https://www.sj-r.com/news/20181216/catholic-group-prays-for-removal-of-satanic-temple-display-in-capitol
Catholic group prays for removal of Satanic Temple display in Capitol
Crystal Thomas Most Popular Our Picks
A group of about 40 Catholics assembled in front of the Capitol Sunday afternoon, praying a “rosary of reparation” and asking the Illinois Secretary of State to remove a display by the Satanic Temple-Chicago from the Capitol rotunda.
Called the “Snaketivity,” the 4 1/2-foot statue depicts the forearm and hand of a young woman encircled by a snake while clutching an apple. It states that “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift.” It joins other displays in the rotunda that have permits, including a menorah, a Christmas tree that stretches to the second floor and a nativity scene. Nearby, a sign put up by the Secretary of State’s office explains the state is required by the First Amendment to allow temporary, public displays in the Capitol, and that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling forbids regulations based on the content of the displays.
The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a Catholic group headquartered in Pennsylvania, organized the Sunday prayer and has a petition on its website for the Snaketivity’s removal.
“No government entity should promote the father of lies, as this is contrary to the good they are called to uphold in society,” Preston Noell, with the society’s Chicago chapter, said Sunday. “These public Satanic offenses are a direct mockery of Christ’s nativity and these attacks must be met with opposition, which we are adhering to with prayer.”
Noell said the Satanic display was one of several attempts to “shut down” Christians and “attack Christian civilization.”
“We are a Christian nation,” Noell said. “We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ … and to equate Satanism with anything that is religious like this is an affront to reason.”
Sunday’s crowd, several of whom clutched rosaries, gathered around a statue of Mary depicted as Our Lady of Fatima, which was was placed in front of the Abraham Lincoln statue at Second Street and Capitol Avenue.
Chris Dunlap, a treeworker from Racine, Wisconsin, drove to Springfield with his family to help facilitate and participate in the Sunday prayer. His six children, ages 9 to 21, held signs quoting Bible verses and calling Satan “the eternal loser.”
“I personally don’t believe evil has rights,” said Dunlap, referring to the Satanic Temple. “It’s anti-civilization.”
What particularly irked Dunlap about the Satanic Temple statue was it was being displayed during the Christmas season.
“If you were having a Christmas party and if someone who didn’t believe in Christmas crashed it, would you embrace him or bounce him?” Dunlap said. “We aren’t going to sit idly by while Satanists blaspheme the birth of Christ.”
Lex Manticore, the head of the 150-member Chicago chapter of the Satanic Temple, has said the group does not worship, nor believes in, a “literal Satan” but believes Satan to be a metaphor for rebellion in the face of religious tyranny. He also said the idea was not to “replace or push out any other religious organization. We believe in religious plurality, and we just want equal representation. … It’s our constitutional right to do so, so we’re just executing that right.”
Dave Druker, spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, has said the Chicago-based Satanic group had the right, just like religious organizations, to put up its display in the rotunda. He confirmed again Sunday after the protest the display would not be removed.
“We appreciate their feelings and expressing their views, but the issue is the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Druker said Sunday.