Satanic Temple Sues Iowa for Rejecting Its Request To Hold ‘Family-Friendly’ Holiday Gatherings in State Capitol

Iowa is facing a federal lawsuit alleging state officials violated the Satanic Temple’s First Amendment rights by denying the group access to the state’s Capitol. The Satanic Temple, which is being represented by the ACLU, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Hawkeye State for refusing to let the group hold “family-friendly” holiday events at the Capitol, while Christian and other faith organizations put up religious holiday displays. The lawsuit says that the plaintiffs were allowed to set up a Satanic Temple holiday display in the Capitol in 2023. The display included candles with a figure depicting Baphomet, and was heavily criticized at the time. It was destroyed by a Mississippi man who was charged with a hate crime for the vandalism, but later pleaded guilty to an aggravated misdemeanor count of third-degree criminal mischief.In the years since that incident and the outrage that followed from the display being allowed in the Capitol, the Satanic Temple says Iowa officials have refused their request to set up holiday displays. An ACLU of Iowa staff attorney, Shefali Aurora, said in a statement, “In our country and state, it is a foundational principle that the government should not favor one religious belief over another or discriminate against its citizens based on their religious beliefs.”“So when the state makes the public space in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda available for religious holiday events, for example, a Christmas or Hanukkah event, it cannot then deny the same right to other religious groups it disfavors,” Ms. Aurora said. The Satanic Temple, a separate organization from the Church of Satan, describes itself as an organization focused on humanism and rational inquiry instead of the worship of a creator. The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Iowa violated the Satanic Temple’s rights to free speech and free exercise of religion by denying its requests to host holiday events, and to let the temple host an event at the Capitol this December. The Satanic Temple is also suing Boston, arguing that city officials engaged in viewpoint discrimination by refusing to fly the organization’s flag for “Satanic Appreciation Week.” That lawsuit came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Boston violated conservative activists’ free speech rights by declining to fly a Christian flag on a city hall flag pole. Representatives for Iowa’s attorney general did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Satanic Temple Sues Iowa for Rejecting Its Request To Hold ‘Family-Friendly’ Holiday Gatherings in State Capitol

Satanic Temple Sues Iowa for Rejecting Its Request To Hold ‘Family-Friendly’ Holiday Gatherings in State Capitol

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