Controversy Brews Over Holiday Display of Pentagram Monument

Controversy over December holiday displays has begun early this year in Boca Raton, Florida.  A city ordinance allows residents to put up unattended displays during the holiday season in Sanborn Square, a city park.  According to yesterday's Christian Times, a local teacher has filed an application to set up a 300-pound metal Pentagram honoring Satan this December.  The display would include captions such as "In Satan We Trust," "One Nation under Antichrist" and "May the Children Hail Satan."  The teacher also wants to set up a Freedom From Religion Nativity Display.  A local pastor has reacted by saying: "It’s evil, it’s the essence of evil. I will take the responsibility for taking the sledgehammer and knocking it down."

Satanic Temple Temporary Display At Michigan Capitol OK'd As Nativity Scene Plans Falter

Under rules of the Michigan State Capitol Commission (full text), temporary displays, which may not remain over night, may be scheduled on the Capitol grounds.  The Detroit Free Press reports that the Commission has approved a request from the Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple for a display from Dec. 21-23. The display will consist of a snake wrapped around the Satanic cross presenting a book as a holiday gift. John Truscott, a member of the State Capitol Commission, said the Commission could not discriminate in approving applications, but added: "Personally, I think this is absolutely repulsive and I'm very frustrated by it. I don't appreciate a group trying to hijack a Christian holiday."

Meanwhile an already-approved request to place a Nativity Scene on the Capitol grounds is not moving ahead because the out-of-stater who requested it has been unable to find someone to remove the display each evening as required by state rules.  All of this takes place as the Michigan legislature is debating a controversial religious freedom bill. HB 5958, the Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration Act, has been approved by the House and is now under consideration by the state Senate.

Settlement In Black Mass Lawsuit, But Event Will Go On Using Black Bread

Apparently there has been a settlement of sorts in the lawsuit filed two days ago by the Archbishop of Oklahoma City to obtain return of communion wafers that a Satanic group was going to use in a "Black Mass." (See prior posting.) According to VICE News yesterday, after the court quicly issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting defendant Adam Daniels or anyone under his control from concealing, damaging or destroying the wafers or removing them from the county, Daniels gave the wafers to his lawyer and then agreed to hand them over to the Archdiocese in exchange for the suit being dropped. Daniels said that he had obtained the wafers from a priest in Turkey. Daniels plans to go ahead with the Sept. 21 Black Mass, but will now use the traditional coarse black bread used in Satanic rituals.

Satanic Temple Releases Proposed Design For Oklahoma Capitol Monument

The New York-based Satanic Temple has released its proposed design for a monument it wishes to erect on the Oklahoma State House grounds to complement the Ten Commandments monument placed there in 2012.  According to Monday's National Journal:

The proposed monument features a 7-foot-tall Baphomet, a goat-headed creature which is sometimes used as a stand-in for Satan. The demon's lap, flanked by a smiling child on each side, will double as a seat for visitors.

The Temple has exceeded its $20,000 goal to pay for the statue, raising more than that on the crowd funding site Indiegogo. The Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission has placed all applications on hold while a challenge to the Ten Commandments monument by the ACLU works its way through the courts. (See prior posting.)

Satanists Propose Monument On Oklahoma Capitol Grounds

In 2009, the Oklahoma legislature approved the display of a privately financed Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol grounds. (See prior posting.) Now the New York-based Satanic Temple has notified the Oklahoma State Capitol Preservation Commission that it also wants to donate a monument for the Capitol grounds. AP reported  yesterday that the Satanic Temple says its monument will be "in good taste and consistent with community standards." It will pay "homage to the historic/literary Satan."   [Thanks to Joel Sogol via Religionlaw for the lead.]

UPDATE: Others seem to have similar ideas.  In a Dec. 10 press release, the Universal Society of Hinduism said it plans to apply to Oklahoma State Capitol Preservation Commission for permission to place a statue of Lord Hanuman in the statehouse grounds.