On Friday the 13, I attended a two-hour information session at Utah State University hosted by the Secular Student Alliance on campus. The speaker of the night was Lucien Greaves, spokesperson and co-founder of the Satanic Temple, who explained that his organization is always on the frontlines to push for religious equality and/or the separation of church and state as outlined in the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Some of these examples that Greaves spoke about are just as controversial as the organization itself.
For example, when a school board in Orange County, Florida, decided to allow religious materials to be distributed at a school function, the Satanic Temple decided to introduce their own children’s coloring book with activities about Satanism. Ultimately the entire event was cancelled and no religion infiltrated the public education system that day. Another time TST was in the news was when the Good News Club, an evangelical after-school club, began promoting its religion to children, the Satanic Temple created their own club called After School Satan. Although a religious pamphlet or an evangelical afterschool club may not seem like a big deal, the Satanic Temple explains that they are there to make sure all religions are fairly represented or none. The Satanic Temple’s more well-known activism has been in reaction to government-sanctioned religious monuments of the 10 Commandments. Greaves explained in his lecture that the Oklahoma House and Senate approved the placement of a privately donated 10 Commandments monument on capitol grounds. The Satanic Temple then pushed for the installation of a monument to Baphomet, a satanic deity. “We made it very clear that we only wanted our monument to be on those grounds because the 10 Commandments were there,” Greaves said. The Satanic Temple doesn’t believe in a god or Satan and they don’t even believe in any supernatural forces. Instead, they use satanic iconography like Baphomet to challenge the those who wish to inflict religious undertones into democracy without allowing other’s voices. Greaves said people who grow up in religious environments often feel oppressed. They do not believe that any one religion should have any benefits over any other system of beliefs. During a Q&A session of the event, one attendee, confirmed to be Amias Shipley by the Herald Journal, asked Greaves about a local issue- LDS high school students who could sign up for classes taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Greaves responded by saying that he was looking for information on how to challenge the released-time classes, but he isn’t familiar with “Mormon” culture, although he found Utah to be very interesting. By the end of the event it seemed as if the attendees were supportive of the information Greaves had presented. I for one enjoyed the differing opinion and how open-minded the audience was. In this blog, I speak about a variety of topics that may make others uncomfortable and I challenge myself to attend events that I may not feel are aligned with my viewpoints. Greaves, a proclaimed atheist and pessimist, spoke on a lot of political issues that I feel are very important to me, an ex-Mormon. However, as this blog is called “Will I Be Bitter in Heaven,” it can be noted that I am an optimistic agnostic and that our core beliefs would probably not be complimentary. At the end of the event attendees posed for a picture raising “devil horn” fists. Before the event, a sizzle reel of news stories was playing and one spoke about the group’s efforts to go against protesters at Planned Parenthood. They were dressed in baby masks and it seemed outlandish and (for lack of a better word) Satanic. These were the only two moments in the entire event that made me cringe. I don’t believe it’s because these things were wrong or evil. That would just be giving power to something that really has none. I believe because of my religious pre-conditioning I was unable to listen to this talk without some sort of backfire effect. It’s the same when I attended my first Catholic Mass because I was taught that these people were wrong. They aren’t. I hope to do more blogs that follow other’s beliefs like this one. Especially if their founders are as gorgeous as Lucien Greaves. (Sorry for dropping my journalistic integrity to anyone who made it to the end of this article. Just look at him though. Dreamy.) Truly, I think if there is an afterlife, it is up to me to see what everyone thinks, not just my own beliefs.
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Erick L. Graham Wood
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