2y ago

Satanic display at Iowa Capitol vandalized ‘beyond repair’; arrest made

www.kcrg.com

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - On Thursday, the Satanic Temple of Iowa announced that their display at the Iowa Capitol had been significantly damaged.

The controversial display, which Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds called “objectionable,” featured a ram’s head covered with mirrors on a mannequin before being damaged.

Organizers say it’s a symbol of their right to religious freedom.

The Satanic Temple of Iowa posted the following message on their Facebook page:

“This morning, we were informed by authorities that the Baphomet statue in our holiday display was destroyed beyond repair. We are proud to continue our holiday display for the next few days that we have been allotted.

We ask that for safety, visitors travel together and use the 7 Tenets as a reminder for empathy, in the knowledge that justice is being pursued the correct way, through legal means.

KCCI has reported that 35-year-old Michael Cassidy of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was charged with Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. He has since been released.

Solve et Coagula! Happy Holidays! Hail Satan!”

177 comments

Religious freedom only applies to MY RELIGION, never yours. 🙄
- This is the funniest thing. Satan IS part of their religion! I bet if it was a statue of Budda or Muhammad it would have been left alone, but since it's part of THEIR OWN religion that they don't like, it get vandalised. Hilarious
  
  I bet if it was a statue of Budda or Muhammad
  Lol. Lmao. Mfs have literally been killed for less.
  
  Something about holding up a mirror... It's very on point. hypocrites don't like when you show them their true face.
  
  Um… they don’t do statues of Mohammed, because of the reasons.
  
  They always like to say that the greatest trick the devil ever played was to convince people that he didn’t exist.
  I disagree. The devil’s greatest trick was changing their name to “God” while blaspheming the morning star—Lucifer— who literally brings light and reason to people’s lives in an otherwise cold, dark, and needlessly cruel world.
  
  Also Satan is objectively less evil than God. In the entire Bible Satan only killed like 10 people whereas God's death toll is in the tens of thousands.
  
  Pretty sure there's nobody fighting to get a statue of Muhammad anywhere...
I feel that destroying it has garnered more attention for TST than they would have received had it been left alone.
- Given that one of their goals is to highlight unfair treatment on religious basis, I'm sure they are delighted that someone illustrated their point.
- That's the point.
  The ~~church of Satan~~ Satanic Temple doesn't care about idol worship.
  But one religion REALLY REALLY DOES.
  
  The church of Satan and the Satanic temple are two very different organisations.
- Understanding that requires intelligence, something I would never accuse them of
He’s from Mississippi? Did he drive 12 hours just to go break the display?
- That's what being brainwashed by fucking propaganda will do to a person...
  Reich wing media is a cancer on society.
  
  Conservatism in general. The entire concept of protecting the past from an improved future is asinine from the start.
  
  Yessss ive been calling it "reich wing' for awhile now and i finally start seeing it more often ✊
- The meth was probably driving.
  
  His aunt-sister drove him.
- I mean, either that or he was travelling for any number of other reasons that people do. Visiting family is popular this time of year.
  More importantly it ups the chances he doesn't show for his hearing and either never interacts with cops again, or gets arrested for skipping his hearing next time he interacts with police for any reason, such as a routine traffic stop and jailed until Iowa gets back about whether or not they want him.
The 7 Tenets are strong against right wing hate.
Imagine if doofus had fucked up a nativity scene. His ass would have been tazed several times, he'd be beaten, and the fundies would stop poking holes in wrapped condoms for half a second to be up in arms.
- You could improve this by comparing it to someone beheading a statue of Jesus at the state capitol. I don't know if that has happened, but it would be more likely to elicit the response you describe.
- Nativity scenes get messed with all the time. I see no reason to jump to such extreme conclusions unless youve got a scenario where this actually happened.
  Edit: This is the same thing as Christians inventing persecution basically. I don’t want fellow secularists denying reality to invent unreasonable scenarios where they’re the victim.
  
  Shhh, you're outside the groupthink, lemmy doesn't like that.
These evangelicals are doing a wonderful job of showing the Satanic Temple to be reasonable adults. Every time a loony loses their mind over this, more people compare the two and realize who the baddies actually are.
- You overestimate people, don't forget Trump had enough voters to win in 2016 🤮
  
  Not really, but the system was rigged to make him win. If popular votes decided elections, there would never be a republican president
- It reminds me of the whole "keeping a level head while someone loses their shit on you, to demonstrably prove they're the asshole", but writ large.
That's a misdemeanor. He'll plead down to something like a fine and maybe some community service, then fundraise the shit out of it - have to pay the lawyer! have to pay the fine! need a giant new American flag for my giant lifted pickup truck! gimme gimme gimme!
They should sue his ass for all the costs of a replacement statue and everything else they can think of.
- Jokes on him, that community service is required to be served at the local Satanic Temple. (god I wish I wasn't making a joke right now)
  
  That would be glorious legal karma.
  
  That could happen. There was a plea deal recently where a woman who was an absolute dick to a fast food employee accepted a lesser sentence that required her to work in food service for a specified time.
  You could easily do the same here, and they absolutely should.
- "They should sue his ass" Given that it's TST, they'd probably argue that it was a violation of their constitutional protections under the First Amendment (or some similarly insane legal argument they regularly use to ~~embezzle~~ fundraise) .
  
  Interestingly stupid take you got there bud
how is this not a hate crime? it was committed because of someone's membership in a protected class.
- Simple, wrong class.
- Because the whole point of conservatism and Christian Nationalism is that only the right people are protected by the legal system. Everyone else is beneath the law, denied rights and protections, and subject to retribution without cause and due process.
  Conservatives fight to assure those not protected do not gain civil rights.
  The white power movement fights to further reduce rights and protections, and narrow the set of those who qualify for them.
  
