Florida, Texas, and other Republican-controlled states are considering giving public school access to preachers under the guise of them providing counseling services. The Satanic Temple, recognizing that doing so is a serious violation of the separation of church and state, has asked the state of Florida to allow their chaplains to be part of the program.
Two bills recently introduced in the Florida Legislature that would allow volunteer chaplains to provide counseling services in public schools have prompted The Satanic Temple to threaten legal action if its members are barred from participating.
Senate Bill 1044 and its companion House Bill 931, which already passed the Florida House of Representatives last month, would also mandate that principals in schools with volunteer chaplains tell parents about it and offer them a list of the volunteers, all of whom will be subject to a background check.
Parents will be allowed to choose from the list of chaplains and allow their children to receive counseling with written permission, though representatives from The Satanic Temple have expressed a desire for their chaplains to be included in such offerings.
“Any opportunity that exists for ministers or chaplains in the public sector must not discriminate based on religious affiliation,” Penemue Grigori, who serves as The Satanic Temple’s director of ministry, told The Tallahassee Democrat.
“Our ministers look forward to participating in opportunities to do good in the community, including the opportunities created by this bill, right alongside the clergy of other religions.”
Lucien Greaves, co-founder of The Satanic Temple, spoke out against what he described as the legislation’s attempt to allow a back door for religious instruction and “proselytizing evangelism” in Florida’s public schools, according to Fox News Digital.
“In an effort to dismiss concerns about bringing religious viewpoints into schools, advocates for chaplain bills have a scripted response that insists their interest is in merely providing additional ’emotional support’ for potentially troubled youth,” Greaves told the outlet.
“If that were true, they could simply be calling upon volunteers who hold licensure as counselors to offer their services in the schools in their communities.”
Greaves also said that school districts can expect legal action if satanic priests are prohibited from participating in the chaplain program, which would go into effect on July 1 and largely be left for individual districts to govern, according to local Fox 35.
“They should also not want to waste public funds on a lawsuit that’s certainly going to lose because of some superfluous effort to put chaplains in schools on a false rationale,” Greaves told the outlet.
Florida state Sen. Erin Grall, a Republican who represents Vero Beach, did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment but said she is concerned about the potential of satanic priests taking advantage of the legislation she sponsored.
“But I think that as soon as we get in the middle of defining what is religion and what is not, and whether or not someone can be available and be on a list, we start to run up to constitutional problems,” Grall said, according to The Tallahassee Democrat.
“So I think that us making sure that it’s open and available to anybody who wants to put themselves through the background screening, and let parents know they’re available for that service, is the best way to go,” she added.
The Satanic Temple, of course, doesn’t want chaplains in schools, at all. Only educated, credentialed people should be counseling students, especially during times of grief and tragedy. Why is it that Evangelical preachers rush to schools every time there is a mass shooting or other tragedy that causes the loss of student or teacher lives? What makes them qualified to provide counseling services?
Most Evangelical preachers are not educated, licensed counselors. Oh, they took a class or three in college about counseling or the evils of secular counseling or nouthetic (Bible-based) counseling, but lack the comprehensive training licensed social workers and psychologists have. Simply put, they are not qualified to be school counselors/chaplains.
The bills in Florida and Texas are attempts to infiltrate public schools with Evangelical dogma; to evangelize children and indoctrinate them in the teachings of the Bible. Much like Lifewise Academy’s infiltration of public schools with their Evangelical release time program, the goal is evangelization, and not genuinely helping people who are grieving or have other mental health needs. Certainly, some preachers are qualified to provide such services, BUT, it must be made clear to them that they must check their theology at the door. Help can be provided without preaching, quoting the Bible, or invitations to church on Sunday.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Christianity is a blood cult. Catholics (and Greek and Eastern Orthodox), for example, believe that when they partake of communion the elements supernaturally transform (transubstantiation) into the flesh and blood of Jesus. They are (literally) drinking and eating the blood and flesh of Jesus. Other sects such as Lutherans practice consubstantiation; the flesh and blood of Jesus are present in communion elements, but the elements do not supernaturally transform into the blood and flesh of Christ. Methodists, Presbyterians, and other protestant sects generally believe in the real presence of Jesus in the communion elements. Most Evangelicals practice memorialism. Communion is a memorial to the blood sacrifice and death of Jesus. It is a reminder of what Christ has done on our behalf on the cross.
