Satanic Temple Unveils Baphomet Statue For Oklahoma

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Satanic Temple Unveils Baphomet Statue For Oklahoma


The Satanic Temple's seven-foot-tall Baphomet statue, complete with beatific children gazing at it lovingly, is just about ready to take its place on the Oklahoma Statehouse lawn.

The state of Oklahoma placed a monument to the Ten Commandments on the lawn of its capitol building in 2012, leading the New York-based Satanic Temple to apply for permission to place a monument of its own, on the basis that the government must treat all religions equally. By allowing a Christian monument on the grounds, it argued, the legislature opened the door to the placement of similar monuments to other religions.

It's a silly idea, but the Temple took it to crowdfunding site Indiegogo [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/put-a-satanic-monument-at-ok-capitol#home] and the internet, as it does, ran with it, raising more than $28,000 of a $20,000 goal. And while Oklahoma quickly took steps to shut down the effort by suspending the approval of all such permits, the Satanists are building the statue anyway.

What they've come up with so far is actually pretty fantastic. The Baphomet itself is impressive and imposing, but it's the children that really sell it: You can almost see the rapturous joy on their faces as they gaze up at the fearsome visage of the Dark Lord Lucifer. And while dropping something like this on the lawn of a state legislature in the middle of the Bible belt might seem like asking for trouble, the Temple has that base covered too: It's making a mold of the statue so it can produce replacements as needed.

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/satanicpsalms/status/461933773626417153]

"Depending on our insurance policy, we may be able to cast two from the destruction of one, expediting our arrival to the next battleground," Temple rep Lucien Greaves told Vice. There are plenty of other such "battlegrounds" to consider if Oklahoma ends up removing the statute of the Ten Commandments, he added. "There are no shortage of public locations across the U.S. were religious monuments await a contrasting voice."

Destroy one and two will arise - that sounds rather appropriate, doesn't it?

Source: Vice [http://www.vice.com/read/heres-the-first-look-at-the-new-satanic-monument-being-built-for-oklahomas-statehouse]

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J Tyran

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I hope they can place it, them and any other religion that wants one to show people in the US just how valuable the idea of a complete separation of church and state actually is. That way every time a Christian goes past the statue and fumes about the statue it is easy to point out how Atheists, Buddhists, Muslims and everyone else might feel about having other religious iconography crammed in their faces.
 

Hawkeye21

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Good, it's about time the Great Lord of Light had statues placed in the open. That's definitely a step in the left direction.
 

Dyan

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You know, I've been reading up on Satanism for a while now, and honestly it's tenets and beliefs are much more appealing than any other religion, at least in my opinion.

I'd imagine it being significantly more popular if it didn't have all the historic baggage. A man looks at a upside down pentagram and instantly thinks "evil".

OT: I'm thinking that if the statue gets put up, things might get violent. This is the bible belt we're talking about, the same place where the presentors of Top Gear almost got attacked by a mob for writing some inflammotory comments on their cars.
 

Deathfish15

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The thing about it is that all they have to do is instead claim what the 10 Commandments are and then it won't be an issue any more. What are they? They are base historical teachings that are the foundation for modern day law. Get it? Basically it's an adorning replica that appreciates the basis for laws against murder, theft, false testimony, and so on. That's where our modern day laws come from and that's why they fit so appropriately without being simply labeled as a "a religious relic". If Oklahoma were to use this explanation for reasoning behind those sitting there, they can totally get away with it without giving in to a bunch of Satan worshipers trying to find a loophole to place a nutter statue in the lawn.
 

Falterfire

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Dyan said:
You know, I've been reading up on Satanism for a while now, and honestly it's tenets and beliefs are much more appealing than any other religion, at least in my opinion.

I'd imagine it being significantly more popular if it didn't have all the historic baggage. A man looks at a upside down pentagram and instantly thinks "evil".
Historic baggage is just as important as present day baggage - Satanism tends to borrow concepts from generic Humanism and then add in some bits of teenage angst and add extra 'edginess' for maximum effect. It's not that it's made up of primarily bad ideas (for the most part), they're just intentionally packaged in such a way as to appeal primarily to the 'rebellious teenager' demographic.

Also, keep in mind that there are a bunch of different groups that claim the label of 'satanism', from the basically-humanist ones to literally demon-worshipping nuts.
 

Skeleon

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This is so awesome, but it's not enough. I want the Hindus who talked about placing something to do theirs, too, now and then...
I don't care, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, the many, many ancient Polytheistic religions and their Neopagans, the Native Americans, Shinto, anything. Make it a forest of monuments. Not only will that give the Christian fundamentalists something to think about regarding the 1st amendment, it will also create an actual sight to behold.
Make it a tourist attraction, make it a symbol to pluralism, make it something great and human! Not many monuments, but one monument to human beliefs, non-belief, thoughts and hopes, dreams, philosophies, cultures, everything.
That would be so much greater than anything the narrow-minded fundies would ever create by themselves.
 

