We don’t know about you, but nothing gets us in the holiday spirit like an exercise in our constitutional freedoms. Now, we aren’t talking about a war on Christmas or if Starbucks accurately depicts the holiday season on a cup. We are looking at our old friends: Satanists.
Let’s go back to 2018, where NPR sets a vivid scene:
“In the Illinois Capitol rotunda this month, several traditions are being celebrated. There’s a Nativity scene for Christmas, a menorah for Hanukkah, and then something a little different: an arm holding an apple, with a snake coiled around it.”
Complete with a plaque reading “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift,” the display from the Satanic Temple rounded out the rotunda. Their insistence on the holiday display was simple: it is their right to have religious expression and the Illinois Capitol cannot endorse only Judeo-Christian religions.
And it’s hard to argue with them. The first line of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” And, Article Six of the Constitution completely eliminates any kind of religious test.
Although famously quoted with little understanding of what he was trying to say, Thomas Jefferson argued for a “wall of separation” between the government and religious organizations. Just as in Illinois, the government can’t block any religious expression, but they can’t endorse any expression either.
While the holiday display may have been more philosophical pot-stirring than heartfelt religious action, it highlights an ever-important calling for all Americans to respectfully challenge our public institutions and hold them to the higher standard set up by our founding document.
For better or for worse, the Satanic Temple is still pushing boundaries and leveling questions at elected officials. Obviously, We The People would never endorse anything so heinous as human sacrifice, but we can respect the (wholly American) drive for a higher truth.
There are few things more un-American than believing that only certain groups should be protected under the Constitution. If you come across a Satanic display of religious freedom in public, feel free to disagree with their beliefs—but keep in mind the same protections that allow for Satanic displays also enable you to express your deepest held beliefs without fear of persecution.
In the spirit of the season, We The People wishes Satanists a merry Christmas and happy holidays.
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