MY FAVORITE SATANISTS
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Thursday, December 14, 2023
The Satanic Temple to launch ‘After School Satan Club’ at Memphis elementary school
Lawrencia Grose
Tue, December 12, 2023
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — The Satanic Temple plans to host its “After School Satan Club” at Chimneyrock Elementary School in Cordova.
The club will start the program on January 10 in the school’s library and run through the spring semester, according to an announcement posted on Facebook Tuesday morning.
The Satanic Temple claims to be a non-theistic religion that views Satan as a figure who represents “championing the human mind and spirit.” The group says the club does not attempt to convert children to any religious ideology. The clubs began nationwide in 2020.
They said there will be various activities centered around the Seven Fundamental Tenets, including science and community service projects, puzzles and games, nature activities, and arts and crafts.
After School Satan Clubs gain popularity amid legal victories
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It’s the organization’s fifth active club in the nation. Campaign Director June Everett said it started after she was contacted by MSCS parents expressing interest.
“Members of the satanic temple are not theistic satanists, so they don’t believe in an actual real satan,” Everett said.
She explained that the club can only operate in schools that have other religious clubs, so like-minded people can come together. She said they don’t actually discuss Satanic teachings, but they do activities that are inspired by Satanic beliefs.
“We can take Satan and view Satan as this creature and this character however we want. We don’t have to believe Satan as this evil deity. We can view Satan as we wish and that’s exactly what we do,” Everett said.
But parents like Dennis said they still aren’t comfortable.
“I feel that if possible, maybe a community center or something like that would be more fit. I don’t feel it should be in the scene where they learn. If they don’t want prayer in the schools, they shouldn’t have this satan club,” she said.
WREG reached out to Memphis-Shelby County Schools for a statement regarding the group’s attendance at Chimneyrock Elementary.
A district spokesperson said MSCS facilities are rented out to several organizations.
For instance, the Good News Club meets at Chimneyrock Elementary weekly, the spokesperson said. That group’s website describes the program as “a clear presentation of the Gospel and an opportunity for children to trust Jesus as savior.”
The following message was sent to parents by MSCS:
“We understand that some of you have questions regarding the recent approval of a facility rental to The Satanic Temple, a federally recognized non-profit organization.
As a public school district, we’re committed to upholding the principles of the First Amendment, which guarantees equal access to all non-profit organizations seeking to use our facilities after school hours. This means we cannot approve or deny an organization’s request based solely on its viewpoints or beliefs.
Board Policy 7002 outlines this commitment, allowing community groups and government entities to rent school property outside of school hours. These gatherings are not school-sponsored and are not endorsed or promoted by Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
The Satanic Temple, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public charity, falls under this policy and has the same legal rights to use our facilities after school hours as any other non-profit organization. It will be renting the facility in January, after school. You may read more about the organization in an online news story from the Washington Post.
We understand that this topic may raise questions. Thank you for your understanding and continued partnership.“
Some parents we spoke with discussed the possibility of removing their children from the district because of this.
Meanwhile, as the school mentioned, the club is protected under First Amendment rights, so they must allow it to move forward.
Lawrencia Grose
Tue, December 12, 2023
.jpg)
The club will start the program on January 10 in the school’s library and run through the spring semester, according to an announcement posted on Facebook Tuesday morning.
The Satanic Temple claims to be a non-theistic religion that views Satan as a figure who represents “championing the human mind and spirit.” The group says the club does not attempt to convert children to any religious ideology. The clubs began nationwide in 2020.
They said there will be various activities centered around the Seven Fundamental Tenets, including science and community service projects, puzzles and games, nature activities, and arts and crafts.
After School Satan Clubs gain popularity amid legal victories
The news spread around local social media Tuesday, with some parents expressing concern.
” … can’t talk about god in school or pray but can have a satan in the school the worlds coming to an end y’all better get ready,” wrote Facebook user Barryand Ashley Busby.
Others were more supportive.
“I say this as an open-minded Christian, if they can have Bible Studies at the school, then they should be able to do this as well,” wrote Bee Givens.
Will the Memphis area get snow this year? Not likely, NWS says
Parents of students at Chimneyrock Elementary were alarmed and concerned after the flyer announcing the new after school club began making the rounds.
“If we don’t want God in schools, we definitely don’t need or want Satan in schools,” said Felicia Dennis. “Me and my whole family, we attend church. So this was a big shocker for me for this to be coming to my daughter’s school.”
” … can’t talk about god in school or pray but can have a satan in the school the worlds coming to an end y’all better get ready,” wrote Facebook user Barryand Ashley Busby.
Others were more supportive.
“I say this as an open-minded Christian, if they can have Bible Studies at the school, then they should be able to do this as well,” wrote Bee Givens.
Will the Memphis area get snow this year? Not likely, NWS says
Parents of students at Chimneyrock Elementary were alarmed and concerned after the flyer announcing the new after school club began making the rounds.
“If we don’t want God in schools, we definitely don’t need or want Satan in schools,” said Felicia Dennis. “Me and my whole family, we attend church. So this was a big shocker for me for this to be coming to my daughter’s school.”
.jpg)
It’s the organization’s fifth active club in the nation. Campaign Director June Everett said it started after she was contacted by MSCS parents expressing interest.
“Members of the satanic temple are not theistic satanists, so they don’t believe in an actual real satan,” Everett said.
She explained that the club can only operate in schools that have other religious clubs, so like-minded people can come together. She said they don’t actually discuss Satanic teachings, but they do activities that are inspired by Satanic beliefs.
“We can take Satan and view Satan as this creature and this character however we want. We don’t have to believe Satan as this evil deity. We can view Satan as we wish and that’s exactly what we do,” Everett said.
But parents like Dennis said they still aren’t comfortable.
“I feel that if possible, maybe a community center or something like that would be more fit. I don’t feel it should be in the scene where they learn. If they don’t want prayer in the schools, they shouldn’t have this satan club,” she said.
WREG reached out to Memphis-Shelby County Schools for a statement regarding the group’s attendance at Chimneyrock Elementary.
A district spokesperson said MSCS facilities are rented out to several organizations.
For instance, the Good News Club meets at Chimneyrock Elementary weekly, the spokesperson said. That group’s website describes the program as “a clear presentation of the Gospel and an opportunity for children to trust Jesus as savior.”
The following message was sent to parents by MSCS:
“We understand that some of you have questions regarding the recent approval of a facility rental to The Satanic Temple, a federally recognized non-profit organization.
As a public school district, we’re committed to upholding the principles of the First Amendment, which guarantees equal access to all non-profit organizations seeking to use our facilities after school hours. This means we cannot approve or deny an organization’s request based solely on its viewpoints or beliefs.
Board Policy 7002 outlines this commitment, allowing community groups and government entities to rent school property outside of school hours. These gatherings are not school-sponsored and are not endorsed or promoted by Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
The Satanic Temple, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public charity, falls under this policy and has the same legal rights to use our facilities after school hours as any other non-profit organization. It will be renting the facility in January, after school. You may read more about the organization in an online news story from the Washington Post.
We understand that this topic may raise questions. Thank you for your understanding and continued partnership.“
Some parents we spoke with discussed the possibility of removing their children from the district because of this.
Meanwhile, as the school mentioned, the club is protected under First Amendment rights, so they must allow it to move forward.
Kim Reynolds calls Iowa Capitol satanic display 'objectionable,' encourages Iowans to pray
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
Updated Wed, December 13, 2023
Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa State Capitol.