Knight Captain Kerr

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I wouldn't call it silly, if Christians are allowed have their iconography than Satanists should be allowed have theirs. It is only fair, either they can both have them or neither of them can

I don't know the beliefs of The Satanic Temple, I don't know if they are theistic or atheistic but the "Dark Lord Lucifer" part might be questionable. Not all religions see Lucifer as evil. Theistic Luciferians (who aren't Satanists but still) see him kind of like a Prometheus figure, that he turned against God to help humans and that it was a good thing. I don't there are that many Satanists/Lucifarians who actually worship a being they think is evil.
 

Something Amyss

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J Tyran said:
I hope they can place it, them and any other religion that wants one to show people in the US just how valuable the idea of a complete separation of church and state actually is. That way every time a Christian goes past the statue and fumes about the statue it is easy to point out how Atheists, Buddhists, Muslims and everyone else might feel about having other religious iconography crammed in their faces.
Unfortunately, the more likely outcome is that they get rejected.

Also, you may have noticed that there's a decided lack of self-awareness going on. That's why having an atheist billboard addressing other atheists is treated as a personal attack, but a billboard threatening Hell forever and ever and ever isn't a problem and you should feel bad if you don't agree.

A suit on the matter won't necessarily make it to the SCOTUS, or even rule in what should be the obvious favour, either.
 

LordBongo

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Skeleon said:
Make it a tourist attraction, make it a symbol to pluralism, make it something great and human! Not many monuments, but one monument to human beliefs, non-belief, thoughts and hopes, dreams, philosophies, cultures, everything.
*Slow clap*

You win the prize for best post I've read on this forum to date. I agree wholeheartedly.
 

Kieve

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Skeleon said:
This is so awesome, but it's not enough. I want the Hindus who talked about placing something to do theirs, too, now and then...
I don't care, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, the many, many ancient Polytheistic religions and their Neopagans, the Native Americans, Shinto, anything. Make it a forest of monuments. Not only will that give the Christian fundamentalists something to think about regarding the 1st amendment, it will also create an actual sight to behold.
Make it a tourist attraction, make it a symbol to pluralism, make it something great and human! Not many monuments, but one monument to human beliefs, non-belief, thoughts and hopes, dreams, philosophies, cultures, everything.
That would be so much greater than anything the narrow-minded fundies would ever create by themselves.
Until the lawn of the capitol building resembles something like this, anyway:
This amuses the hell out of me. Not because I'm eager to see secular Oklahoma officials put in their place, mind you, but because I find the idea of turning a state capitol's lawn into a kitschy redneck nightmare come to life.
 

Rellik San

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Scrumpmonkey said:
The intereting thing about Satanism is that is rose from the ashes of a Christian discrediting of pagan iconography. The goat-headed God is a left over from the nature worshiping pagan and Druidic religions that dominated Europe in the pre-chrsitian era. Think less the devil and more the spirit of the forest from Princess Mononoke. These religions presented a problem for medieval Christians and so came the Genocide and forcible conversion of pagans, the killing of the druids and the casting of their gods and iconography as devil worship and witchcraft. It was the cultural purging of the religion that came before and a concerted smear campaign to paint them as having been evil.

Satanism was an embracing of that outcast status of earlier pagan icons. It's ironic that things that make Christians uncomfortable are actually the remnants of their faith destroying and insulting an earlier faith, the last clues left of a cultural cleansing.
Ironically enough though, a lot of cathedrals throughout Europe built in the middle ages actually have a lot of pagan imagery, especially in the UK where you'd be hard pressed not to find several carvings of the Green Man among them, which is often seen as a symbol of pagan nature worship. But there's a whole convoluted history about that, interestingly enough, I don't believe the Green Man exists in any American churches and would go a long way to explain the differing views of religion, with many in American seeming too (hey I'm British I only know what I read and hear about your country) view it as an all or nothing system where as in Europe there seems to be much more of a "live and let live" attitude.
 

Skeleon

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Zachary Amaranth said:
Also, you may have noticed that there's a decided lack of self-awareness going on. That's why having an atheist billboard addressing other atheists is treated as a personal attack, but a billboard threatening Hell forever and ever and ever isn't a problem and you should feel bad if you don't agree.
If you enjoyed that, then you may also like this:

To some people, this "yes, even if you're gay, we'll let you give us money"-sticker is bullying. Of Christians.

But that's unfair and wrong. Because these people don't speak for Christians, they only speak for their own, narrow group. Please don't let people like that speak for you, if you are a Christian.

Source:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/05/01/the-twisted-logic-has-ruptured-my-brain/
 

Gxas

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The statue looks awesome. Happy to see it got made. Now can I get one for my front yard?
 

JoJo

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Cool statue, the mould (or prototype?) looks even better than the sketches I saw last time this was in the news. This is the sort of statue I'd like made of me if I ever became an evil dictator. Hopefully it'll get placed right smack on that lawn, to the rage of the religiously intolerant everywhere :-D
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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Sep 8, 2011
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Those dumb religious nuts in the US don't realize that freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom of Christianity and no other religion. And they seem to live in this bubble where religion in America is somehow under attack? So I fuckin' love this idea.

But you know what I'd really like to see? A Muslim statue. It would piss them off so much their heads would explode!