The city of Lake Worth in Palm Beach County, Florida, has gone to the Devil.
On December 2, 2014, before the Lake Worth City Commission’s meeting, a self-described “anti-theist” named Preston Smith gave an invocation to Satan, among other pagan deities.
The dictionary says “invocation” is “the summoning of a deity or the supernatural.” That means, Smith summoned Satan to Lake Worth.
Before Smith summoned Satan, the city’s mayor Pam Triolo and three of the five city commissioners left the room, but returned later for the Pledge of Allegiance. The remaining five people — 3 men and 2 women, including a stenographer — stood respectfully, with hands clasped, as Smith made his invocation (see below).
Preston began by extolling atheism, claiming that atheism would lead to a “better community without religious divisions.”
Smith is woefully ignorant about modern history. In the 20th century, officially atheistic communist regimes killed an estimated 94 million people. See Black Book of Communism.
Beginning at the 1:03 mark in the video below, Smith said:
“May we pray together. Father Earth, we gather together in your redeeming and glorious presence to invoke your eternal guidance in the Universe — the original creator of all things. May the efforts of this council blend the righteousness of the law with the all-knowing wisdom of Satan. May Zeus, the great god of justice, grant us strength tonight. Jesus might forgive us our shortcomings, while Buddha enlightens us through his divine perfection.”
Smith then invoked Krishna, Thor, and science, and commended “agnostics, atheists, and humanists.” Blah, blah, blah.
Although Mayor Triolo, along with three commissioners, absented themselves from Smith’s demonic invocation, Triolo said she didn’t leave because of the invocation but because she objected to a tweet by Smith which mocked Scripture.
Mayor Pam Triolo
As reported by WPTV, Triolo explained: “I didn’t leave because Mr. Smith is an atheist, I left because of his alleged tweet. Free speech works both ways. You can say what you want and I can choose to leave. There’s just a place where I personally draw a line, and I have to be who I am.”
Smith whined that the mayor and the three commissioners walking out was an act of pure discrimination against his beliefs.
Christopher McAvoy
Commissioner Christopher McVoy, who stayed during the invocation because “If we choose to have an invocation, we have a responsibility to respectfully listen,” is critical of the mayor and three commissioners leaving. McVoy said if there was an issue it should have been handled in advance, and that walking out was “very un-American, and a slap in the face to the principles people fought very hard to make sure we had those rights.”
McVoy calls himself “A world-renowned Ecohydrologist, Everglades expert, author, elected official and empiricist trained in systems analysis and simulation modeling.”
Here’s contact info from Lake Worth City Commission’s website:
Pam Triolo, Mayor
561.586.1735
[email protected]
Christopher McVoy, Ph.D
District 2
561.398.6115
[email protected]
H/t FOTM’s CSM
~Eowyn
