This July 6, 2015, file photo provided by The Satanic Temple shows the sculpture an 8½-foot-tall bronze monument featuring Satan was cast from in New York. In a sense, the statue is a stress test of American plurality: at what point does religious freedom make the people uncomfortable? A little before midnight on Saturday, a crowd of around 700 gathered in an old industrial warehouse a few blocks from the Detroit River for what they’d been told was the “largest public satanic ceremony in history.” Most of them professed to be adherents of Satanism, that loosely organized squad of the occult that defines itself as a religious group. Others came simply because they were curious. After all, Satanists exist in the popular psyche as those who casually sacrifice goats and impregnate Mia Farrow with Lucifer’s child; if this ceremony was indeed unprecedentedly big, who knew what could be in store? The reality of the event — and of the contemporary Satanic movement at large — was tamer, and, if the Facebook pictures speak the truth, harmlessly festive: a cross between an underground rave and a meticulously planned Halloween party. They were there to publicly unveil a colossal bronze statue of Baphomet, the goat-headed wraith who, after centuries of various appropriations, is now the totem of contemporary Satanism. The pentagram, that familiar logo of both orthodox Satanists and disaffected teens, originated as a rough outline of Baphomet’s head. The statue itself is impressive: almost nine feet tall, and weighing in at around a ton. The horned idol sits on a throne adorned with a pentagram, but it is the idol’s wings, and not his chair, that curiously evoke the Iron Throne from a certain celebrated HBO fantasy series. He has the jarring horns of a virile ram but the biceps of a guy who lifts four or five times a week. His legs, which are crossed, end not in feet but in hooves. It might seem more menacing if not for the two bronze-statue children standing on either side of him — a girl on his left; a boy on his right; both are looking up at him earnestly. “Baphomet contains binary elements symbolizing a reconciliation of opposites, emblematic of the willingness to embrace, and even celebrate differences,” Jex Blackmore, who organized the unveiling, told TIME late Sunday night. In a sense, the statue is a stress test of American plurality: at what point does religious freedom make the people uncomfortable? Blackmore directs the Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple, one of the few coherent organizations in a field that’s otherwise disorganized and dogmatically nebulous. The Satanic Temple has chapters in Florida and Finland, in Italy and Minneapolis. Its headquarters are in New York, but the Detroit office is its first and largest outpost. Blackmore — who, by the way, uses a pseudonym for safety reasons — grew up in the Detroit metropolitan area and returned to the city to work with the Satanic Temple after attending a lecture on Satanism at Harvard. Asked whether her group is a religious organization (or rather an anti-religious organization) she explains that it’s less of a church and more of an affinity group, built around what she repeatedly refers to as “Satanic principles.” It’s not the dogma you might expect. To quote from the group’s website: The Satanic Temple holds to the basic premise that undue suffering is bad, and that which reduces suffering is good. We do not believe in symbolic “evil.” Most vitally, though, the group does not “promote a belief in a personal Satan.” By their logic, Satan is an abstraction, or, as Nancy Kaffer wrote for The Daily Beast last year, “a literary figure, not a deity — he stands for rationality, for skepticism, for speaking truth to power, even at great personal cost.” Call it Libertarian Gothic, maybe — some darker permutation of Ayn Rand’s crusade for free will. One witnesses in the Satanic Temple militia a certain knee-jerk reaction to encroachments upon personal liberties, especially when those encroachments come with a crucifix in hand. The Baphomet statue is the Satanic Temple’s defiant retort du jour. “We chose Baphomet because of its contemporary relation to the figure of Satan and find its symbolism to be appropriate if displayed alongside a monument representing another faith,” Blackmore said. The monument she refers to is a six-foot marble slab engraved with the Ten Commandments, controversially situated on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol. In 2012, state representative Mike Ritze fronted $10,000 out of his own pocket to have the marker installed in the shadow of the capitol’s dome, prompting the ire of those who believed it flagrantly violated the separation of church and state. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state of Oklahoma; the Satanic Temple fought fire with fire. If the Christians could chisel their credo onto public property, the argument went, why couldn’t they? The state didn’t agree, and rejected the Satanic Temple’s petition to place Baphomet’s statute on legislative property. The point is now moot, though: a month ago, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the Ten Commandments monument violated the state constitution, a judgment that will probably stick in spite of an obstinate governor. It seems there are battles left to fight, though. A Detroit pastor described the unveiling of the statue as “a welcome home party for evil.” A Catholic activism group in the city actively encouraged people to attend mass at a local cathedral to speak out against the statue — a pray-in, if you will. Meanwhile, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson recently signed a bill that will put the Ten Commandments on a similar monument on the grounds of the State Capitol in Little Rock. The Satanic Temple may be planning a road trip.

