Just in time for the holidays, the Church Lady – Dana Carvey’s iconic character from Saturday Night Live – reemerged from her crypt earlier this month to declare 2024 “the most Satanic year in history.”
Backing up her claim: the state Capitol in Minnesota.
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Satanic Temple applies to fly flag in front of Boston City Hall after Christian Supreme Court win
Boston has to let people fly the “Christian flag” in front of its city hall because of free speech. So why not let the Satanic flag fly too?
That’s where visitors can now take in the sight of a holiday display dedicated to the Master of Hell set up by The Satanic Temple, a group established in 2012 to defend religious plurality and draw a line between church and state.
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The muted display features an inverted pentagram hanging over a phoenix and text from the Satanic ritual The Mass of the Phoenix. Kraken and other underworld figures associated with the Prince of Darkness are nowhere to be found.
“Thanks to all the hard work from our Congregation, especially Calcifer, for helping us set up Minnesota Satanists’ first-ever holiday display at the state Capitol in Saint Paul! HAIL RELIGIOUS PLURALITY!!! HAIL SATAN!!!” the group wrote in a Facebook post Saturday celebrating the Mephistophelean anti-creche.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits the government from establishing a state religion. Courts have consistently interpreted that fact to mean the government can’t favor one faith over another.
The Satanic Temple was purpose-built to test that conclusion and has pushed courts to confirm it in provocations, including displays like Minnesota’s and another in Concord, New Hampshire this year, and previously in Illinois and Iowa. Last year at Christmas, the group sponsored a student-launched Satan Club at a high school in Kansas.
Christian Republicans are predictably red-faced over the religious provocation.
“During the holidays… what a disgrace. Only in Walz’s Minnesota,” the state’s Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber posted.
“Is there anything Tim Walz won’t do to insult Minnesotans?” asked his House MAGA colleague, Rep. Tom Emmer.
“It was wrong when Iowa Satanists did this and it is wrong when Minnesota Satanists do this, too. This obscenity is not what our founders envisioned for religious liberty protections,” posted Andrew T. Walker, associate professor of Christian ethics and public theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who promotes “Biblical truth.”
It was wrong when Iowa satanists did this and it is wrong when Minnesota satanists do this, too. This obscenity is not what our Founders envisioned for religious liberty protections. https://t.co/DgH5f8XxrY https://t.co/qrBMyN7xKY
— Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) December 16, 2024
As the state’s top elected official, recent VP nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) is taking the heat for the provocative display. His office issued a statement on Tuesday.
“The Governor does not agree with the display and did not approve it. But the First Amendment means that he does not police speech in the State Capitol. That’s true whether it’s a religious display, a political protest, or a Minnesotan advocating for a policy.”
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