Satan Plans to Meet Cruz at Michigan Capitol

• Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

Remember how Jesus beat Satan to Lansing last year in a First Amendment skirmish over religious freedom on the Michigan state Capitol grounds?

It’s the same fight this year, but with a national profile.

The campaign of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who has been courting evangelicals in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, announced its plans for a live Nativity scene on the Capitol lawn to run from 6-9 p.m. on Dec. 12.

In a news release, Satanic Temple of Detroit director Jex Blackmore said the group plans to return its “Snaketivity” display to Lansing this month.

“The overriding message in our holiday display, and many of the Satanic Temple’s public activities, is one of plurality and religious liberty,” Blackmore said in a written statement. “We have no interest in proselytizing Satanism to the public. However, we refuse to allow one religious perspective (to) dominate the discourse.”

Wendy Day, state director for the Cruz campaign, said in a statement the display will make a stand for “religious liberty and for life.”

“Jesus was an unplanned pregnancy, at least unplanned by Mary and Joseph, and changed the world,” Day said.

The announcement that the Satanic Temple plans to return wasn’t the news John Truscott had been hoping for, according to MLive.com.

Truscott is a member of the Michigan Capitol Commission, which reviews requests for displays on the Capitol grounds.

“They turned my life upside down last year,” Truscott said, but he acknowledged the group has the same constitutional free speech rights as other groups and individuals planning displays and rallies.

“They’re allowed to express that speech,” he said. “We do have rules that govern how and when and how long, and as long as people comply, they have the right to do it.”

The Satanic Temple also planned to attend a Wednesday Rally for Religious Liberty sponsored by the Christian group Salt & Light Global, one of a handful of religious events planned on the Capitol grounds this holiday season.

Others include a Hanukkah display sponsored by Rep. Mike Coulton, R-Nashville, on Dec. 7, and a Christmas Nativity sponsored by Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, on Dec. 9.

William Wagner, Salt & Earth president, didn’t comment specifically on The Satanic Temple’s plan to attend the rally, but told The Detroit Free Press the event was a public forum on public property.

“It’s about the First Amendment, and the First Amendment is a limitation on the exercise of government power against the press and against expressions of religious conscience and other kinds of expressions, and that limitation on the exercise of government power protects the press and protects expressions of religious conscience of all kind,” Wagner said.

Related

• Satanic Holiday Display Approved for Michigan Capitol Grounds
• Jesus Steals Christmas Back From Satan
• Satanists: ‘Snaketivity’ Not About Killing Christmas

» Patch photo illustration using photos from Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons and The Satanic Temple of Detroit