Minneapolis Star Tribune reported yesterday that The Satanic Temple is suing Belle Plaine, Minnesota for its withdrawal of permission to erect a temporary memorial to fallen soldiers in Veterans' Memorial Park. The monument would have been the first Satanic monument on public property in the country. The paper reports on the sequence of events leading to the lawsuit:
... [I]n 2017 [the city approved a different organization's monument:] a steel silhouette known as “Joe” that depicted a soldier kneeling before a cross. Soon, someone complained that “Joe” violated constitutional separation of church and state.
City leaders, fearing a lawsuit, ordered its removal. That triggered weeks of vehement protests in the city.... So the council designated an area in the park as a “limited public forum,” open to temporary memorials to fallen veterans.
The Satanic Temple... applied to install its own monument.... The city granted a permit, and the temple designed a 23-inch black cube inscribed with inverted pentagrams and topped with an upturned helmet, which it planned to install in July 2017.
That plan prompted more protests. So exasperated city officials decided to shut down the limited public forum, ordering the removal of “Joe” and withdrawing permission for the temple’s monument.
[Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead.]