Gov. Kim Reynolds is encouraging Iowans to pray over the Capitol building in response to a satanic display set up in the rotunda, which she called "absolutely objectionable."
"Like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable," Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement Tuesday. "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."
The Satanic Temple of Iowa received permission to erect an altar on the first floor of the Capitol building, alongside other more traditional Nativity displays that groups can apply to set up in the building each year.
More: Iowa lawmaker calls for Gov. Kim Reynolds to remove satanic display from Capitol
The satanic display includes what are described online as the "seven fundamental tenets" of Satanism, including the statement that "the freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend."
Completing the display are the temple's seal, electric candles and a caped figure representing the pagan idol Baphomet, holding a ribbon-bedecked pentangle and topped with a gilded ram's head.
The display has sparked outrage from Republican lawmakers. State Rep. Brad Sherman, R-Williamsburg, called it unconstitutional and called for it to be taken down.
Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa State Capitol.
Others, like Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, said the display is objectionable but said "I don't want the state evaluating and making determinations about religions. I am guided by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
Reynolds' statement calls on Iowans to recognize the Christian Nativity scene that has been put on display at the Capitol, calling it "the true reason for the season."
On Tuesday afternoon, Reynolds shared images on social media of herself and other Iowans praying in the Capitol rotunda near the Nativity scene.
"Today, faithful Iowans gathered in the Capitol rotunda to display the Nativity and pray for peace," she wrote on social media. "Free speech is a right afforded to all. But how we use it matters. Today’s event is proof that in the battle between good and evil, good will always prevail."
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds criticizes satanic altar at Iowa Capitol, asks for prayer
'Disgusting' Satanic Temple display at state capitol in Iowa sparks free speech battle
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez and Noelle Alviz-Gransee,
The controversy began bubbling last week after a group that calls itself the Satanic Temple of Iowa placed with state permission a small altar on the first floor of the Iowa State Capitol. It displays what are described online as the "seven fundamental tenets" of Satanism, including the statement that "the freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend."
Completing the display are the temple's seal, electric candles and a caped figure representing the pagan idol Baphomet, holding a ribbon-bedecked pentangle and topped with a gilded ram's head.
Outrage and demands for removal came swiftly.
Iowa state Rep. Brad Sherman said in the Dec. 8 edition of his Sherman Liberty Letter that the "disgusting display" should be removed immediately and called "for clarifying legislation to be adopted in accordance with our State Constitution that prohibits satanic displays in our Capitol building and on all state owned property."
He further proposed additional legislation to clear the way for displaying the Ten Commandments in all state buildings, including the Capitol, and in Iowa public schools.
The Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa Capitol.
Sherman says the exhibit has drawn widespread "outrage and disgust" among Iowans, "but few people think there is much that can be legally done about it because of free speech and freedom of religion."
"However," he adds, "I disagree."
Satanic Temple founder: Ignore display if it offends you
Lucien Greaves, spokesman and co-founder of the Satanic Temple, said it is always important for the group to seek equal representation in public forums that are open for religious displays.
"People assume that we're there to insult Christians and we're not," Greaves said. "And I would hope that even people who disagree with the symbolism behind our values, whether they know what those values (are) or not, would at least appreciate that it's certainly a greater evil to allow the government to pick and choose between forms of religious expression."
Greaves said individuals are not being forced to interact with the display and don't have to engage with it.
The Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa Capitol.
Satanic display 'objectionable' but not illegal, some say
But Sherman, a pastor, may not have wholehearted support from other Republican legislators in Iowa, some of whom say they would oppose the government limiting freedom of speech in reaction to the display, which will be in place for a total of two weeks.
State Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, and on Facebook has tried to explain why the display was allowed. He's experienced considerable blowback in response, though he says that as an ordained minister and "as a follower of Christ, I certainly find a display from the Satanic Temple objectionable."
He says those who put up the display followed all the rules required to do so, adding that "the current operating principle has been to either allow all displays or none."
The Legislature can try to change those rules, he says, but "my observation as an Iowan and a State Representative, I don’t want the state evaluating and making determinations about religions. I am guided by the First Amendment of the US Constitution."
"The display is an inanimate object that has no real power in and of itself. We have nothing to fear," he says, adding that "the primary response required is prayer."
'I think this is a test' of allegiance to free speech
State Rep. Brad Sherman, R-Williamsburg, speaks with state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, on the House floor at the Iowa Capitol.
Dunwell calls for reviewing the guidelines for displays "to ensure they represent our constitutional rights"; monitoring the number of organizations that request displays to prevent the Capitol from being "overwhelmed" by them; and continuing "to dialogue with other elected officials and Iowans on this issue."
Dunwell, in a posting Sunday, pushed back at responses condemning his position.
"I would rather have an evil blasphemous display or no display at all than have the state dictate what they think is appropriate," he says, adding he has been "SHOCKED so many want to give up their freedom, so they don’t have to see a display they disagree with."
Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Crawford County, said that while he agrees with Sherman on a philosophical level, he believes Iowans have the right to disagree about religion. In an interview, he said decisions about civil liberties can't just be based on the state constitution alone.
"We also have the federal constitution, we have the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, (which) are just foundational values of our country… So while I totally hold a total disdain anything that this organization stands for, I nonetheless believe they have the constitutionally protected right to put up the display," he said.
Holt said that in the time he has been in office, many atheist displays as well as Nativity scenes have been erected in the Capitol. Nativities periodically have been displayed in the Capitol at least since 2016, when the Freedom from Religion Foundation responded with a "Nativity" for the Bill of Rights.
"I think this is a test," Holt said of the current satanic display. "I think this is really a test of just how, how strong your allegiance is to the Constitution and the concepts of free speech and free religion. It's easy to say you believe in those things when the speech is not that objectionable to you. But when the speech is really, really highly objectionable and offensive, unless it otherwise breaks the law, are you going to stand up for the constitutional rights of others or are you not?"
Staff writer Katie Akin contributed to this article.
Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her on X @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com. Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter. Reach her atvreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or on X @VictoriaReynaR.
More: Parents in a Connecticut town worry as 'After School Satan Club' plans meeting
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Satanic Temple display at state capitol sparks free speech debate
The Des Moines Register
Opinion
Letters: Satanic display at Iowa Capitol is inappropriate
The Register's readers
Wed, December 13, 2023
Satanic display at Capitol is inappropriate
The Constitution says that Americans have the right to freedom of religion or no religion at all. It does not suggest or say that any religion must associate itself with or worship any divine being. Satanic worship has been practiced for a very long time.
The governor of Iowa has allowed satanic displays in the Iowa Capitol. At a time when many Americans are celebrating the birth of Christ, it seems a bit odd that the display of satanic figures is allowed at the same time. The month of October might be more appropriate for the display. I personally feel that it is not appropriate at any time.
Galen Bral, Manilla
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Satanic display at Capitol is inappropriate
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
Updated Wed, December 13, 2023
Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa State Capitol.
Gov. Kim Reynolds is encouraging Iowans to pray over the Capitol building in response to a satanic display set up in the rotunda, which she called "absolutely objectionable."
"Like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable," Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement Tuesday. "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."
The Satanic Temple of Iowa received permission to erect an altar on the first floor of the Capitol building, alongside other more traditional Nativity displays that groups can apply to set up in the building each year.
More: Iowa lawmaker calls for Gov. Kim Reynolds to remove satanic display from Capitol
The satanic display includes what are described online as the "seven fundamental tenets" of Satanism, including the statement that "the freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend."
