Satanic Temple invocation forces Ottawa County to reckon with the meaning of religious freedom

OTTAWA COUNTY — "Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair. Joe Moss."

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema was trying to get the attention of the Ottawa County Board Chair. He wanted to know the real name of the self-described Satanist about to give the traditional invocation.

It was an odd night in Ottawa County, though certainly not the oddest since Moss' PAC, Ottawa Impact, won the board's majority in August 2022.

The planned invocation from the Satanic Temple of West Michigan, scheduled several months after a lawsuit led the board to develop new policies for accepting invocation requests, drew hundreds to the Fillmore Complex on Tuesday.

Around two hours in, Bonnema walked out.

The Satanic Temple of West Michigan announced in March they'd been scheduled to give the meeting’s prayer April 23. The meeting drew one of the largest crowds the board has seen since Ottawa Impact commissioners took office in January 2023. Hundreds gathered in the lobby and in front of the Fillmore Complex.

More: Satanists set to give opening prayer for Ottawa County Board

Many stood in small groups to pray, sing hymns and hold signs opposed to the TST. Attendees in the lobby continued to sing through the start of the meeting, including during the invocation.

Bonnema claimed the invocation speaker — Rev. Luis Cypher — was using a pseudonym.

“So we're now allowing people to address us that we don’t know their name?” Bonnema asked.

Moss told Bonnema not to interrupt, or the meeting would go to recess. Bonnema left during public comment.

“I had enough of the endless unproductive dramatics," he told The Sentinel. "When they decide to do actual business of the county again, I will be there with bells on.”

It was a scene set in part by OI commissioners' own staunch Christian beliefs. The invocation has also been given by Bart Spencer, senior pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church, who made headlines early in the pandemic when he encouraged his congregation to contract the virus to “get it over with."

"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places," Spencer said Jan. 10, 2023, during his invocation before the board.

"Ottawa County has been the signal county — we may be a bit biased, Father — but the signal county of this state. Lord, she has been a great county for decades and decades and decades.

"And Lord, there’s been threats. And Father we will stand for thee," Spencer continued. "Father, you even told us when you stand, the world’s not going to like that. They’ll hate you, they’ll persecute you, they'll ostracize you. ... I pray for the chair and that you would bless him and the other council members, commission members. Again, knowing the only reason we’re here is to bring glory to you."

Rev. Jared Cramer, of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, filed a federal lawsuit in October 2023, claiming Moss used his position as chair to “endorse a particular set of religious beliefs and exclude a particular set of religious beliefs.”

In response to the lawsuit, the board created an invocation policy, which states any religious leader or individual who wishes to be added to the speakers list must make a formal request, in writing, to the commissioner who represents the district in which they reside.

The requests are then forwarded to a county-employed coordinator who curates a schedule; all requests are treated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Cramer, a vocal opponent of OI, was allowed to give his invocation in February. But what could've been a step toward reconciliation was placed in jeopardy after Commissioner Roger Belknap displayed a political sign to protest Cramer's known support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Then, in March, the announcement came from The Satanic Temple, putting those new invocation policies to the test.

Cypher, minister of Satan and lifelong resident of Ottawa County, gave an invocation which, including an introductory statement, lasted about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. He started by offering a “loving embrace” to residents.

“Let us stand now, unbound and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old,” Cypher said.

“Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all days, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true.

"Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or of all. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared. It’s demise. It is done. Hail Satan.”

Commissioners Gretchen Cosby and Kendra Wenzel prayed to themselves during the invocation. Prior to the meeting, Commissioner Rebekah Curran handed out heart-shaped cookies with “John 3:16” stickers on the packaging.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

During the roll call following the invocation, Belknap answered: “Lord willing, I am here.”

When the meeting moved to public comment, Curran was the first speaker. She offered a prayer from the lectern.

“I feel like it's a really important moment in time to not only show the love of Christ, but show the power of Christ,” Curran said. “I just pray that everyone will feel the manifest presence of God in this room and in this building today.”

She wasn't alone in religious messaging. Of the 45 people who spoke during the first public comment period, around two dozen gave Christian messages, denounced the invocation, or read passages from the Bible.

“In the name of Jesus, I cast down any words or curses spoken not of you, Lord. We rebuke it in Jesus’ name,” said a speaker named Paula from Spring Lake.

A speaker from Georgetown Township, who held a wooden cross as he spoke, said the county made “a grievous error” in allowing Tuesday’s invocation. He said the board “allowed worship to a false idol” and “reparation must be made.”

One speaker from Hamilton said, “I do not believe in the separation of church and state,” while another from Chester Township claimed (falsely) that only Christianity is protect by the First Amendment.

Ohers thanked the board for allowing the invocation and supporting First Amendment rights. Commenters came from not only Ottawa County, but Allegan, Muskegon and Kent, as well.

Bendr Bones, an ordained minister of the TST, first approached the board in May 2023 after commissioners voted to make Ottawa a “Constitutional County.”

The Satanic Temple is not about literal devil worshiping, representatives say. Instead, it uses Satanic imagery to promote egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of church and state, supporting its mission “to encourage benevolence and empathy [among all people],” according to the national group's website.

“We are advocates for critical thinking, pluralism, compassion, empathy, conforming our beliefs to scientific understanding, the struggle for justice — a lot of altruistic kind of ideals are wrapped into all of that,” Bones previously told The Sentinel.

The TST has utilized satire, theatrical ploys, humor and legal action in its public campaigns to generate attention and "prompt people to re-evaluate fears and perceptions" and to "highlight religious hypocrisy and encroachment on religious freedom."

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In his own prayer Feb. 13, Cramer directly referenced previous actions of the board he, too, found problematic, including changing the motto and closing the county's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department.

Cramer has since amended his complaint against the board, arguing Belknap's display undercut the county's own stated defense that commissioners didn't take issue with Cramer or his beliefs.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Satanic Temple invocation forces Ottawa County to reckon with the meaning of religious freedom