legal challenges.
FFRF’s preferred solution, however, would be for the city council to drop prayer altogether. As the over-the-top reactions from Stitt and others in Tulsa and around the country demonstrate, prayer at government meetings is unnecessary, inappropriate and divisive. Council members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way.
“We agree that government-sponsored prayers to a deity that you do not believe in are alienating,” writes FFRF legal counsel Chris Line. “The best policy, the most inclusive policy, is to stop prayers altogether and get straight to the business of working for Tulsa.”
FFRF urges the council to take swift action to either end its prayer practice or reaffirm that it intends to continue its inclusive approach, allowing prayers from diverse religious traditions and secular invocations. Whichever path the council chooses, the city must ensure that its government proceedings remain neutral and respectful of all Tulsa residents.
“It is disgraceful that Governor Stitt and Superintendent Walters are using their positions of power to bully the Tulsa City Council into promoting religious discrimination,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Their actions blatantly disregard the diversity of beliefs in Oklahoma and send a divisive message that those who don’t share their religious views are unwelcome. Public officials have a duty to represent all citizens, not just a select group, and their push for religious exclusivity is both unconstitutional and deeply un-American.”
FFRF will closely monitor the situation to uphold the constitutional principle of church-state separation.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit with 40,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Oklahoma. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on nontheism.