Completing the display are the temple's seal, electric candles and a caped figure representing the pagan idol Baphomet, holding a ribbon-bedecked pentangle and topped with a gilded ram's head.
The display has sparked outrage from Republican lawmakers. State Rep. Brad Sherman, R-Williamsburg, called it unconstitutional and called for it to be taken down.
Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa State Capitol.
Others, like Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, said the display is objectionable but said "I don't want the state evaluating and making determinations about religions. I am guided by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
Reynolds' statement calls on Iowans to recognize the Christian Nativity scene that has been put on display at the Capitol, calling it "the true reason for the season."
On Tuesday afternoon, Reynolds shared images on social media of herself and other Iowans praying in the Capitol rotunda near the Nativity scene.
"Today, faithful Iowans gathered in the Capitol rotunda to display the Nativity and pray for peace," she wrote on social media. "Free speech is a right afforded to all. But how we use it matters. Today’s event is proof that in the battle between good and evil, good will always prevail."
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds criticizes satanic altar at Iowa Capitol, asks for prayer
'Disgusting' Satanic Temple display at state capitol in Iowa sparks free speech battle
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez and Noelle Alviz-Gransee,
USA TODAY NETWORK
Updated Tue, December 12, 2023
Updated Tue, December 12, 2023
The controversy began bubbling last week after a group that calls itself the Satanic Temple of Iowa placed with state permission a small altar on the first floor of the Iowa State Capitol. It displays what are described online as the "seven fundamental tenets" of Satanism, including the statement that "the freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend."
Completing the display are the temple's seal, electric candles and a caped figure representing the pagan idol Baphomet, holding a ribbon-bedecked pentangle and topped with a gilded ram's head.
Outrage and demands for removal came swiftly.
Iowa state Rep. Brad Sherman said in the Dec. 8 edition of his Sherman Liberty Letter that the "disgusting display" should be removed immediately and called "for clarifying legislation to be adopted in accordance with our State Constitution that prohibits satanic displays in our Capitol building and on all state owned property."
He further proposed additional legislation to clear the way for displaying the Ten Commandments in all state buildings, including the Capitol, and in Iowa public schools.
The Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa Capitol.
Sherman says the exhibit has drawn widespread "outrage and disgust" among Iowans, "but few people think there is much that can be legally done about it because of free speech and freedom of religion."
"However," he adds, "I disagree."
Satanic Temple founder: Ignore display if it offends you
Lucien Greaves, spokesman and co-founder of the Satanic Temple, said it is always important for the group to seek equal representation in public forums that are open for religious displays.
"People assume that we're there to insult Christians and we're not," Greaves said. "And I would hope that even people who disagree with the symbolism behind our values, whether they know what those values (are) or not, would at least appreciate that it's certainly a greater evil to allow the government to pick and choose between forms of religious expression."
Greaves said individuals are not being forced to interact with the display and don't have to engage with it.
The Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa Capitol.
Sherman: Iowa Constitution endorses God, and Satan is his enemy
Sherman points to the preamble to the Iowa Constitution, which says, "WE THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF IOWA, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government, by the name of the State of Iowa... ."
"According to these opening lines of our Constitution, the foundation for laws and continued blessing and success in Iowa is based on these points: 1. There is One Supreme God. 2. Blessings over this state come from the One Supreme God. 3. We must depend upon the One Supreme God if we want to enjoy continued blessings," Sherman writes.
He says it is "a tortured and twisted interpretation of law that affords Satan, who is universally understood to be the enemy of God, religious expression equal to God in an institution of government that depends upon God for continued blessings."
Sherman was joined in his opposition by some Iowans who have viewed the display.
"I'm here today because this is so anti-Christian, so anti-Iowa," Evelyn Nikkel, a Christian praying in the Capitol rotunda, said.
Nikkel said when a Nativity scene is installed in the Capitol this week, Iowans will be able to see the "real reason for the season."
Sherman points to the preamble to the Iowa Constitution, which says, "WE THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF IOWA, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government, by the name of the State of Iowa... ."
"According to these opening lines of our Constitution, the foundation for laws and continued blessing and success in Iowa is based on these points: 1. There is One Supreme God. 2. Blessings over this state come from the One Supreme God. 3. We must depend upon the One Supreme God if we want to enjoy continued blessings," Sherman writes.
He says it is "a tortured and twisted interpretation of law that affords Satan, who is universally understood to be the enemy of God, religious expression equal to God in an institution of government that depends upon God for continued blessings."
Sherman was joined in his opposition by some Iowans who have viewed the display.
"I'm here today because this is so anti-Christian, so anti-Iowa," Evelyn Nikkel, a Christian praying in the Capitol rotunda, said.
Nikkel said when a Nativity scene is installed in the Capitol this week, Iowans will be able to see the "real reason for the season."
Satanic display 'objectionable' but not illegal, some say
But Sherman, a pastor, may not have wholehearted support from other Republican legislators in Iowa, some of whom say they would oppose the government limiting freedom of speech in reaction to the display, which will be in place for a total of two weeks.
State Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, and on Facebook has tried to explain why the display was allowed. He's experienced considerable blowback in response, though he says that as an ordained minister and "as a follower of Christ, I certainly find a display from the Satanic Temple objectionable."
He says those who put up the display followed all the rules required to do so, adding that "the current operating principle has been to either allow all displays or none."
The Legislature can try to change those rules, he says, but "my observation as an Iowan and a State Representative, I don’t want the state evaluating and making determinations about religions. I am guided by the First Amendment of the US Constitution."
"The display is an inanimate object that has no real power in and of itself. We have nothing to fear," he says, adding that "the primary response required is prayer."
'I think this is a test' of allegiance to free speech
State Rep. Brad Sherman, R-Williamsburg, speaks with state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, on the House floor at the Iowa Capitol.
Dunwell calls for reviewing the guidelines for displays "to ensure they represent our constitutional rights"; monitoring the number of organizations that request displays to prevent the Capitol from being "overwhelmed" by them; and continuing "to dialogue with other elected officials and Iowans on this issue."
Dunwell, in a posting Sunday, pushed back at responses condemning his position.
"I would rather have an evil blasphemous display or no display at all than have the state dictate what they think is appropriate," he says, adding he has been "SHOCKED so many want to give up their freedom, so they don’t have to see a display they disagree with."
Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Crawford County, said that while he agrees with Sherman on a philosophical level, he believes Iowans have the right to disagree about religion. In an interview, he said decisions about civil liberties can't just be based on the state constitution alone.
"We also have the federal constitution, we have the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, (which) are just foundational values of our country… So while I totally hold a total disdain anything that this organization stands for, I nonetheless believe they have the constitutionally protected right to put up the display," he said.
Holt said that in the time he has been in office, many atheist displays as well as Nativity scenes have been erected in the Capitol. Nativities periodically have been displayed in the Capitol at least since 2016, when the Freedom from Religion Foundation responded with a "Nativity" for the Bill of Rights.
"I think this is a test," Holt said of the current satanic display. "I think this is really a test of just how, how strong your allegiance is to the Constitution and the concepts of free speech and free religion. It's easy to say you believe in those things when the speech is not that objectionable to you. But when the speech is really, really highly objectionable and offensive, unless it otherwise breaks the law, are you going to stand up for the constitutional rights of others or are you not?"
Staff writer Katie Akin contributed to this article.
Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her on X @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com. Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter. Reach her atvreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or on X @VictoriaReynaR.
More: Parents in a Connecticut town worry as 'After School Satan Club' plans meeting
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Satanic Temple display at state capitol sparks free speech debate
The Des Moines Register
Opinion
Letters: Satanic display at Iowa Capitol is inappropriate
The Register's readers
Wed, December 13, 2023
Don’t let Iowa Republicans off the hook for relentlessly violating people’s rights
Recently there has been an uproar over a Satanic Temple display at the state Capitol by many Christians, up to and including responses from elected officials. Much of the discourse over the display has been around First Amendment rights to freedom of expression and religion, something that has brought about praise for a particular legislator when it comes to respecting those rights.
However, it should not be lost on the electorate how low the bar has come that an elected official, Rep. Jon Dunwell, is getting praise for respecting the First Amendment. Especially when all of the attacks on the civil and human rights of Iowans come from faith-based representatives, organizations, and arguments. It should also be noted that all the nasty attacks on this representative cited by the Register opinion editor were coming from those in his party that thought he should respect the First Amendment LESS, not more.
This same representative had no problem using his religious beliefs to attack the rights of women to access healthcare or vote to remove books from public schools, actions that have real consequences for Iowans, much more so than a display in the capitol rotunda. The separation of church and state and First Amendment protections are extremely important and shouldn’t just be bandied about when it looks good on Twitter. This is a very real and serious threat to our democracy.
Jason Benell, Des Moines, president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers
Recently there has been an uproar over a Satanic Temple display at the state Capitol by many Christians, up to and including responses from elected officials. Much of the discourse over the display has been around First Amendment rights to freedom of expression and religion, something that has brought about praise for a particular legislator when it comes to respecting those rights.
However, it should not be lost on the electorate how low the bar has come that an elected official, Rep. Jon Dunwell, is getting praise for respecting the First Amendment. Especially when all of the attacks on the civil and human rights of Iowans come from faith-based representatives, organizations, and arguments. It should also be noted that all the nasty attacks on this representative cited by the Register opinion editor were coming from those in his party that thought he should respect the First Amendment LESS, not more.
This same representative had no problem using his religious beliefs to attack the rights of women to access healthcare or vote to remove books from public schools, actions that have real consequences for Iowans, much more so than a display in the capitol rotunda. The separation of church and state and First Amendment protections are extremely important and shouldn’t just be bandied about when it looks good on Twitter. This is a very real and serious threat to our democracy.
Jason Benell, Des Moines, president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers
Satanic display at Capitol is inappropriate
The Constitution says that Americans have the right to freedom of religion or no religion at all. It does not suggest or say that any religion must associate itself with or worship any divine being. Satanic worship has been practiced for a very long time.
The governor of Iowa has allowed satanic displays in the Iowa Capitol. At a time when many Americans are celebrating the birth of Christ, it seems a bit odd that the display of satanic figures is allowed at the same time. The month of October might be more appropriate for the display. I personally feel that it is not appropriate at any time.
Galen Bral, Manilla
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Satanic display at Capitol is inappropriate
Satanic Temple Altar At The Iowa State Capitol Has Republicans Seething
Kelby Vera
Wed, December 13, 2023
Controversy has arisen in Iowa after the Satanic Temple was allowed to put up a display at the state Capitol building in Des Moines.
Outcry emerged after the un-Christian-like altar was erected on the first floor of the Iowa State Capitol earlier this month, prompting the public and lawmakers to call for its removal. Others have maintained keeping the shrine up is a matter of free speech and freedom of religion, however.
The display ― which will be up through the end of this week ― includes an altar with the “seven fundamental tenets” of the Satanic Temple and the group’s seal, surrounded by electric candles.
Behind the altarpiece stands an effigy of the goat-headed idol Baphomet, a pagan deity who is invoked in various occult practices and throughout pop culture.
A mirrored sculpture of a ram’s skull sits on top of the figure, which is cloaked in red velvet, holding a black and red ribbon wreath with a pentacle in the center.
Iowa state Rep. Brad Sherman (R) objected to the “disgusting display” in a letter last week, where he argued that the altar violates Iowa’s state constitution.
A Baphomet statue erected by the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, in 2019. The group stirred up controversy for an altar it set up at the Iowa State Capitol last week.
A Baphomet statue erected by the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, in 2019. The group stirred up controversy for an altar it set up at the Iowa State Capitol last week.
Fellow Republican Jon Dunwell reluctantly defended the satanic setup in a detailed post on X, however.
Dunwell, an ordained minister, said that while the altar offended him “as a follower of Christ,” access to the state Capitol displays are done through an open application which does not discriminate on “the basis of religion or ideology.”
Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) called the altar “objectionable” in a Tuesday press release, but said, “In a free society, the best response to objectionable speech is more speech.” She went on to invite people of all faiths to join her in prayer at the Capitol that day.
Lucien Greaves, spokesman and co-founder of the Satanic Temple, told the Des Moines Register the piece was not intended to offend Christians, but was created to give other religions more representation in public forums.
“People assume that we’re there to insult Christians and we’re not,” Greaves said, arguing, “It’s certainly a greater evil to allow the government to pick and choose between forms of religious expression.”
After the satanic shrine made national news, Republican presidential primary candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered his take during a Tuesday night town hall held by CNN ahead of next month’s Iowa caucus.
He blamed President Donald Trump for giving the Satanic Temple religious tax-exempt status in 2019, saying, “It very well may be because of that ruling under Donald Trump that they may have had a legal leg to stand on. My view would be that’s not a religion that the Founding Fathers were trying to create.”
This isn’t the first time The Satanic Temple has tested the limits of religious freedom on government property.
In 2013, they attempted to get an eight-foot-tall Baphomet sculpture installed at the Oklahoma state Capitol in response to a monument of the Ten Commandments on its grounds. The biblical monument was later removed.
The group revived the stunt five years later when they took the statue to Little Rock to protest a set of commandments being placed on the grounds of the Arkansas state Capitol.
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DeSantis lays blame on Trump administration for Satanic Temple display in Iowa Capitol
Biong M. Biong, Des Moines Register
Wed, December 13, 2023
Seeking to turn a Satanic Temple of Iowa display in the Iowa Capitol into a presidential campaign issue, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is laying the blame at the feet of former President Donald Trump’s administration.
The temple received permission for the display, including an altar and a figure of the pagan idol Baphomet, under a state policy that allows temporary religious displays in the Capitol. There also is currently a Christian nativity scene.
Iowa Republican leaders are divided over the display, which one said was permitted under a policy that calls for allowing all religious displays or none of them. Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis in the first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican caucuses, said Tuesday that "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."
But DeSantis, appearing on a CNN town hall Tuesday night, sided with those who say the satanic display isn't a genuine religious expression and should be removed. He added that it would not be allowed in the Florida Capitol ― although one was permitted in 2014 during the administration of DeSantis' predecessor Rick Scott, a Republican who is now one of the state's U.S. senators.
DeSantis said he believed it was a wrong-headed Trump administration decision that gave the Satanic Temple, a nationwide network headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, standing as a religious organization.
“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,” he said.
DeSantis said he was surprised by the 2019 U.S. Internal Revenue Service ruling, which the Satanic Temple told the Associated Press it believed would help it in religious discrimination legal cases and allow it to pursue faith-based government grants.
“[The government] recognized it as a religion, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to do it; I don’t think that was the right decision,” DeSantis said.
