Update: Canceled! The Satanic Temple Hosting ‘Satanic holiday carols’ and ‘a large Satanic altar’ at Iowa State Capitol
The Satanic Temple of Iowa intended to host a “family-friendly” “Satanic Holiday Joy” at the Iowa State Capitol this past Saturday, where they told attendees to expect, along with handing out coloring pages and an ornament decorating station for the kids, “Satanic holiday carols, a large Satanic altar and display, a devilish Sol Invictus/Saturnalia ornament making station, and ritual!”
However, this event was canceled by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, ensuring it would not go forth.
Alon gwith the carols, there was supposed to be a costume contest with prizes for whoever dresses up as the best ‘Krampus,’ which is a horned, half-goat, half-demon figure from Central and Eastern European folklore who punishes children who misbehave.
Commenting on the cancelation, the Satanic Temple of Iowa wrote on Favebook:
We are saddened to announce that our event at the Iowa State Capitol has been forcibly cancelled by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.
We have made every effort to work with them to ensure a successful event, but after over two months on the official Capitol events calendar we have been informed that our event will no longer be allowed.
Our goal was to promote tolerance and acceptance of diverse religious beliefs, with a theme of finding a light in the darkness and welcoming the darkest nights of the year with joy and camaraderie.
We are no stranger to obstacles in advocating for religious pluralism and freedom of speech, and we will continue to fight for the rights of Satanic Temple members and our local community.
We encourage Satanic Temple members and supporters to keep the seven tenets of The Satanic Temple in mind. As a peaceful law-abiding organization, we will embody the spirit of wisdom and compassion in the face of injustice.
Hail Satan, Hail Iowa.
Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain!
We last wrote about TST after they raffled off a free abortion to promote the organization’s religious abortion ritual, hosted SatanCon 2023′, billed as ‘The Largest Satanic Gathering in History,’ and opened up a new abortion clinic to murder babies in satanic ‘ritual.’
Last year, the Satanic Temple of Iowa, under the guidelines of the Iowa legislature, allowed Satanists to place an idol of Baphomet, a winged, goat-headed, trans-human figure, on display in the vicinity of nativity displays on the first floor of the Iowa Capitol.
The display drew the ire of many Christians, who lamented the blasphemy of placing an idol in the capitol as a sign of the impending judgment of God upon the nation. Some conservative Republicans, while lamenting the statue as blasphemous, defended the existence of the display on the grounds of constitutional freedom of religious expression.
On December 14, Cassidy walked into the Iowa capital building and smashed the Baphomet, decapitating the idol before stuffing its head into a nearby trashcan.
While Cassidy promptly turned himself in to capitol police and was initially charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, raising over $80,000 through crowdfunding for his defense, those charges were elevated to a more severe nature after Polk County prosecutors charged him with felony third-degree criminal mischief with a hate crime enhancement. He ultimately received a $855 fine, two years of probation, and undisclosed determination costs.
The Satanic Temple (TST) was formed in 2012 and is not to be confused with the Church of Satan. Claiming a membership of over 700,000 people, they reject the existence of a literal devil in exchange for the devil as a metaphor and literary device to further their activism. Their mission is to “encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits” by engaging in run-of-the-mill pagan secular humanist ideals, such as “confronting hate groups, fighting for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, fighting against any Christian imagery and practices in schools and government, and fighting for abortion.
Disgusting Filth. Good luck with that Lake of Fire. Oh, that is forever, by the way.