WZEP AM 1460 Monday, November 16, 2015
A Deerfield Beach man has secured an attorney in hopes of forcing the Walton County Commission to allow him to give an invocation in the name of satan at the County Commission meetings.
Timothy "Chaz" Stevens, 51, of Deerfield Beach, has secured the services of Boca Raton attorney Thomas H. Wright, III. In a letter to Walton County Attorney Mark Davis and County Administrator Larry Jones, Wright says his client is requesting to “perform an invocation before a regular City Commission meeting.”
Stevens, who calls himself a "minion of satan," has bedeviled numerous city councils and county commissions across Florida in an effort to force then to stop opening their meetings with a Christian prayer. Stevens cites several supreme court cases that he claims justifies his right.
The precedent that Satanists, Druids or Wiccans be granted an audience came in May 2014, when the U.S. Supreme ruled in the case of Town of Greece (N.Y.) vs. Galloway.
The decision holds that prayer is allowed at city and county commission meetings provided it applies to all religions, or quasi-religions.
His facebook page is filled with obscene and sacreligious mockery of the Christian faith.
County Attorney Mark Davis says the county is in the process of developing a new policy and procedure for accommodating invocations prior to the start of meetings in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling. However, it remains unclear whether Stevens will be allowed to invoke the name of satan in a prayer before the commission...since he is not a resident or local clergy.
In a separate incident, the county has also received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanding the nativity scene be removed the annual Christmas display at the Walton County Courthouse.
The war continues.
A Deerfield Beach man has secured an attorney in hopes of forcing the Walton County Commission to allow him to give an invocation in the name of satan at the County Commission meetings.
Timothy "Chaz" Stevens, 51, of Deerfield Beach, has secured the services of Boca Raton attorney Thomas H. Wright, III. In a letter to Walton County Attorney Mark Davis and County Administrator Larry Jones, Wright says his client is requesting to “perform an invocation before a regular City Commission meeting.”
Stevens, who calls himself a "minion of satan," has bedeviled numerous city councils and county commissions across Florida in an effort to force then to stop opening their meetings with a Christian prayer. Stevens cites several supreme court cases that he claims justifies his right.
The precedent that Satanists, Druids or Wiccans be granted an audience came in May 2014, when the U.S. Supreme ruled in the case of Town of Greece (N.Y.) vs. Galloway.
The decision holds that prayer is allowed at city and county commission meetings provided it applies to all religions, or quasi-religions.
His facebook page is filled with obscene and sacreligious mockery of the Christian faith.
County Attorney Mark Davis says the county is in the process of developing a new policy and procedure for accommodating invocations prior to the start of meetings in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling. However, it remains unclear whether Stevens will be allowed to invoke the name of satan in a prayer before the commission...since he is not a resident or local clergy.
In a separate incident, the county has also received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanding the nativity scene be removed the annual Christmas display at the Walton County Courthouse.
The war continues.