“I don’t know what the Legislature … [or] how they analyzed it, but it very well may be because of that ruling under Donald Trump, that they may have had a legal leg to stand on,” he added. “My view would be that that’s not a religion that the founding fathers were trying to create.”
Trump campaign: DeSantis 'doesn't even own his own Bible'
There was no indication in the Associated Press story or other coverage of the ruling that Trump was involved in the decision. The IRS is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury. Steven Mnuchin was Trump's treasury secretary and Charles Rettig was the IRS commissioner.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung in an emailed statement to the Des Moines Register fired back at DeSantis, mocking his name and his stances on religion and noting DeSantis' failure so far to gain traction against Trump in the campaign.
More: DeSantis says Iowa Caucus polling is 'never accurate.' We checked. Here's what we found:
“Ron DeSanctus has a lot of opinions on religion for a man who doesn’t even own his own Bible," Cheung wrote. "This is a sad attempt by a dying candidate in the last throes of his failed campaign, so he’s resorting to blatant lies and outright falsehoods that will finally put an end to his disastrous run.”
Staff writer Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: DeSantis blames Trump for Satanic Temple display in Iowa Capitol
Biong M. Biong, Des Moines Register
Wed, December 13, 2023
Seeking to turn a Satanic Temple of Iowa display in the Iowa Capitol into a presidential campaign issue, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is laying the blame at the feet of former President Donald Trump’s administration.
The temple received permission for the display, including an altar and a figure of the pagan idol Baphomet, under a state policy that allows temporary religious displays in the Capitol. There also is currently a Christian nativity scene.
Iowa Republican leaders are divided over the display, which one said was permitted under a policy that calls for allowing all religious displays or none of them. Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis in the first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican caucuses, said Tuesday that "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."
But DeSantis, appearing on a CNN town hall Tuesday night, sided with those who say the satanic display isn't a genuine religious expression and should be removed. He added that it would not be allowed in the Florida Capitol ― although one was permitted in 2014 during the administration of DeSantis' predecessor Rick Scott, a Republican who is now one of the state's U.S. senators.
DeSantis said he believed it was a wrong-headed Trump administration decision that gave the Satanic Temple, a nationwide network headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, standing as a religious organization.
“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,” he said.
DeSantis said he was surprised by the 2019 U.S. Internal Revenue Service ruling, which the Satanic Temple told the Associated Press it believed would help it in religious discrimination legal cases and allow it to pursue faith-based government grants.
“[The government] recognized it as a religion, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to do it; I don’t think that was the right decision,” DeSantis said.
“I don’t know what the Legislature … [or] how they analyzed it, but it very well may be because of that ruling under Donald Trump, that they may have had a legal leg to stand on,” he added. “My view would be that that’s not a religion that the founding fathers were trying to create.”
Trump campaign: DeSantis 'doesn't even own his own Bible'
There was no indication in the Associated Press story or other coverage of the ruling that Trump was involved in the decision. The IRS is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury. Steven Mnuchin was Trump's treasury secretary and Charles Rettig was the IRS commissioner.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung in an emailed statement to the Des Moines Register fired back at DeSantis, mocking his name and his stances on religion and noting DeSantis' failure so far to gain traction against Trump in the campaign.
More: DeSantis says Iowa Caucus polling is 'never accurate.' We checked. Here's what we found:
“Ron DeSanctus has a lot of opinions on religion for a man who doesn’t even own his own Bible," Cheung wrote. "This is a sad attempt by a dying candidate in the last throes of his failed campaign, so he’s resorting to blatant lies and outright falsehoods that will finally put an end to his disastrous run.”
Staff writer Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: DeSantis blames Trump for Satanic Temple display in Iowa Capitol
Andrew Miller
Tue, December 12, 2023
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis invoked the name of former President Donald Trump when asked in a CNN town hall on Tuesday about a controversial satanic display in the Iowa state capitol building.
"So it's interesting," DeSantis told CNN's Jake Tapper. "I heard this 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."
DeSantis continued, "So I don't know what the legislature, how they analyzed it, but it very well may be because of that ruling under Donald Trump that they may have had a legal leg to stand on. My view would be that that's not a religion that the founding fathers were trying to create. But I do think that IRS ruling, I was really surprised to see that they did that."
THE SATANIC TEMPLE DEDICATING 'LARGEST SATANIC GATHERING IN HISTORY' TO BOSTON MAYOR, WILL REQUIRE MASKS
DeSantis was referring to a situation that developed this week where The Satanic Temple of Iowa erected a public display depicting "Baphomet," made of a ram's head of with mirrors covering it, propped by a mannequin in red clothing.
Co-founder of The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, told the news outlet that the display represents the group's right to religious freedom.
READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP
The display sparked intense controversy and condemnation from conservatives in Iowa from those who felt the state legislature or the state's Republican governor should have stopped it from being put up.
SATANISTS CONDEMN LEADER, DEMAND HE REAFFIRM TRANS RIGHTS AFTER TAKING PHOTO WITH ANTI-WOKE ATHEIST
The Baphomet statue is seen in the conversion room at the Satanic Temple where a "Hell House" is being held in Salem, Massachusetts on October 8, 2019.
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services said the satanic group met all the requirements legally needed to erect the display, KWWL-TV reported.
"Like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable," Gov. Kim Reynolds, who endorsed DeSantis, 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," Reynolds added.
Lawmakers who oppose the display have acknowledged that it is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
During the Trump presidency, the IRS in 2019 granted the "non-theistic" Salem-Mass.-based Satanic organization tax exempt status.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Iowa State Fair, on August 11, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa
"That doesn't necessarily mean the government supports it, but they did grant it," Tapper told DeSantis Tuesday.
"Yeah, exactly," DeSantis responded. "But they recognized it as a religion, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it. I don't think that was the right decision… that's wrong."
When asked if the display should be taken down, DeSantis said, "Yeah, I mean look, I think if they're going to get sued on it, I think you fight that fight."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said, "This is what desperate politicians do when they know their political lives are flashing before their eyes, they fabricate and completely make up ridiculous stories on CNN so they can appease their liberal audience. This is the moment scholars will point to of when the death of DeSantis's career occurred."
Fox News Digital's Adam Sabes contributed to this report
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
The Magickal Enchantment of Materialism
Why Marxists Need Neopaganism
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people…”
“Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower.” — Karl Marx
Cynical Attacks by Marxists About Neopaganism
“Neopagan Marxists? What are you talking about? We Marxists are atheist materialists. We don’t believe in any gods. Do you remember what Marx said about religion? It is the opium of the people. Why are you bringing superstition back in? Neopaganism is just more decadent 1970s hippie romanticism calling for the return to a preindustrial age. All this Goddess crap is just the lunatic fringe of the women’s movement trying to bring religion back in. Real socialist feminists are atheists. If anything, Christianity was a moral advance over the barbaric paganism of the Bronze and Iron Ages.” Serious charges indeed to be answered throughout this article.
Demanding Workers be Atheists Alienates Marxists from their Base
One of many problems for Marxists in the West is that most people in the working class believe in God, whether they are Protestants, Catholics, Jews or Muslims. Furthermore, whether Marxists like it or not, most people around the world find religious rituals enjoyable, comforting and meaningful. If people treat rituals in a mindless, reified way, that does not mean rituals can be dismissed. In addition, rituals have power not just in religion, but in nationalism and sports which have drawn from religion. Typically, Marxists dismiss religion, nationalism and sports as deriving from false consciousness, simplistic reasoning of the workers or evil machinations of priests or rulers. But this has not stopped working-class people from continuing to be faithful to their religion, country and sports teams. Do you Marxists really want to continue to throw stones at the buildings of churches, stadiums or the bronze cast statues of famous nationalistic generals?
