From a complaint filed against the City of Boston in January by the Satanic Temple.

The Constitution permits legislative prayers, but the prayer-selection process must be nondiscriminatory. Boston affords its councillors unrestricted freedom to select prayer-givers. Despite its request, the Satanic Temple was refused a prayer opportunity.

This case is not a challenge to legislative prayers in general, and it is not a challenge to offensive prayers in particular. We take no issue with the fact that the city permits many congregations to invoke Jesus before council meetings. We just want an equal opportunity, one guaranteed by the Constitution, to invoke Satan.

The Satanic Temple venerates the biblical adversary as a Promethean icon against tyranny. For the Satanic Temple and its membership, the Satan described in Paradise Lost and similar works is a revolutionary antihero who stood up against impossible odds to seek justice and egalitarianism for himself and others.

The court should order Boston to provide the Satanic Temple equal access.