Worthy Christian News > US News > Baphomet Beheaded: Satanic Group Condemns Destruction Of Altar In US (Worthy News In-Depth)

Baphomet Beheaded: Satanic Group Condemns Destruction Of Altar In US (Worthy News In-Depth)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

DES MOINES, USA (Worthy News) – A Satan-inspired group in the United States has expressed outrage that a devoted Christian military veteran beheaded its satanic statue at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines.

The Satanic Temple (TST) said it had obtained permission from Iowa’s government to install a satanic display in the building housing the Iowa General Assembly, the Office of the Governor, and several other state institutions.

The altar included a statue depicting the goat-headed idol Baphomet holding a pentacle and surrounded by candles on the first floor of the Iowa Capitol near displays of the Nativity.

However, “We were informed by authorities that the Baphomet statue in our holiday display was destroyed beyond repair,” TST confirmed.

The co-founder of TST, Lucien Greaves, said about the vandalism that “we need some adults in the room to tell people what … liberal, democratic values are; what their value is; why we uphold them; what they’re good for.” He added, “They [the adults] need to stand up for these values, or we are going to further degenerate in our polarism towards autocracy.”

Yet Michael Cassidy, a 35-year-old Christian and former military officer defended his decision to push over and decapitate the statue placed next to the Nativity ahead of Christmas. He calmly discarded the head of the satanic idol in a trash can.

“The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan. But none of the founders [of the US] would have considered government sanction of satanic altars inside capitol buildings as protected by the first amendment,” Cassidy stressed

NOT WORSHIP DEVIL?

TST was founded in 2013 and claims its members do not worship the devil, nor do they believe in either Satan’s existence or the supernatural. However, its altar, regular satanic “Temple services,” and official registration as a tax-exempt religious organization seemed to suggest otherwise.

And critics argue that the devil, or Satan, was called the “father of lies” by Jesus. “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” Jesus said, referring to Satan in Bible verse John 8:44.

Within hours of Cassidy’s brief arrest, conservatives reportedly raised at least $20,000. Donors included the founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, who called Cassidy a “Satan slayer” and pledged $10,000 to his legal defense.

Cassidy was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Conviction could carry a sentence of one year in prison and a $2,560 fine.

Cassidy will be represented by Davis Younts, an attorney and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. “My client was motivated by his faith to peacefully protest a display that is a direct affront to God,” Younts told media. “When others, including elected leaders, were unwilling to act, he peacefully removed the display. It is my hope that the citation will be dismissed when my client’s actions are understood and that he will not face prosecution because of his faith.”

Cassidy cited 1 John 3:8 as an additional motivation for his destruction of the statue: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” He noted that “Scripture exhorts us to think and act like Jesus Christ.”

Before its destruction, the satanic display sparked anger from state lawmakers, with one calling for its removal. “For those who wish to worship Satan, they are free to do so on their private property,” Representative Brad Sherman, a Republican from Williamsburg, said in his newsletter.

ALLOWING SATANIC EXPRESSION

“But to allow satanic expression in the State Capitol and other public property is to surrender to Satan’s demands for equality with God, which was his original sin: ‘I will be like the Most High’ (see Isaiah 14:14),” Sherman stressed.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was equally critical, saying the statue was “absolutely objectionable” but did not call for removal.

Seeking to turn the controversy into a presidential campaign issue, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was blaming former U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s administration.

He recalled that the temple received permission for the satanic display under a state policy that allows temporary religious displays in the Capitol.

DeSantis said he believed it was a wrongheaded Trump administration decision that gave TST, headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, standing as a religious organization. “The Trump administration gave them approval to be under the IRS as a religion, so that gave them the legal ability to potentially do it,” he said. “[The government] recognized it as a religion; otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to do it; I don’t think that was the right decision,” DeSantis added.

Despite the destruction of the robed figure of Baphomet, holding a ribbon-bedecked pentangle and topped with a gilded ram’s head, TST said the remaining small altar displaying the temple’s seal and the seven tenets of satanism, would remain for now.

“We are proud to continue our holiday display for the next few days that have been allotted,” it said. It cautioned visitors to “travel together and use the seven tenets as a reminder for empathy, in the knowledge that justice is being pursued in the correct way, through legal means.”

‘HAPPY HOLIDAYS’

The message concluded, “Happy Holidays! Hail Satan.”

On Friday, a lone man, who declined to give his name, sat in front of the display and recited Christian prayers, making references to Jesus, reporters noticed.

The display of TST, separate from the Church of Satan founded in the 1960s, is on the east side of the Capitol beside a column and an ornate staircase. It’s about 100 feet (30 meters) from a Christmas tree displayed in the dome.

TST’s Greaves claimed that the destruction of the altar by Christian Cassidy was little more than “cowardice dressed up as heroism” by an aspiring politician. Cassidy isn’t the only Christian targeting perceived satanic symbols.

Thousands of miles away in the Netherlands, an elderly former Christian missionary recently destroyed hundreds of “idols” made of ceramic, saying there is “only one God, and that is Yahweh.”

The 81-year-old woman, only identified as Harriët, traveled hours by train from her Dutch eastern city of Enschede to the central Netherlands town of Maarssen, where the small statues were shown.

They were displayed at the “Exodus” exhibition in Buitenplaats Doornburgh (‘Country Estate Doornburgh’), a former Maarssen monastery, and organized with the Bijbels Museum (‘Biblical Museum’) and artist Marieke Ploeg.

Volunteers made some 3,000 ‘fertility goddess’ Asherah dolls as part of Ploeg’s attempt to “advocate a female manifestation” of God, Worthy News reported in October. Harriët, who worked as a Christian missionary in the Middle East, called the exhibition “blasphemous” and wanted to “take action.”