The Structure and Superstructure of Societies
Using a Marxist delineation of social structures, both capitalist and socialist societies have an infrastructure and superstructure. The infrastructure includes the economy technology, methods of harnessing energy and work patterns. The superstructure of society includes the knowledge systems including politics, law, philosophy, art, religion and recreational patterns. Broadly speaking, superstructural institutions supportthe existing order for better or worse. More specifically, under capitalism these include religious monotheism, nationalism and professional sports.
The Superstructural Mainstream Institutions of Religion, Nationalism and Sports and their Commonalities
Religious monotheism, with all its material configurations (churches, altars, pews) is comprised of social-psychological techniques (sin, confession, guilt) and paraphernalia (rosary beads, crosses on necks) was also used by nationalists to get people to bind themselves to the state politically. Sports helped to organize people’s loyalty in their leisure time to a sports team. Religion, nationalism and sports all have many commonalties:
- A mythology of origins and destiny
- A founder
- A set of rites the community engages in
- Special holy days and holidays throughout the year
- A place to go for pilgrimages
- A set of buildings – temple, stadium to enact these rituals
- A set of holy objects
- A cultivated songbook of inspiring music
- Very specific set of rules to follow
- A holy book
- A definite attitude to other groups
- Emotional expectations
- Heretics
- Scapegoats
- Specialized language
- Sacred arts
- Methods of altering states of consciousness
- Attitudes towards the senses
- Collective memories – what you remember; what you forget
Monotheism, nationalism and sports are mainstream superstructural institutions of capitalism that are directed mostly atthe working-class. These institutions both alienate them from their social needs while providing them with inspiration, comfort, solace and hope. At the same time, there are superstructural capitalist movements which offer hope not only to working class people but to middle class and upper middle class people.
The Social and Psychological Aims of Capitalism vs the Hopes and Desires of the People
In order to derive maximal profit, the capitalist structure must pulverize social life so that every social and psychological need and desire is for sale. It must also create a consumer individuality so that the person is preoccupied with building and sustaining their individuality through consuming capitalist products. Naturally enough, many people who live in a capitalist society want to get away from this. Some of them flee into the capitalist superstructural institutions such as monotheism, nationalism or sports as a way to:
- Creating an ideal community
- Experience altered state of consciousness
- Develop an individuality that is larger, wider and deeper than what consumer individuality has to offer
Superstructural Movements: Human Potential, New Age and Neopaganism
But the working class is not the only class which seeks another way of life from what capitalism has to offer. The Human Potential movement in the 1970s was an attempt by mostly middle-class people to create alternative communities, to experience altered states of consciousness and cultivate a new individualist identity. So too, in the late 1970s the New Age movement wished to the same thing for the upper middle classes. These included spiritual, political and psychological cults, the paranormal movement (interest in ESP, telepathy, extraterrestrial civilizations) and Eastern mysticism (mediation, yoga) Lastly, also in the late 1970s Neopaganism exploded in both the United States and England.
Unlike monotheism, nationalism, sports and interest in cults, the New Age and Neopaganism are attempts to break awayfrom what seems to be to be the collapse of western religious institutions. What these movements promise the individual is to be swept away from everyday life to an alternative community, radically altered states and an individuality which is not submissive to a god, state or sports team but something higher, deeper and richer. To summarize, there are two components in the capitalist superstructure:
- Mainstream institutions: religion, nationalism and sports – which support capitalism
- Movements: the Human Potential Movement, the New Age movement and Neopaganism which seek to break away from capitalism or at least its corporate version
What both superstructural institutions and movements all seek to create is:
- An ideal community
- Experiencing altered state of consciousness
- Developing an individuality that is larger, far more so than what consumer individuality has to offer
Socialist Infrastructure and Socialist Superstructure
At its best, the socialist infrastructure has an economy that is communist, with workers’ councils deciding what and how much to produce at the local level, federated at the regional level and centralized at the state level. There is advanced technology. The socialist superstructure consists of a materialist philosophy, is pro-science and pro-technology and practices political direct democracy. There is also socialist art and there is atheism.
Socialist Rejection of Capitalist Superstructure
Good reasons for rejection
There are the atheists, socialists, communists and anarchists who think that religion, nationalism and sports are intentional distractions concocted by the ruling class to keep the working class from collectively changing life on earth. Further, the search for paranormal or mystical experience will be understood by Marxists as an attempted withdrawal from capitalist institutions in a fruitless search of meaningful experience. Socialists argue that paranormal experience has never been proven by scientists to be repeatable experimentally, while mystical experience is private escape and rarely produces revolutionaries. “Who needs spiritual a superstructure?” Marxists may say. “We see what happens when superstructural institutions are introduced into the capitalist superstructure by way of monotheism, nationalism, sports. People reify their gods, national heroes and sports figures. They engage them superstitiously and religious participants, citizens or sports fans behave submissively or mindlessly and use these institutions as escapes.
Furthermore, the impact of superstructural movements can also be engaged superstitiously and its leaders reified. The eruption of cults, psychic research and meditation centers produces its share of gurus, groupies and escapism. “Who needs that?” say the Marxists. The problem is that these capitalist superstructural institutions and movements contain 80% of the population (40% working class, 30% middle class and 10% upper middle class).
Bad reasons for rejecting
However, atheistic socialists and communists do not understand that what people who engage in institutions, movements and personal quests also want is not just about what they believe, but what they experience in a ritual-altered state. Arguing with people that science shows the earth is actually a lot older than the bible says is not going to change any fundamentalist’s minds and the evangelical atheists are foolish to try. Attempting to convince nationalists that their country’s crimes are greater than their heroic deeds is like spitting in the wind. Making an effort to convince sports fans that they shouldn’t root for their home team because neither the players nor the owners are loyal to their city will never work. The great weakness of all atheist socialists is that what people believe and the vehicles they use to support their beliefs can’t be argued with because these things all give comfort, hope and community. Communists throw rocks at the churches and stadiums but they are really afraid to go in. What socialists need to do is:
- Understand what people believe and how the rituals work that supports beliefs
- Recreate our own version of the 19 elements I earlier named that religion, nationalism and sports all share
Marxists do not have to Reinvent the Wheel:
The Neopagan Movement can Provide Marxists with a Missing Sacred Superstructure
Enter Neopaganism. At its very best, Neopaganism provides a far more convincing story about the cosmic evolution. It also offers a way to live in a world of conflict without losing heart or enthusiasm. Neopaganism also uses some of the same methodologies as monotheism, nationalism and sports to create altered states of consciousness. It does so relatively successfully and it does not require dogma to do it.
The Neopagan movement can bring life of the sacred into the socialist superstructure in ways that, at their best, are not superstitious, not reified, anti-hierarchical and not escapist. Joining with Neopagans will enable socialist to recruit the population currently embedded in the capitalist superstructure and lure them into a neopagan superstructure that will be in the service of socialism in our fight against capitalism.
