A temporary statue of the goat-headed pagan idol Baphomet set up by the Satanic Temple in the Iowa State Capitol for the Christmas season was destroyed by a Christian man on Thursday.
Michael Cassidy, 35, a former military officer who once ran for office as a Republican, said he “saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged.”
The Satanic Temple Iowa confirmed the statue’s destruction in a statement on Facebook on Thursday, saying they were “informed by authorities that the Baphomet statue in our holiday display was destroyed beyond repair.”
The installation, which is at the center of a free speech debate, depicts a propped-up robed figure of Baphomet with a mirrored ram’s head on top, holding a pentacle. The temporary statue stood alongside a table of candles, the Satanic Temple’s tenets, and a black ram’s head atop another pentangle, surrounded by five candles.
Mr. Cassidy ultimately decapitated the statue, pushed it over, and discarded the decapitated head in a trash can.
“The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan, but none of the founders would have considered government sanction of Satanic altars inside Capitol buildings as protected by the First Amendment,” he said. ”Anti-Christian values have steadily been mainstreamed more and more in recent decades, and Christians have largely acted like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot of water.”
Free Speech in the Spotlight
Despite the vandalism, the Satanic Temple Iowa said on Facebook that it is “proud to continue our holiday display for the next few days that have been allotted.” The group cautioned visitors to the installation to follow the Satanic Temple’s tenets, noting that “justice is being pursued” via legal means.The statement concluded: “Solve et Coagula! Happy Holidays! Hail Satan!”
The display was approved to be featured for two weeks in line with state rules for religious displays at the Capitol building, sparking intense debate and criticism from Iowa and national politicians.
On Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, called the installation “objectionable,” but ultimately viewed it as protected free speech, calling on Christians to pray over the Capitol.
“Like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable,“ Ms. Reynolds said in a statement. ”In a free society, the best response to objectionable speech is more speech, and I encourage all those of faith to join me today in praying over the Capitol and recognizing the nativity scene that will be on display—the true reason for the season.”
Amid the controversy, the Satanic Temple Iowa thanked the State Capitol staff, Capitol Police, and officials on Tuesday “for holding fast to the principle of religious freedom and ensuring all religions have an equal opportunity to celebrate the holidays together in our beautiful Capitol.”
Douglas Mesner, who also goes by the name Lucien Greaves, is the co-founder of the national Satanic Temple. He denied that the group’s goal is to offend Christians. However, he admitted its “battle ... is against tyranny and theocracy” to share the public spaces they exist in.
“Knowing that some people will be upset because they disagree with what you are doing is not the same as doing something merely for the purpose of offending them,” he wrote on his Substack.
DeSantis Blames Trump
The “non-theistic” Satanic Temple, a nationwide network based in Salem, Massachusetts, gained tax-exempt religious status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2019.Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a candidate running against former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, laid the blame for the Satanic Temple’s recognition as a church at the feet of President Trump.
“The Trump administration gave them approval to be under the IRS as a religion, so that gave them the legal ability to potentially do it,” he said during a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, adding that the installation would not have been permitted if the U.S. government had not ”recognized it as a religion.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper noted that the IRS recognition “doesn’t necessarily mean the government supports it, but they did grant it.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Mr. DeSantis responded. “But they recognized it as a religion; otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to do it. I don’t think that was the right decision.”
He added that, in his view, “that’s not a religion that the founding fathers were trying to create.”
The Trump campaign responded to Mr. DeSantis’ criticisms, with a spokesperson saying the Florida governor “has a lot of opinions on religion for a man who doesn’t even own his own Bible.”
“This is a sad attempt by a dying candidate in the last throes of his failed campaign, so he’s resorting to blatant lies and outright falsehoods that will finally put an end to his disastrous run,” the spokesperson told the Des Moines Register.
The Epoch Times contacted the Trump and DeSantis campaigns and the Satanic Temple for further comment.