Regardless of how the communion elements are viewed, the focus of the ritual is the shed blood of Jesus; his atonement for humankind’s sin. This is why Christianity is a blood cult, no different from sects that in the past or present either use animal or human blood in their worship practices. While Christian communion has become normalized, its history traces back to blood cult worship practices of Canaanite tribes.
Let’s suppose I start a church that is opposed to blood cult rituals; a church that views communion as an affront to all that is holy and true. Let’s suppose I wrote a Bible for this new church, one that said offering blood sacrifices to Jesus is a mortal sin and an affront to the one true god, Loki. Let’s suppose this church believes that Christian churches are cult temples, places where children are indoctrinated into believing nonsense such as transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or memorialism.
Believing these blood cult practices are a threat to the health and future of our country, this new church decides to vandalize Christian churches by spraying WARNING BLOOD CULT! DO NOT ENTER UNDER RISK OF ETERNAL DAMNATION! on the exteriors of their buildings. There is one true God, and Loki is his name! The Bible says __________! Surely, our vandalization of Christian church buildings would be justified, right? After all, we were just standing up for our God and the teachings of the “real” Bible. Shouldn’t religious beliefs trump everything, including laws governing vandalizing the property of others?
Americans with any understanding of the U.S. Constitution and our legal system will object, saying that it is never right to vandalize churches, even if one disagrees with their beliefs and practices. The Constitution grants Americans freedom of (and from) religion, regardless of beliefs and practices. In other words, Americans are free to believe crazy shit; and believe me, crackers and wine turning into flesh and blood of Jesus is “crazy shit,” as is the virgin birth, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the various “miracles” attributed to Jesus. Crazy stuff, to be sure, but people are free to believe as they wish.
You would think that Evangelicals (and conservative Catholics and Mormons) would be big defenders of the freedom of (and from) religion and the separation of church and state. Surely Evangelicals want the government and outsiders to stay out of their business; if they want to engage in blood cult rituals, they should have every right to do so. And I agree with them. If snake-handling Primitive Baptists in Kentucky want to handle rattlesnakes during their worship services, believing, according to Mark 16, that God will protect them if they are bitten, who am I to object? Evangelical churches do all sorts of stuff that outsiders might view as whack-a-doodle nonsense, but just because others can’t or won’t understand or accept a religious practice doesn’t mean Evangelicals should stop doing it.
Unfortunately, many Evangelicals give lip service to the First Amendment when it comes to religion. They want the freedom to practice their religion as they wish, yet they don’t want to grant that same right to non-Christian sects, pagans, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and Satanists (both those who worship Satan as a literal being and those who view him as symbol, as is the case with The Satanic Temple).
I am a member of The Satanic Temple. I support and applaud their work defending the separation of church and state. I appreciate their frontal assaults on Christian privilege. Christian churches and parachurch organizations have been abusing the U.S. Constitution my entire sixty-seven years on planet Earth. Wrongly thinking the U.S. is a Christian nation, Evangelicals, in particular, think Christianity should receive preferential treatment. They want the right to have release time programs at public schools such as Lifewise Academy, but don’t want non-Christian groups to have the same right. The Satanic Temple is challenging the preference and reverence public schools give Christian groups by sponsoring After School Satan Clubs for non-Christian children. Predictably, clueless to their own preferential treatment, Evangelicals and other conservative Christians are outraged over school boards permitting “Satan” in public schools.