  These kinds of behaviors are really hammering home that Christians are just nazis with training wheels huh?
- Because the Christian hegemony rules with an iron fist in the west. A big part of TST's existence is about bringing that hypocrisy to light.
- Hey now, the Judeo-Christian god can't be a pussy-ass or get butthurt. Both of those require existence 🥁 Bang-on about the delusional losers breaking shit though lol.
  
  If we call the part of our brain that helps us call label things right and wrong “god” we can see anyone speaking or acting on behalf of “god” as the reality of being on behalf of themselves or whoever put that god into their head
Hail Satan.
Interesting though it's just a mischief charge, if I trashed their Jesus garbage you know DAMN well I'm swimming in hate crime charges.
- Not anymore friend, a precedent has been set
- If you did it now, wouldn't lawyers be able to use thos case to get you the same punishment?
- In Iowa, criminal mischief covers vandalism, and 4th degree criminal mischief means damages between 300-750 dollars. Penalty is up to a year in jail and up to about $2500 in fines if convicted. Since it says he was charged, he wasn't just let off free, he was released pending hearing aka they aren't holding him in jail until then.
Whenever I hear the phrase Criminal Mischief, I always imagine an old cartoon criminal tip toeing around and up to no good.
- That's also what I envision "hooligans" means.
  
  never heard of football hooligans?
  
  Bill Hicks agreed with you.
- Yeah, it's absurd. Don't you think that if this guy had vandalized a Christian or Jewish display that he'd get more than "criminal mischief"? This is a hate crime.
- The black mask around the eyes is a dead giveaway.
  That's how you know that racoons are always up to no good.
KCCI has reported that 35-year-old Michael Cassidy of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was charged with Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. He has since been released.
What a special snowflake, that one. Bless his heart.
Religious hate crime
Republicans sure do love doing hate crimes
- Why do you think they hate those hate crime laws so much
  
  "It's not pedophilia if we strip the minimum marriage age laws"
  Republicans in multiple states
After hearing about this thing, I've decided I'm making myself a Christmas Baphomet decoration for my house.
- TST has you covered
  
  I'm this close to slapping a ram skull on a twenty foot skeleton and glittering it up, then coating it with epoxy so the craft herpes stays contained. Maybe attaching it all to a forty foot ham radio tower just for funsies.
- Some of us just can't Christmas this year.
  Solstice celebrations, however...
- This lil guy is the angel on my Yule tree. He's too heavy for my live tree's bendy little branches so he's hanging from the ceiling on fishing line, right above the tree, like he's flying.
  https://thesatanictemple.com/products/baphomet-holiday-ornament?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=ee729bfe2&pr_rec_pid=1614623047739&pr_ref_pid=6538474553478&pr_seq=uniform
No hate(crime) like christian love.
I like how he knows that the founding fathers didn't really mean what they said about the first amendment and all that. I hope the temple sues.
- A 4th degree misdemeanor is nothing! I doubt if someone messed up a Jesus Nativity set they would get that
  
  Idk, a precedent has been set now. Lawyers could just refer back to this case, no?
“This morning, we were informed by authorities that the Baphomet statue in our holiday display was destroyed beyond repair. We are proud to continue our holiday display for the next few days that we have been allotted.
Interesting choice and use of the words “informed” and “proud”. Really makes it sound like whoever said this sees it as a net-positive.
- Part of their mission is to expose hypocrisy, and vandalism does work to that end. Particularly if the vandal in question is Christian.
- Really makes it sound like whoever said this sees it as a net-positive.
  Not necessarily, but there's no reason to let the bastards get you down.
  
  Actually, the Satanic Temple is basically a trolling organization. They LOVE that they triggered these insecure weaklings.
- Funny that you take more issue with somebody's tone than the vandalism.
  
  The vandalism is expected. TST probably put it there hoping for vandalism because that exposes the hypocrisy.
Alternate source since the one in the post isn’t working for me:
https://www.radioiowa.com/2023/12/14/man-charged-with-vandalizing-statue-in-iowa-capitol-satanic-temple-display/
- The author did a great job directing people to that alt-reich trash rag. The slant is heavy.
Jesus is happy now! Yaay!! /s
Here's an opportunity for TST leadership to prove they're willing to sue more than just traumatised ex-members. I wonder if they'll take it.
- What are you talking about? Aren't these the ones that sue to allow all religions fair representation or none at all? There is another church of satan you may be confusing them with.
  
  TST are in the process of suing several ex-members after these ex members left TST after some old antisemitic statements made by one if its owners resurfaced.
  They're also suing an ex member who made a tiktok video about the ex members.
  There's a lot more to these stories. Search Newsweek for more.
  
  TST is slightly less of loser con artists than the Church of Satan... slightly.
  If you actually look at the legal cases they file, it's either piggybacking on FFRF, or completely unhinged legal arguments that every serious person knows is absurd and is merely fundraising from their gullible audience.
- wtf is this "both sides" shit? How are satanists ridiculous?
  
  BoTh SiDeS lol
  The ST don't actually believe in Satan btw, real Satanists do. There's no evidence Satan exists and it's ridiculous to actually believe in Satan. Christians believe Satan is real too.
- I dunno seems pretty useful to me.
- just useful for challenging Christianity politically
  That's exactly what they're going for, yes.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
\ Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
\ Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?
\ Willard: I'm a soldier.
\ Kurtz: You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.
-- Apocalypse Now, 1979

177 comments