The rabble rousers of the Satanic Temple brought another devilish display to the Illinois state Capitol Rotunda for the holiday season, specifically the Satanic holiday of Sol Invictus. The star of this year's show is the baby Baphomet.
"This year's tradition marks a greater urgency in the Baphomet's message of harmony and reconciliation," wrote the Satanic Temple's Director of Campaign Operations Erin Helian in a statement. "This years' display celebrates unity."
From the New York Post:
According to the organization's website, Sol Invictus is a "celebration of being unconquered by superstition and consistent in the pursuit of sharing knowledge," and has its origins in the cult of Sol in pre-Christian Rome[…]
The display has been a source of controversy with local Christian leaders. A Nativity scene was installed at the rotunda recently at an event sponsored by the Diocese of Springfield, where Bishop Thomas Paprocki said the Satanic Temple's displays "should have no place in this Capitol or any other place," according to the State Journal-Register[…]
The Satanic Temple extended its invitation to the bishop "to hold hands with members of The Satanic Temple while we come together and stand before all of the religious displays at the rotunda," Helian wrote.
Paprocki did not attend.
According to the Satanic Temple, their mission is "to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits for the individual will."
top image: The Satanic Temple
