The Devil's in Detroit: Fiery Fuss Over Separation of (Satan's) Church and State

A new sect of Satanists in Detroit advocate for the placement of this statue of Baphomet alongside a Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol. (Photo: The Satanic Temple Facebook page)

_____

There’s a fiery political fuss going on among metro Detroit Satanists about something going on more than 1,000 miles and a better than half day’s drive away.

Before The Satanic Temple-Detroit, a sect of politically inclined atheists, announced the religion’s first chapter house in Detroit last month, there wasn’t much argument over whether Satanists should get involved in politics. The constitutional guidelines are the same as for Christianity and other reglions:

“Never the twain shall meet.”

That’s how things rolled with Satanists at the metro-based Temples of Satan – where Satan is celebrated as a deity, blood is exchanged in marriage ceremonies, and goat and other animal sacrifices are part of rituals.

The Rev. Tom Erik Raspotnik, the Temples of Satan leader, told the Detroit Free Press he’s a pro-life supporter and tea party supporter, but he keeps his religious and political lives separate.

Enter the upstart Satanic Temple, the group that wants to install a statue of Baphomet – the goat-headed idol of the occult, depicted by the sculptor with two small children – alongside one displaying the Ten Commandments at the Oklahoma State Capitol, the Metro Times reports.

The group, which announced plans for the monument in January as a protest against the Ten Commandments monument installed in 2012, downplays Satan and focuses more on free speech and religion issues.

That irks Temples of Satan member Cindy Fleming, who said it’s hypocritical for the avowed atheists of The Satanic Temple to pin their political arguments on religious doctrine.

“An atheist is what?” Fleming told the Free Press. “They don’t believe in anything, any religion – so why are they using a religion to do it? That is hypocritical, it’s an oxymoron and it’s not even credible.”

On that, the Temples of Satan – which only has about 20 members and gathers for worship at Raspotnik’s home – gets agreement from the larger and more widely known Church of Satan, which claims to have thousands of members worldwide.

Atheists as well, members of that sect see morals and values as subjective human constructions, according to its website. In an email to the Free Press, High Priest Magus Peter Gilmore said the church sees “nothing of value” in participating in the fight over the Oklahoma City monument.

So far, the more than 100 letters, petitions and audio files supporting the Baphomet installation have been met with bewilderment, anger and tears. The fires were fanned some when a spokesman for The Satanic Temple described the monument as “a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation,” according to The Washington Post.

Some who defend the Ten Commandments monument say they’d rather take a sledgehammer to it than see the statue of Baphomet alongside it.

That would end the push to install the edifice, 32-year-old “Jex Blackmore,” who is part of The Satanic Temple’s executive ministry, told the Free Press.

Jex Blackmore is a pseudonym, which church members are encouraged to adopt because of numerous death threats, Doug Mesner, who calls himself “Lucien Greaves,” told the Metro Times.

Both men doubted Raspotnik’s claim of membership and Twitter followers number in the thousands, and called him an “antagonist” battling for power. Even one of the world’s foremost authorities on Satanism had never heard of Temples of Satan.

But, Jesper Aagaard Petersen, an expert on the topic and associate professor of religious education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway, told the Free Press, there have been a number of “small theistic groups popping up online, with few members and a vocal leader.”

As the fight brews in Oklahoma, The Satanic Temple is looking to establish itself in metro Detroit with its flagship partner house. Mesner, who is from the Detroit area, said chose the Motor City for the first chapter in part because of its gritty underdog reputation, as well as tradition for nurturing a rebellious underground community of artists.

It’s unclear whether the group will have a public community center-type facility, or something more cloistered if that’s necessary for members’ safety, Blackmore told the Metro Times.