This past week, we saw this played out in Iowa. The Iowa legislature allows groups to put up displays at the state’s Capitol. Evangelicals, of course, have put up creches and other pro-Christian displays. The Satanic Temple put up a display, one that featured a statute of Baphomet. Local Evangelicals were outraged over “Satan” making an appearance at the Capitol. One Christian, Michael Cassidy, vandalized the statute, removing its head and throwing it in the trashcan.
The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan, but none of the founders would have considered government sanction of Satanic altars inside Capitol buildings as protected by the First Amendment. Anti-Christian values have steadily been mainstreamed more and more in recent decades, and Christians have largely acted like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot of water. I saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged. My conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted.
Cassidy was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief. You would think that Evangelicals would condemn Cassidy’s criminal behavior, but that is not what has happened. Instead, Cassidy is being applauded for his stand against Satan and his defense of Biblical Christianity.
Cassidy’s actions, while in defiance of the Radical Two Kingdoms Ideology of many American evangelicals, are reminiscent of those of the 8th-century missionary Boniface. When confronted with the fact that the Saxons had cultivated a type of syncretism that allowed for the worship of Jesus as one of the many gods in the pantheon, Boniface took an axe to their theory, chopping down Thor’s tree, a pagan shrine, in an act that showed the impotence of the pluralistic pantheon of the Saxon’s. Rubbing the noses of the pagans in their idolatry, Boniface used the wood of Thor’s tree to construct a church.
While many of the “mostly peaceful protestors” of 2020 who destroyed statues escaped prosecution, it is likely that Michael Cassidy will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for his actions. The act of smashing idols in the Iowa Capital will undoubtedly be at the center of the “Christian Nationalism” debate in the days to come. However, one thing is certain: Baphomet, a mere creation of idolaters, is just as weak as Baal, and he won’t be defending himself or his adherents.
Good brothers are disagreeing about the moral and ethical particulars of what happened (almost as if the “Satan” stunt was designed to drive us even further apart), but we can confidently say both that the display was not actually about the real Satan and that Iowa lawmakers should never have gullibly approved of its display.
In our free speech legal tradition, citizens are not discriminated against by not having open access to put up displays in a government building, nor are their rights violated by seeing a display that they disagree with or find offensive, even in a government building. Speech is not violence. The “Satanic” Temple’s identity as a religion is itself a lie, and their adoption of Satan (who is real and has a defined moral identity) is itself a promotion of lawlessness and evil. Our country does not recognize a right to lie nor a right to openly advocate for lawlessness, and Iowa lawmakers should have rejected the group’s childish display as the silly stunt that it was.
As believers, we know that idols and idolatrous displays (much like the food sacrificed to them) have no power. They cannot harm us. In this case, the goofy display of Baphomet put up by the “Satan” group merely joined the chorus of offensive expressions against God that believers are subjected to daily. It is proper that we are offended when we hear or see expression offensive to God, yet in this case we should also be offended by the lack of courage and/or competence of lawmakers who fail to understand that expression cannot be disconnected from meaning.
Much like we are morally obligated to the objectivity of language by insisting (for example) that “male” and “female” correspond to biological reality, a group that identifies with “Satan” should bear the identity of all that Satan implies. They do not get to redefine it, and they don’t get to troll everyone with Satanic idols and then claim “Why you mad, Bro?” non-theism as soon as everyone reacts as if they are truly overtly worshipping Satan. It was a lie, and Iowa lawmakers were stupid for going along with it.
Incidents like this are far more useful to the enemies of Christ than to his people. We were already outraged at the display and at the lawmakers who allowed it. While less consequential, a conservative Christian destroying property to “awaken Christians to government promotion of anti-Christian acts” (despite the categorical difference between allowing expression and endorsing it) is judicially identical to tearing down a statue of Mary outside a Catholic church or spraypainting “Christ is Lord” on the side of a Mosque. It gives fuel to the enemies of Christ by granting undue influence to those seeking to marginalize the Gospel as a message that needs violence and censorship to advance.
