Earlier this month, a member of the Satanic Temple performed the invocation at a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting, a prayer that sparked protest and counterprotest.
Two groups gathered Wednesday, August 17 in the steady rain in front of Planned Parenthood Soldtona Health Center.
On one side Catholic protesters carrying rosary beads and a life-sized wooden cross said a prayer; on the other side a group of women held signs that said “my body my choice” and “reproductive health is not a sin.”
Kenai Peninsula Assembly Vice President Brent Johnson plans to introduce an ordinance at the meeting Tuesday, August 23, that would replace the invocation or prayer said at the beginning of meetings with a moment of silence.
Several months ago, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly President Blaine Gillman introduced an ordinance that would have done away with the invocation, but withdrew it under pressure from local Christian leaders who wanted the prayer to continue.
The Assembly heard repeated public testimony this summer from residents who said that prayer at a public meeting was inappropriate – and also that the invocation, as practiced, seemed exclusionary to non-Judeo-Christian faiths.
Local religious leaders testified in support of keeping the invocation.
Kenai Peninsula College student Iris Fontana, 27, invoked the power of Satan on Tuesday, August 9, as part of an effort by the Assembly to make the meeting prayers more equitable.
She ended the invocation with “It is done. Hail Satan.”
That prayer sparked protest and counterprotests, and now a moment of silence is under consideration as an alternative.
Outside Planned Parenthood, Catholic parishioner Toby Burk said he was there to address what he calls, two “evils going on in the community.”
“First and foremost the evil of abortion, the destruction of innocent life, for one,” Burk said. “We are out her in front of Planned Parenthood because they make all the or most of the local referrals to the abortionist. And two, you may have heard about the invocation at the borough building last week. So this is like, we are going to start praying her and we are going to eventually process over to the borough building.”
Praying is the Catholic group’s way of fighting back, he said.
On the other side of the Planned Parenthood issue were protesters including Michele Vasquez. She supports the clinic which provides many important services.
“It’s actually the healthcare provider for millions of low-income women across the country,” Vasquez said. “They provide pap smears; they provide cancer screenings, breast exams, and prostate exams for men. It is just so crucial that we have that. Only 3 percent of their services are abortion. So, I just find it reprehensible that these people would want to see such a great organization just disappear.”
Fontana also was at the protest and said she supports Planned Parenthood and free speech.
“The invocation that I used was written by the spokesman for the Satanic Temple and so I could have left ‘hail Satan’ off but why?,” she said. “There should not be a reason to have to rein myself in. It is free speech. Everyone has free speech. You know, I should not have to hide.”
Fontana’s grandmother, Judith Jenkinson, a retired school teacher and self-described Christian, stood with her at the protest. Jenkinson said she’s proud that her granddaughter is fighting for separation of church and state in the local government.
“It is 2016, people ought to have rights,” Jenkinson said. “This whole protest is so dark ages, it just scares me to death.”
Fontana is pleased that the Assembly is now considering doing away with the invocation and instituting in its place a moment of silence, she said.
“That would be perfect,” Fontana said. “I think that’s reasonable.”
