Wikimedia Commons/ Mark Buckawicki
CV NEWS FEED // The Satanic Temple has set up another goat-headed, yellow-eyed statue of the idol Baphomet outside of New Hampshire’s Statehouse a week after the initial idol was destroyed.
Concord Monitor reports that a group of local artists who wish to remain individually anonymous rebuilt the idol. The group, Concord Area Artist Coalition for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion, wrote, “Violence and vandalism are not valid responses to something you don’t fully understand. This is the Live Free or Die State, if you recall.”
CatholicVote previously reported that a person who has not been identified beheaded and toppled the statue Dec. 9. It was on display near a Nativity at the Statehouse.
New Hampshire State Rep. Ellen Read (D-Newmarket), who invited the Temple to create a display showcasing “our pluralistic society,” states that she received death threats over email for promoting the statue. She said she was also called a “Satan worshipper” who will “burn for an eternity in hell,” according to Concord Monitor.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Read, though not “officially involved” with the Satanic Temple, signed up online to be a member and was present at the idol’s unveiling. She argued, according to the Monitor, that the Temple and Christianity share values, like helping the disadvantaged.
Concord Monitor also reports that Concord Mayor Byron Champlin opposed the display and criticized the City Council for approving it, stating that it is a political organization, not a religious one, since it advocates for secularism.
“This is about an out-of-state group cynically promoting its national agenda at the expense of the Concord community,” he said.
Read stated that the display was not “inherently offensive.”
“There were accusations that it meant to denigrate Christians, but there was nothing about it that was denigrating Christians,” she said. “If you don’t want to allow it for all religions, then you don’t have to allow religious displays.”
The Satanic Temple is based in Salem, Massachusetts, and describes itself as a non-theistic organization.