The display in question featured a statue of Baphomet, a demonic figure that has long been associated with various occult and mystical traditions and is often interpreted as a symbol of Satan. This particular statue’s presence in a state capitol was a deliberate attempt by the Satanic Temple to assert their “rights” under the First Amendment.
Cassidy, however, took it upon himself to tear down this idol, a brazen embodiment of anti-Christian sentiment, and behead the silver ram’s head of the statue. According to Cassidy, it was a statement about a religion, Christianity, that is under siege in places where it should be respected.
….
This statue of Baphomet, a demonic figure, wasn’t merely an expression of artistic freedom—it was a calculated affront, a provocative act designed to incense and belittle the Christian community. The mere presence of such a symbol in a government building is a mockery of our nation’s Christian heritage—a heritage that has been the cornerstone of our moral and ethical compass.
….
While Cassidy’s actions have led to legal repercussions, with him facing charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief, his bold stand has resonated with many. The financial support pouring in to cover his legal fees is a testament to the widespread support for his cause—a cause rooted in the defense of faith against the encroachment of sacrilegious mockery.
In times like these, where the lines between right and wrong are blurred by the brushstrokes of political correctness and cultural relativism, it takes the courage of men like Michael Cassidy to remind us of the values we stand for. His actions, while controversial, demonstrate that there are still those who are willing to take a stand against the tide of secularism and sacrilege.
As the legal proceedings unfold, Cassidy’s stand at the Iowa State Capitol will undoubtedly continue to spark debate and discussion. But one thing remains clear, his actions have become a symbol of resistance, a resistance against the encroachment of blasphemous symbols in spaces that should honor our nation’s foundational values. Michael Cassidy’s story is not just about a legal battle, for many, it’s about the battle for the soul of a nation.
In an act of religious conviction, Michael Cassidy, a Christian and former military officer, recently tore down and beheaded a controversial Satanic altar at the Iowa Capitol. The display had already sparked ongoing debate about the role of religious displays in public spaces and the limits of free speech.
In comments exclusively provided to The Sentinel, Cassidy said that he destroyed the shrine to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.” He cited 1 John 3:8 as an additional motivation for his actions: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Some have questioned whether the Constitution or the original intent of the founding fathers would allow for the existence of the shrine. Andrew Walker, an associate professor of Christian ethics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, argued that the state should not promote any “outright celebration of evil, darkness and perversity” and that “moral evil has no intrinsic rights” within a Christian and historically Western legal framework.
Cassidy will be represented by Davis Younts, an attorney and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who served in the JAG Corps. “My client was motivated by his faith to peacefully protest a display that is a direct affront to God,” Younts told The Sentinel. “When others, including elected leaders, were unwilling to act, he peacefully removed the display. It is my hope that the citation will be dismissed when my client’s actions are understood and that he will not face prosecution because of his faith.”
Cassidy’s actions mirror King Hezekiah’s in the Bible when he tore down the High Places. Second Kings 18:4 says, “He removed the high places, broke the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and crushed the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had made offerings to it.” Like King Hezekiah, Cassidy felt compelled to take action against abominable idols that were abominable to the Lord in whom they both trust.
These Evangelicals make it clear that Cassidy was justified in vandalizing the statute. Why? It was an affront to Christianity; a mockery of the faith of millions of Americans. Should any of us be permitted to vandalize and destroy anything that offends our personal beliefs, religious or otherwise? Of course not, but the Evangelicals quoted above think otherwise. If Evangelicals can behead “Satanic” statutes or destroy the holiday displays put up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, why can’t I and my aforementioned new church spray in bright red letters WARNING BLOOD CULT! DO NOT ENTER UNDER RISK OF ETERNAL DAMNATION! on the front of Evangelical churches? Surely “freedom” of religion applies to everyone, does it not?
