There are not a lot of Americans who identify as Satanists. When researchers compile assessments of the national religious landscape, Satanists are included in the “other” category, when they’re included at all.
It is likely that no other religiously oriented group has as high a percentage of members motivated by what might be called negative religiosity, involvement predicated primarily on serving as a response to other religious groups. Many members, no doubt, believe sincerely in the precepts of the ideology. Many others, we can assume, enjoy being part of a group that is a source of frustration to the large Christian majority in the United States.
When, for example, the Satanic Temple posts a display in the Iowa Capitol — a “holiday” display — the intent is clear.
“We’re going to really relish the opportunity to be represented in a public forum,” a leader of the organization, Lucien Greaves, told a local television news reporter. “We don’t have a church on every street corner.”
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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) was not happy about the display, which depicts a mirror-covered ram’s head over a body cloaked in scarlet.
“Like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable,” she said in a statement. “In a free society, the best response to objectionable speech is more speech, and I encourage all those of faith to join me today in praying over the Capitol and recognizing the Nativity scene that will be on display — the true reason for the season.”
Greaves — or, at least, any members of his organization interested in jabbing the Christian majority — couldn’t have asked for a better response. Reynolds admits to being annoyed by it: check. She offers the sort of official endorsement of Christianity that groups like Greaves find objectionable: check. It’s a response you’d expect from a Republican governor of a red state, if only because of the expectations of the base, but it is nonetheless one that the temple can count as a victory.
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But then it got better.
During a town hall event hosted by CNN on Tuesday evening, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was asked by host Jake Tapper whether the display should be allowed to remain. Ultimately, DeSantis stated that, if a similar display were proposed for his state’s Capitol, he’d have blocked it, taking the group to court if necessary.
He also tried to use the issue as a cudgel against his opponent in his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“I heard this,” he said of the display. “And then, I was like, ‘Well how did it get there? Is that even a religion?’ And lo and behold, the Trump administration gave them approval, to be under the IRS, as a religion. So, that gave them the legal ability to potentially do it.”
Tapper noted that this was, in broad strokes, accurate: The IRS in 2019 granted the organization recognition as a “church or a convention or association of churches.” This does not mean that the decision was a function of then-President Donald Trump’s intervention, by any means, but, of course, DeSantis was happy to draw that line.
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“I don’t think that was the right decision,” he said. “Satanic as a religion? That’s wrong.”
This is not a robust attack. But there’s a reason that DeSantis is looping his opponent into the issue, beyond the expected politicking at play: DeSantis was endorsed by Reynolds, and numerous Trump supporters were quick to tie him, her and Satan into a neat little bundle. He’s pivoting on the Satanism issue, if you will, doing a little rhetorical judo to swing criticism of his ally into criticism of his opponent.
It’s useful to remember that this discussion occurs at a time when Republicans are more likely to say that Christians face discrimination in the United States than they are to say that Jewish or Muslim people do, more likely than they are to say that Black people do. Republicans are predisposed to view Christianity as under attack, so it’s potent to rise to the dominant religion’s defense. Particularly if you want to win votes from the overwhelmingly Christian Republican voting base.
Still, though, this is a big victory for the Satanic Temple. Here we are, talking about its display and talking (however indirectly) about its tenets. Here we are, noting the uncertainty surrounding Reynolds’s embrace of one particular religious faith. And here we are, talking about how the IRS under Trump granted them their desired designation.
Sometimes, trolling works.
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