Your thoughts on Satanism and the petition for a Satanic statue.

[Esquilax]

Morgan, even the other posters here agreed that these people specifically chose Satan to be their symbol purposely as a sort of "ef you" to the faith. Of anything these people could have chosen to represent their ideologies, why choose the entity from the bible that represents evil and hatred, if their intention is not to shock/offend/make a statement against the faith?

Balance?

I mean, for starters, the statue isn't Satan, it's Baphomet, which didn't originally have anything to do with the devil at all; it was just a word used to describe whatever it was the first Crusaders believed the Templars worshiped. It later gained occult significance but that still doesn't make it Satan; if you and others within your religion choose to assume that it's the devil simply because the group seeking to erect it call themselves Satanists, then that is your problem, stemming mainly from a lack of research. That can be rectified though: this whole thing is actually kind of interesting.

But have you read the Satanist's press release? It makes it pretty clear that the reason they want the statue there is to balance out the 10 commandments monument; if the government will erect one, it needs to erect them all. An occult figure like Baphomet, whether that title is earned or not, brings to mind Satan the devil, as you have so aptly demonstrated, and this is a pretty good mirror for the christian monument already in place. I'm not going to pretend that this statue isn't a direct response to christianity, but when you have a religion that enjoys unparalleled dominance and political largess even in a country that isn't supposed to favor one religion over another, you can hardly argue that responding to balance the books by placing an opposing figure there is unearned.

There is a statement being made, but it's not against christianity. That's far too binary. The statement being made is about church and state, and how the latter isn't supposed to be presenting the former, but since it is, that can't go unchecked. Maybe it seems petty to you, but then, you've never had to live on the outside as a religion you're not a part of pretends it's the literal soul of the entire nation before. I can imagine it'd be hard to empathize with the feelings that might engender.