These Americans. May they not spoil the world and the proper order of things.

I hate them more daily and I just can't understand how many people feel they have to move their or go nowhere else.

Rubbish!

Utter rubbish

What's so grotesque about the statue? And how is it worse than the dead guy on a stick image that Christians use to glorify torture and human sacrifice?

The funny thing about this Satanic Temple matter is that even though Christians have been repeatedly informed that they're being trolled, they still react in the exact same way. The Satanists are really just using it to expose Christian hypocrisy and to force them to respect separation of church and state. They've said over and over that they oppose putting religious monuments on public land, but if Christians insisted on them, the Satanists would also put theirs.

Incidentally, the organisers of the event received multiple threats of arson and death from "loving Christians". The owner of the original venue was also harassed into cancelling their contract forcing them to move the event to a secret venue. And to screen out potential Christian terrorists and keep people safe, they required everyone to sign this contract before being told the new secret location:

I agree that by signing this document under any name, given or adopted, actual or pseudonymous, I am hereby avowing my soul to Satan (aka Abbadon, aka Lucifer, aka Beelzebub, aka The Antichrist). I do so knowing that He (aka The Fallen One, aka The Father of Lies) or any of His representatives may choose to collect my eternal soul at any time, with or without notice. I understand that my signature or mark representing any name, real or made up, upon these papers constitutes a lasting and eternal contract, and that there will be no further negotiations on the matter of my eternal soul.

The event went off without a hitch. I guess non of the religious crazies were willing to sign.

EvilBrain1:
What's so grotesque about the statue? And how is it worse than the dead guy on a stick image that Christians use to glorify torture and human sacrifice?

The funny thing about this Satanic Temple matter is that even though Christians have been repeatedly informed that they're being trolled, they still react in the exact same way. The Satanists are really just using it to expose Christian hypocrisy and to force them to respect separation of church and state. They've said over and over that they oppose putting religious monuments on public land, but if Christians insisted on them, the Satanists would also put theirs.

Incidentally, the organisers of the event received multiple threats of arson and death from "loving Christians". The owner of the original venue was also harassed into cancelling their contract forcing them to move the event to a secret venue. And to screen out potential Christian terrorists and keep people safe, they required everyone to sign this contract before being told the new secret location:


The event went off without a hitch. I guess non of the religious crazies were willing to sign.

. Hmmmmmmm

Well @ evilbrain1, everyone has the right to express their views and I just did mine. I believe the statue is grotesque and it shouldn't have been made to see the light of day.

EvilBrain1:
What's so grotesque about the statue? And how is it worse than the dead guy on a stick image that Christians use to glorify torture and human sacrifice?

The funny thing about this Satanic Temple matter is that even though Christians have been repeatedly informed that they're being trolled, they still react in the exact same way. The Satanists are really just using it to expose Christian hypocrisy and to force them to respect separation of church and state. They've said over and over that they oppose putting religious monuments on public land, but if Christians insisted on them, the Satanists would also put theirs.

Exactly. These Satanists don't actually believe that Satan exists; they are just trying to make sure that all religions have a right to equal public access. And they've done a god job of exposing these Christian hypocrites for what they are.

onetrack:


Exactly. These Satanists don't actually believe that Satan exists; they are just trying to make sure that all religions have a right to equal public access. And they've done a god job of exposing these Christian hypocrites for what they are.

believe me @ onetrack, there's nothing satanic in my Vehicle tracking services bro, contact me for your vehicle tracking services.. You'd be glad you did bro. There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling me on (08066696890) for your GPS vehicle tracking solutions !!!

obidevine:
Well @ evilbrain1, everyone has the right to express their views and I just did mine. I believe the statue is grotesque and it shouldn't have been made to see the light of day.

So what are you against, freedom of religion or freedom of expression?

plaetton:


So what are you against, freedom of religion or freedom of expression?

. When you call me and request for a GPS tracker in your vehicle I'll let you know what view I'm for or against bro. God bless you.

obidevine:
. When you call me and request for a GPS tracker in your vehicle I'll let you know what view I'm for or against bro. God bless you.

I definitely don't need any blessing from your skydaddy.
I am good all by myself.

Rilwayne001:
Sonoflucifer/ AlfaSeltzer's dad

where is Alfa? see your father satan.

Cool..