Marx’s Criticism of Religion was too Sweeping
Marx rightfully criticized the Catholic and Protestant monotheism as it was practiced by the ruling classes of Europe, but his criticism of monotheism does not cover the polytheism or animism of pagans. In the case of the animism of hunter-gatherers who occupied most of human history, there are a lot of problems with characterizing animism the way Marxism criticized religion in my opening quote. The first animists were politically egalitarian, economically practiced what anthropologist Marshall Sahlins called “generalized reciprocity” and they had no private property. There were no gods and goddesses, just earth spirits, totems and sometimes ancestor spirits. There were no spiritual hierarchies. These earth spirits were treated as humanity’s brothers and sisters. There was no adoration, worship, begging and pleading or faith necessary. The sacred life of hunter-gatherers was no vale of tears, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of a soulless word. The type of magick they practiced was hardly the opium of the people. I am not suggesting socialists return to hunting and gathering times and practice animism. However, the animistic beliefs and practices can be used as a sacred model on which to build a communist future.
Neopagans are Hardly Washed-up Left-over Hippies
According to Margot Alder, in her book Drawing Down the Moon, Neopagans as a group are intelligent, interested in science, creative, imaginative and growing in both the United States and England. They have made inroads into mainstream religious conferences and they have yearly conferences of their own as well as regional celebrations throughout the United States. In fact, in the United States, Neopaganism is the fastest growing “religion”. We Marxists would be very lucky to have them join our ranks.
There is no Contradiction Between Dialectical Materialism and Most Neopagans
Ontologically, I identify as a Neopagan, but this in no way requires me to challenge a materialistic framework. Though some pagans are god and goddess theists, there is a vital community of Atheopagans who are materialists and believe in no gods. While I have a couple of disagreements with Mark Green (author of Atheopaganism: an Earth-honoring path rooted in science), we have enough in common to say that Atheopaganism will answer in a scientific way most, if not all the reservations of Marxists. There are other Neopagans whose goddesses and gods are admitted as psychologicalprojections and have no real independence. This is no threat to dialectical materialism. My criticism of Marxism is an immanentcriticism. It’s that materialism needs to incorporate collective and individual imagination without becoming a vitalist or a pantheist.
Characteristics of Neopaganism
There are at least fourteen characteristics of Neopaganism which have literary roots going back to mid 19thcentury Europe. These characteristics would work very well with Marxism.
- Perception of divinity as immanent (as opposed to transcendent)
- A multiplicity of deities (polytheism) while for a few there is one deity, a single goddess (this is opposed to patriarchal monotheism)
- The deities are female as well as male
- A commitment to ecological responsibility as the most practical way to engage nature
- Appreciation of science, science fiction and technology (as opposed to superstition and luddism
- Creative approach to ritual with singing, dancing, music, drawing, and mask-making
- Emphasis on imagination in guided visualization as essential in creating altered states of consciousness
- Orientated to the tides of nature and circle of the seasons and the four directions
- Devotion to hedonism or the sanctification of pleasure
- A focus on the local places (as opposed to large spaces or beyond space)
- No concept of sin or salvation
- No need of proselytizing
- Sacralization of psychology through Jungian psychology or the sacred psychology of Jean Houston
- Living in the here and now, not seeking escape in heaven or nirvana
The Neopagan movement in Yankeedom largely came out of the feminist sacred movement, which was also political. Some Neopagans are liberal, but many are radicals. Generally, thanks to Starhawk and Z Budapest, many witches integrate their magickal rituals with political activity. As for Marxism, there might be a smattering of Marxists who were pagans. But for the most part, they were isolated and didn’t constitute any identifiable subgroup within Neopaganism. Then, at the turn of the century, feminist Silvia Federici wrote Caliban and the Witch that brought a feminist understanding to the witch hunts. More recently, about seven years ago, a practicing Marxist Neopagan named Rhyd Wildermuth began a small publishing house called Gods and Radicals. One of his books was All That is Sacred is Profane: A Pagan Guide to Marxism. In this work, Wildermuth tried to make a Marxian understanding of capitalism understandable to pagans. However, he did not try to make Neopaganism attractive to Marxists. That’s what my book is about – The Magickal Enchantment of Materialism.
What is Sociohistorical Paganism?
Sociohistorical Neopaganism has no inconsistency with the tradition of dialectical materialism. It understands that both nature and society are products of the dialectical forces of Darwinian natural selection, combined with chance and – with the emergence of the human species – teleonomy (the internal planning of the human species). It also understands human society as an evolving process riddled with class contradiction tensions between the structure and superstructure of society which result in qualitative leaps in political organization and economic systems. It accepts uncertainty as a way of life. Opposites are understood as polar. Because of the conflict between opposites, a new higher emergent synthesis comes about historically, socially and psychologically
Sociohistorical Neopaganism is inclusive of all socialist groups, and welcomes dialogue with Atheopagans, soft and hard polytheists, as well as Evangelical atheists (of which hardline Marxists are one type). The similarities and differences between evangelical atheists, Atheopagans, soft and hard polytheists is the subject of the first chapter of my book.
We respect the process philosophy of Whitehead, Hartshorne, and David Ray Griffin in their attempt to argue that there is an internality in nature all the way down. This does not make us panpsychists since we believe there is an internality (what Whitehead called prehensions) long before there was any consciousness in nature. We believe with Engels that there is a dialectic in nature that goes all the way back to subatomic particles, and that evolution must be understood as a spiral with ever-new emergent properties emerging from conflict. Western humanity’s conception of heaven and hell are sociological projection of alienated humanity. When and if socialism becomes predominant in the world, it will approximate heaven on earth. This will go a long way towards dissolving infantile notions of heaven as a place to be taken care of or a hell as a place to suffer.
Unlike all other groups, sociohistorical pagans are committed to discovering a fifth stage of cognitive development beyond Piaget’s formal operations. Originally called “dialectical operations” by Klaus F. Riegal, preliminary work has been done by Michael Basseches Dialectical Thinking in Adult Development and Otto Laske Dialectical Thinking for Integral Leaders. A fifth stage of cognitive development will be necessary to synthesize Marxism and Neopaganism in creating a socialist future.
Sociohistorical Neopagans have big plans for rituals. Following the lead of Starhawk and Z Budapest, sociohistorical paganism wishes to incorporate ritual, not only into specific protests and strikes, but also into an ongoing political practice. In addition, we attempt to do once again what the French revolutionaries did: change calendars and populate them with socialist holidays, socialist birthdays, pilgrimages, and rites of passage. We want to bring theatrical practice and collective imagination to socialism.
Unlike so many hardline Marxists, we want to live completely in the present. We believe that the choice for anyone joining us is not made as a result of guilt or morality, but simply that as people we are irresistible. People want to be like us and want to be part of what we are cooking up. For us, altered states of consciousness in a magical ritual is not some kind of monolithic experience of all members. Different social classes will have different altered states because of their class position. Rituals producing altered states will be opportunities to work through some of the class conflicts between working class, middle class, and upper middle class participants.
Unlike any other Neopagan group, our perception of reality will depend on the kind of society we come from and the point in history we which we live. As I have said in a previous book, From Earthspirits to Sky Gods the primitive magic-mythology in tribal societies will be very different from the secondary magic of agricultural states. The difference between the high magic of Renaissance Italy is very different from the low magic of witchcraft, as you will see in Chapter 21 of my book.
