After the Arkansas Legislature approved a statue of the Ten Commandments to be built on the grounds of its state capitol in April, The Satanic Temple’s national organization requested in September that a statue of Baphomet be installed as well — a repeat of its 2014 efforts in Oklahoma.
Baphomet — a horned entity with mixed features of a man, woman and goat — represents the duality of mankind’s intellectual and animalistic natures, said Caligo Accedito, chapter head of The Satanic Temple’s Greater New Orleans Chapter.
Accedito founded the Greater New Orleans Chapter in 2014 and estimated more than 1,000 allies and members of The Satanic Temple live in Louisiana. Many keep their membership status discrete to help maintain personal safety.
Separation of church and state and equal treatment of religions by law are essential to avoiding the creation of theocracies, Accedito said, which would ultimately lead to widespread cultural destruction and violations of individual rights.
“Our expectation is that if it’s open to any religious group, it’s open to every religious group,” Accedito said. “That’s the nature of American values. That’s one of the founding principles of our nation. And the fact that it has to be tested is kind of disappointing because it should be [a] given.”
According to a September 2014 news release issued by The Satanic Temple, it would not have proposed to install the statue of Baphomet in Oklahoma if a religious monument was not already placed on public property, as is currently in Arkansas.
The Satanic Temple frequently tests church-state separation cases and questions the use of public property by religious organizations to promote secularism and ensure religions are equally treated by the law.
“We oppose theocratic law,” Accedito said. “We don’t think that Satanic law should govern. We don’t think that any one religion’s law should govern. We think that law should be separated completely from religion.”
In one case, a Florida school board allowed Christian groups to distribute religious texts in the area’s public schools. When The Satanic Temple created a coloring book called, “The Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities” and prepared to hand them out, the school board banned the distribution of religious materials in their schools.
The Greater New Orleans Chapter challenges events and policies that go against The Satanic Temple’s philosophies. Members carrying signs with the Satanic Temple’s symbol were present on LSU’s campus to protest Gov. Jindal’s prayer rally with the American Family Association.
Anti-abortion rallies like the one held at LSU on the same day as the prayer rally are also opposed by members of The Satanic Temple because of its tenet that, “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.”
In addition to activism, the New Orleans chapter engages in community outreach programs, such as working to fill potholes and creating care packages for the homeless.
Accedito described the type of Satanism practiced by The Satanic Temple as atheistic and non-supernatural, with one of the seven fundamental tenets requiring them to conform to the best scientific understanding of the world and not twist facts to fit their beliefs.
“We do not worship anything — worship is the act of a servant,” Accedito said. “We do not serve any entity. We embrace that Satan is a symbolic representation of questioning blind faith, but we don’t follow Satan because there is no Satan to follow.”
Satan is an eternal rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority and a Prometheus-like figure, with Satanists harkening back to other rebels and freethinkers throughout history, Accedito said.
“What we’re asking for isn’t a revolutionary idea. We think that America was made strong by establishing a system that respects the diversity of it’s citizens,” Accedito said. “We hope one day that our elected officials will value the Constitution before their own beliefs and biases.”
Members of The Satanic Temple of the Greater New Orleans Chapter wear masks and veils to hide their identity on Sunday, October 4, in front of the Orleans Parish Criminal Justice Court.
