Last year on Dec. 14, the Satanic Temple (TST) of Iowa’s sanctioned holiday display in the Iowa State Capitol rotunda was vandalized.
The culprit was a failed Republican congressional candidate from Mississippi who traveled more than 800 miles just to smash the display, which consisted mostly of electric candles and a cloaked mannequin with a mirrored ram’s head. Michael Cassidy told a conservative news site afterwards he did it to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.”
This year, TST planned to mark Dec. 14 by holding a holiday celebration at the State Capitol. The event had been listed on the Capitol’s official calendar of events since October, but the day before it was scheduled to happen, TST announced the celebration had been “forcibly cancelled by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services [DAS].”
“After careful consideration of administrative rule and DAS policy, I determined the totality of the event request to include elements that are harmful to minors and therefore denied the request,” DAS director Adam Steen, the director of the Iowa DAS, said in a statement provided to the Des Moines Register.
Steen didn’t specify what the objectionable elements were or how they could be harmful to minors.
On Monday, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement about the cancellation.
“The Iowa State Capitol Complex is a place that is open to the public, where children and families routinely visit,” the governor said. “Because of this, the state’s event policy takes into consideration conduct that would be harmful to minors. This satanic event, which specifically targets children, is harmful to minors and so it was denied.”
Again, there was no explanation of how the holiday celebration would be harmful.
“Our goal was to promote tolerance and acceptance of diverse religious beliefs, with a theme of finding a light in the darkness and welcoming the darkest nights of the year with joy and camaraderie,” TST of Iowa said in a Friday evening Facebook post about the cancellation.
TST said it had “made every effort to work with [DAS} to ensure a successful event, but after over two months on the official Capitol events calendar we have been informed that our event will no longer be allowed.”
This was not the first time this year a sudden change by state officials stopped TST from being able to hold an event at the State Capitol. The Iowa Temple had planned a multi-day reading of John Milton’s Paradise Lost at the Capitol in September. The 17th century poem, considered one of the landmark works of English literature, is 10,565 lines in length. Reading it aloud would take at least two days. On July 26, two weeks after TST filed for a permit to conduct the public reading, DAS announced a policy change — events lasting longer than one day would no longer be allowed at the Capitol. The first groups impacted by this change were TST and Des Moines Homeless Veterans Stand Down, a nonprofit that had to cancel its an annual three-day event on Capitol grounds, helping connect homeless veterans with resources they need.
The policy change also prohibits groups and organizations from sponsoring more than one event a year at the Capitol. The Capitol, of course, has seen frequent events in recent years protesting Gov. Reynolds’ and Republican lawmakers’ actions undermining reproductive rights and the rights of LGBTQ Iowans, banning books and discussions of historical topics that conservatives find uncomfortable, expand the use of public funds in private schools and divert funds from Area Education Agencies, attempt to create a state-level process to deport immigrants, rollback child labor protections and slash the number of state boards through which public can weigh in on state policy. The new policy change will likely limit organized protests during the upcoming legislative session.
After the policy change, TST moved its Paradise Lost reading to the courthouse lawn in Tama County. Tama was selected because some members of the Iowa Temple have local connection. The courthouse lawn was selected because starting in 2014, first Gov. Branstad and then Gov. Reynolds has issued an annual proclamation in support of the Iowa 99 County Bible Reading Marathon “to take place in front of all 99 courthouses and furthermore, encourage individuals and families in Iowa to read through the Bible on a daily basis each year until the Lord comes.”
The Satanic Temple is an officially recognized religious entity in the United States, no different in that respect from the Catholic Church or the Southern Baptist Convention. TST is based in Salem, Massachusetts, and has congregations across the United States — including Iowa — as well as in Canada, Australia and Europe.
TST, a recognized religious organization, is often confused with the Church of Satan, with which it is not associated. TST was founded in 2013 by a small group of atheists, and on its site TST explains members do not believe in “the existence of Satan or the supernatural.”
Satan, to TST, isn’t some supernatural fiend lurking in the shadows and dragging souls to hell, but is instead “a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty.” It’s an idea that’s been common in the English-speaking world since the 19th century, when poets and writers of the Romantic movement embraced the image of Satan created by John Milton in Paradise Lost, interpreting the rebel angel as a heroic figure demanding autonomy even at a terrible cost.
Members follow the temple’s seven fundamental tenets, which focus on rationality, compassion and the “struggle for justice.” The first fundamental tenant is, “One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.” The other tenets follow from that premise.
The seven fundamental tenets were a centerpiece of last year’s holiday display, along with a representation of the Baphomet, a goat-headed figure. It was the Baphomet and the word “satanic,” and not the seven fundamental tenets, that caught the attention of rightwing news sites and social media, especially after Fox News ran a story on the display.
“Like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable,” Gov. Reynolds said in a written statement the day the TST display was set up in the Capitol rotunda. “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.”
Two days later, Michael Cassidy smashed the display. He was arrested, and originally charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. The Polk County Attorney’s Office subsequently amended the charge, after determining that the value of the property damage done by Cassidy was greater than first estimated, and that the motive for his actions meant the criminal mischief charge qualified as a hate crime under Iowa law. That automatically made the charge a felony.
In late May, two weeks before his trial was scheduled to start, Cassidy entered into a plea deal with the Polk County Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced to probation, fined $855 and forced to pay restitution for the property he damaged and destroyed. According to the county attorney’s office, Cassidy completed his probation on Nov. 22.
In the pinned tweet on his X account, Cassidy celebrates the cancellation of the holiday celebration at the State Capitol and the vandalizing of a Satanic Temple of New Hampshire holiday display at that state’s capitol.
“This is for everyone who helped cancel the Satanist’s 2024 Iowa display, and for the anon hero in New Hampshire who likewise cancelled their NH display,” he wrote above a meme encouraging people to “Be the reason satanists can’t put satanic statues on public display.”
The meme features a smiling Ryan Gosling.
“We are no stranger to obstacles in advocating for religious pluralism and freedom of speech, and we will continue to fight for the rights of Satanic Temple members and our local community,” the Iowa Temple said in its Facebook post. “We encourage Satanic Temple members and supporters to keep the seven tenets of The Satanic Temple in mind. As a peaceful law-abiding organization, we will embody the spirit of wisdom and compassion in the face of injustice.”
“Hail Satan, Hail Iowa.”
“Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.”
