VICE’s Charlet Duboc travels to Little Rock Arkansas to meet with Lucien Greaves and the members of the Satanic Temple to find out why they’re trying to install a statue of Baphomet in protest of religious freedom on the Capitol’s lawn.
The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religious and political activist group based in United States. The Temple is recognized as a church for the purposes of tax exemption, with chapters in 13 states and Canada.
The group uses Satanic imagery to promote egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of church and state. Their stated mission is "to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people".
The group was co-founded by Lucien Greaves, the organization's spokesperson, and Malcolm Jarry. The Satanic Temple has utilized satire, theatrical ploys, humor, and direct legal action in their public campaigns to "generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions", and to "highlight religious hypocrisy and encroachment on religious freedom".
The organization actively participates in public affairs that have manifested in several public political actions and efforts at lobbying, with a focus on the separation of church and state and using satire against Christian privilege that it says interferes with personal religious freedom.
It considers marriage a religious sacrament that should be governed under the First Amendment's protection of religious liberty, and which should prevail over state laws. Because the group regards inviolability of the body as a key doctrine, it also views all restrictions on abortion, including mandatory waiting periods, as an infringement on the rights of Satanists to practice their religion.
The Satanic Temple does not believe in a supernatural Satan. The Temple uses the literary Satan as a metaphor to promote pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy, and curiosity. Satan is thus used as a symbol representing "the eternal rebel" against arbitrary authority and social norms.
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