Satanic Temple statue unveiled at the Arkansas State Capitol

KATV.com ^ | 8/16/2018 | Katie Clement

[simpson96]

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Dozens attended a rally held by the Satanic Temple at the Arkansas State Capitol on Thursday.

The rally comes after the Arkansas legislature approved the placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds.

During the Satanic Temple's Rally for the First Amendment, a more than 8-feet-tall Baphomet statue was unveiled.

Those against the rally also attended, telling KATV they had hoped to spread God's love.

Following the installation of the Ten Commandments monument, the Satanic Temple filed a lawsuit to have its statue placed on the same grounds in the name of religious pluralism and the First Amendment.

During the 2017 legislative session, the Satanic Temple sent a letter to Arkansas legislators asking for lawmakers to sponsor a bill that would allow a Baphomet statue on Capitol grounds, but not one lawmaker responded.

The rally had five speakers, including the Satanic Temple's spokesperson and co-founder, and was held at the Arkansas State Capitol from 1 to 3 p.m.(snip)

Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert released the following statement in response to the scheduled protest:

[WMarshal]

It didn’t take the satanist much effort to get that statue of the devil there, they just had to wheel it on over from the Clinton library.

[WMarshal]

“To be fair, it was only displayed for a few hours. There is no resolution for the permanent display of such obscenity.”

You’re right about that however, how much money does it take to cast an 8 1/2 foot statue in bronze? There are some seriously sick rich people in this country. We need to identify, prosecute, and in prison these types of Satanic animals.

[Jacquerie]

Yes. Quite right. Its just difficult to think that demon worship can be given the same consideration as the ten big ones.

[blueplum]

I imagine the only people I’d be ticking off would be the crazy pagans. Once they come back with a ‘culturally sensitive’ statue, complain it’s pickone:black, yellow, brown, white, and so racist. And it still has to have a plaque acknowledging The Creator who cast evil out. Spend enough of their money and they’ll give up. Tell them ‘no’ and they sue which costs the city money. Which brings out lottery copycats. I’m just pushing back their own tactics on them - death by a thousand civil code violations - each with its own court costs.