Numerous Evangelical leaders and politicians have said that constitutional protections of religious expression and practice don’t apply to The Satanic Temple; and that the United States is a Christian nation. Presidential hopeful and professional asshole Ron DeSantis stated: “Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government.”
We don’t want to yield some kind of power to the government to begin picking and choosing between religious groups. People might hate us and people might want to exclude us, but that simply opens the door to more sectarian battles, and it certainly won’t stop there.
These pro-vandalization Christians think the law applies to non-believers, but not them; that the criminal destruction of the property of others is justified if personal Christian beliefs are offended.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Everyone goes through something of a satanist phase. Maybe you drew “666” on your Converses and your youth pastor had to sit down and have a talk with you. Maybe you read a book about Anton LeVay and thought, “Hey, the dude had a few good ideas.” Or maybe you just spent a lot of time scaring other patrons at Hot Topic. But the ladies and gentlemen featured in the trailer for Hail Satan?, a documentary premiering in theaters on April 19th, take their love for all things Beelzebub more than a few steps further.
Directed by filmmaker Penny Lane (Our Nixon), Hail Satan? follows the lives of members of the Satanic Temple, a church/political activist group with multiple chapters across the United States. Founded in 2012, the Satanic Temple was originally launched as something of a PR stunt, though it’s grown into something of a political force to be reckoned with.
In the trailer for the documentary, members of the Satanic Temple fight for the construction of a monument to the goat demon Baphomet outside the Arkansas State Capitol building, much to the chagrin of Arkansas residents. They seem all too eager to combat stereotypes associated with devil worship, portraying themselves as bright-eyed, bushy-tailed activists staunchly committed to principles of religious freedom. “I believe that confronting injustice is an expression of my satanic faith,” one member of the temple says.
That said, members of the Satanic Temple are not at all averse to trolling: when a heckler shouts, “You’re gonna go to hell!,” a man in Baphomet garb flashes a smug grin. “I believe it,” he says, “and I’m excited about it.”
As attendance declines at Christian churches all over America, many Satanic groups are experiencing tremendous growth. For some, embracing Satanism is the ultimate form of rebellion, for others it is about making an anti-Trump political statement, and yet others claim that they are attracted by the very real power that they discover in Satanism.
Every week, bizarre rituals are conducted in basements, meeting halls and public facilities all over the country, and most Americans have absolutely no idea what is going on. Of course, most mainstream news articles about Satanists attempt to portray them as ordinary people who have simply been “misunderstood.” And ultimately that is what the Satanists are trying to do for Satan—they are trying to get all the rest of us to view Satan or Lucifer as a “misunderstood” being that only has humanity’s best interests at heart. And since the values of Satanism line up more accurately with the values of modern society than Christian values do, Satanists are finding increasing success in bringing in new recruits.
Today, there are Satanic churches just about everywhere.
….
Well, there is not a single national organization, but all major Satanic groups have claimed large increases in membership since the election of Donald Trump.
In particular, the Satanic Temple reported gaining “thousands” of new members within the first 36 hours of Trump’s victory…
The Satanic Temple attracted “thousands” of new members in just the first 36 hours after the election of Donald Trump, according to co-founder Lucien Greaves. The 4-year-old temple, which had a pre-Trump membership of around 50,000, has never before seen a spike in registration nearly this big.
“It’s crazy,” Greaves said after a speech in front of some adoring fans at CU-Boulder. The emails, registrations, donations and social media posts are pouring in faster than the temple can respond. “People have a desperate need for something to rally to right now.”
Right now, membership in the Satanic Temple is somewhere around 100,000, and it has become a hub for the anti-Trump resistance.
Of course most have joined various Satanic groups for spiritual reasons. Today there is a tremendous spiritual hunger in America, but Americans are also leaving traditional churches at a staggering pace. People are looking for authenticity, but they aren’t finding it in the traditional places, and so many are seeking out new options.
Unfortunately, an increasing number of Americans are deciding that Satanism is the answer, and that is a very, very troubling sign.
