'Hail Satan' opening prayer at Alaska government meeting

Several attendees at a government meeting open to the public in Alaska walked out in protest after an opening prayer praised Satan.

The Associated Press reports the prayer, where a woman declared “Hail Satan,” was given by Satanic Temple member Iris Fontana, who won the right to open the meeting with an invocation of her choice.

“That which will not bend, must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared as demise. It is done, hail Satan,” Fontana said to open the meeting, according to local radio station KSRM

The controversial prayer Tuesday night started the meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough and prompted several attendees to exit.

A protest outside the borough’s administration building ensued, drawing 40 or so people.

Fontana was reportedly among one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit litigated by the ACLU of Alaska against the borough after it approved a policy in 2016 to only allow people belonging to official organizations with an established presence on the Kenai Peninsula to give invocations at meetings.