PHOENIX — The Phoenix City Council has voted to restore a tradition of spoken prayer before meetings.
The council on Wednesday vote 7-2 to allow invocations with the condition that they are given exclusively by fire or police department chaplains.
The vote comes after a moratorium on prayers before a member of a Tucson-based group called The Satanic Temple was scheduled to deliver the prayer before the council's Feb. 17 meeting.
Group members say they don't worship Satan but invoke the name as a metaphor in opposing what they call religious tyranny.
Though the council voted to restore spoken prayer instead of silent reflection, council members will have to vote again on a specific ordinance to make the rule change official. A final vote is expected in a few weeks.