Neopagan Marxists work with other pagans’ gods and goddesses psychologically and sociologically, even though for us, these gods and goddesses are not ontologically real. Ghosts, ancestor spirits, and earth spirits can be claimed by Atheopagans and Jungians to be psychological projections. For us they are also sociological and historical projections of human social life and the differences between classes. The characteristics of gods and goddesses – that they all have strengths and weaknesses – are projections that are worth working with but with the understanding that there is a danger of reification. Humanity can have gods, but the gods cannot have us. The characteristics of the gods and goddesses, their identification as departments of life, should be worked in as part of our socialist plans. For example, rituals to the god Hermes could accompany socialist transportation meeting plans. Rituals to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, accompany the meetings of socialist farmers.
We agree with hardline Marxists that consciousness cannot be reduced to the brain, but we disagree with some other pagans that consciousness is rooted in nature or in a spiritual world. After the existence of the brain and a central nervous system, consciousness arises (as in bonobos and chimps) as the result of toolmaking, social life, and culture that is the inheritance of social animals. However, self-reflective consciousness is the result of the development of a sociohistorical envelope wrapped around the Earth over the biosphere, which Vernadsky and Chardin called the noosphere. Self-reflective consciousness is rooted in sociohistorical activity in creating and sustaining the noosphere.
Lastly, historical sacred oppression is very important to us. Like Neopagan feminist witches, we don’t forget nor forgive what Christianity did during the witch hunts. Neither do we forget nor forgive what the Christians did to the Alexandrian library and how the Church terrorized the likes of Bruno, Galileo and Spinoza. We reject any reconciliation with Protestants, Catholics, Jews and the whole patriarchal 5000-year albatross. Neither are we seduced by Eastern mysticism, whether it be Hindu or Buddhist, cousins of the Western patriarchal family. As a feminist titled one of her plays many years ago, Your 5000 Years Are Up. As sociohistorical Neopagans, we neither forgive nor forget. We will treat the rulers of patriarchy with the same sacred hatred that we treat the capitalists in the secular world. Far from being an advance in sacred life, as many traditional Marxists think, Christianity is a slave religion, a degeneration of a once vital pagan love of life.
What is Magick and What’s With the “k”?
The word “magic” means many things to many people. The technical breakdown of the word is to shape or make vigorous. In this book magic is not a) a secular art of creating perceptual illusions as in stage magic. Neither is it a literal individual and group technique that can directly impact physical reality. What I am calling magickal is a socio-psychological technique for altering individual and group consciousness through ritual by saturating the senses through the arts of singing, dancing, and the use of guided visualization. At its best there is nothing superstitious, reified or escapist in this. As I describe in my book, The Magickal Enchantment of Materialism it can be a guide towards group and individual evolution.
Genesis of this Book
This book really snuck up on me. Over the last five years I have been writing articles for our website, Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism. In some of these articles I pointed out how religion, nationalism and sports were very big for working class people, but that Marxists had failed miserably to understand what the appeal was, let alone what socialists could do about it. In later articles, I identified rituals, the non-superstitious use of symbols and making of talismans as tools for creating, socialist altered states of consciousness. It wasn’t until the past 15 months that I realized I had written enough articles that I could turn them into a book. Furthermore, I realized that I could add four chapters about magick from my previous books. One chapter is on the place and misplace of goddesses in the Stone and Metal ages. Another chapter is on the differences between primitive magic, secondary magic and religion that was also part of my book Power in Eden. Finally, I included a discussion of high magic in early modern Europe. One chapter was on Renaissance magick as seen through the eyes of Jungian James Hillman. The other chapter was how the Protestant religion, mechanistic science and commercial capitalism teamed up against the high magick of Paracelsus, Bruno, John Dee and the low magick of witchcraft. Both these chapters came out of my book Forging Promethean Psychology.
My Literary Sources
In this section I only want to draw from the books that have most influenced my thinking about this subject. The first is Starhawk’s book The Spiral Dance which I read in the early 1980s. Next was Margot Adler’s great book Drawing Down the Moon which gave me a historical window into the enchanting world of Neopaganism. Throughout the 1980s I read books by Israel Regardie which were excellent in combining magickal work on the Tree of Life with psychology. He saw magick as applied psychology with nothing supernatural about it. Around 1990 I met Madonna Sophia Compton and read her book Archetypes on the Tree of Life. She taught me how to apply the Tree of Life to actual daily practice to the work on psychological problems. I had my own solitary practice for some time. Since the middle of the 1990s, until about two years ago I turned to other projects. But in 2020, my partner Barbara and I joined the Seattle Atheist Church. One of the board members really wanted to get more ritual into our group. We wound collaborating on a Fall ritual by changing the liturgy and making it more magickal. For me this meant introducing Neopaganism into the Church. This led me to start an Atheopagan book club in which we read Atheopaganism by Mark Green; Godless Paganism, edited by John Halstead and Wakeful World by Emma Restall Orr.
Why I Wrote this Book
The purpose of this book is not to convince Neopagans that Marxism is a worthy enterprise. Neither is it to convince Marxists to become Neopagans and leave Marxism behind. Rather it is to convince Marxists that Neopagan practice might breathe charm, heart, play and inspiration into the political practice of Marxism, by bringing in ritual and the arts.
Usually, Marxists naively lump animism and polytheism with Marx’s criticism of religion. The purpose of this book has been to show why this is a mistake. In my three chapters on socialism and my chapter on The Power of Magic I show how Neopagan rituals can be worked into a Marxist political practice. These changes in ritual are far more likely to bring back working-class people to socialism who have stayed away up until now because Marxism in the United States has no heart or soul.
So long as Marxists dismiss religion, nationalism and sports as merely false consciousness, simplistic reasoning or blind superstition we are left out in the cold. Dismissal has not worked before and it will not work now or in the future. Marxists will continue to be alienated from working class people who are religious and at least somewhat patriotic and enthusiastic about professional sports. Neither will the middle and upper middle class explorers of cults, parapsychology or New Age mysticism be drawn to Marxism.
Red Emma was Right: If I can’t Dance, I don’t Want to be Part of Your Revolution
Marxists need to sing, spiral-dance and celebrate socialism on a weekly, monthly, seasonal and yearly basis. On a regular, weekly basis we could have a “socialist mass” that must answer the same big questions religion asks and answers:
- What are we?
- Where have we been?
- Where are we going?
During these large-scale and small-scale events, we must play and sing to socialist songs from around the world, not just IWW songs. Just as religion has its patron saints, nationalism has its revolutionary heroes and sports has its Hall of Fame. So socialists could regularly commemorate the lives of great socialist leaders, great socialist strikes and revolutionary takeovers of states. Just as religion has its temples, sports has its stadiums and nationalism has its presidential memorials, so Marxists need their own buildings to commemorate, mourn and celebrate the past and anticipate future days of triumph.
The socialist movement is not a night in which all cows are black. Socialism consists of individuals of different classes who have unique lives. Some are red diaper babies and some are new to the movement. In true socialist form, we celebrate the commonalities that all socialists go through from birthdays, coming of age ceremonies to marriages and funerals. During a portion of most socialist rituals, we should acknowledge rites of passage and support people in the milestones of their lives.
To those Marxists who remain cynical I want to remind them that the labor organization of the Knights of Labor in the 19th century had many rituals celebrating the events of the individual life cycle. My article The Mythology, Ritual and Art of Romantic Socialism discusses all this. The image at the heading of this article comes from the social graphic artist Walter Crane who did much work for the Knights of Labor. In addition, the Communist Party in the United States had many cultural institutions such as book clubs, dances and plays that speak to the ritual-like needs of human beings. We have a great deal we could learn from them.
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