The Tulsa World reports:
The people behind the invocation before last week’s Tulsa’s City Council meeting would like Gov. Kevin Stitt, State Superintendent Ryan Walters and other state officials who are in a tizzy over the prayer to know that it had nothing to do with Satan. Amy Hardy-McAdams, a high priestess of the Artemisian Faerie Faith, said she is a pagan whose beliefs are rooted in the rights and rituals of the Celtic tradition.
“I am a goddess worshiper. I guess you could say it’s the old religion. Everything I identify with is pre-Christian — basically the reverence of nature,” Hardy-McAdams said. “I’m an animist, so I believe things have their own sentience and energy and inner life. And my invocation was basically calling in the Divine, or God, as I understand God to be, in my own way, to be a blessing on the Tulsa City Council, to help them in making choices and decisions that affect our city at large.”
Here’s the governor in 2022:
“Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name of Jesus. Father, we can do nothing apart from you. We don’t battle against flesh and blood but against principalities and darkness.
“And father, we just come against that, we just loose your will over our state right now in the name of Jesus. We just thank you and we claim Oklahoma for you with the authority that I have as governor and the spiritual authority and the physical authority that you give me.
“I claim Oklahoma for you that we will be a light to our country and to the world. We thank you that your will was done on Tuesday and father, that you will have your way with our state, with our education system, with everything within the walls behind me.
“Lord, we pray that you will root out corruption and bring the right people into this building.”
And now he’s screaming about Satan.
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. https://t.co/unhvhZfPGJ
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) November 24, 2024
Bro. That’s not Satan. That’s ancient Greek mythology.
Signed,
A World History major/Classical Cultures minor
— Rep. Jacob Rosecrants
(@jacobrosecrants) November 24, 2024
Yes, remember that whoever allowed prayers at City Council meetings invited exactly this. If you don’t like it, keep religion, and your prayer parties, out of public meetings.
— Lucien Greaves (@LucienGreaves) November 25, 2024
It’s beautiful.
pic.twitter.com/RnI1QvotFT
— Seth Andrews (@SethAndrewsTTA) November 25, 2024
If you’re open to welcoming Christian prayer in council meetings, I’m a registered atheist Republican who’s OK hearing a public Pagan prayer.
I spent many years in different Pagan organizations and know there are more out there than the public thinks. Most are good people.
— Rebecca Kinsler (@RebeccaKinsler) November 25, 2024