 |
|
|
|
|
January 7th, 2014
10:00 AM ET
Satanists unveil design for OK statehouse statueBy Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN) - Satanists have unveiled their design for a proposed statue at the Oklahoma state Capitol, including a place for people to sit on the devil's lap "for inspiration and contemplation." The New York-based Satanic Temple submitted its proposal to Oklahoma officials this month after applying for a spot on Capitol grounds late last year. The Satanists say their statue would "complement and contrast" with a Ten Commandments monument placed at the Capitol in Oklahoma City in 2012. The Satanists' proposed monument depicts Baphomet, a goat-headed pagan idol sitting on a 7-foot-tall throne inscribed with an inverted pentagram. In an artist's rendering provided by the Satanic Temple, smiling children look adoringly at the devilish figure. "The statue will serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures," Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the Satanic Temple, said in a prepared statement. "The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.” According to its Indiegogo page, the Satanists have raised more than $16,000 toward their goal of $20,000 for the monument, which Greaves said would "be a historical marker commemorating the scapegoats, the marginalized, the demonized minority and the unjustly outcast.” The Temple of Satan is less a religious body organized around rituals and regular meetings than a roving band of political provocateurs, according to Greaves. They believe Satan is a "literary construct," the spokesman said, not an actual being with horns and hooves. READ MORE: Satanists want statue next to Ten Commandments The proposed statue includes quotations from poets Lord Byron and William Blake. “Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion” runs the Blake quotation. The 18th-century poet was a Christian, albeit one with a mystical bent and little use for traditional morality. The statue's main figure, Baphomet, has long been associated with Satan, Greaves said. In the 12th century, the Knights Templar, a group of Christian crusaders, were accused of worshiping Baphomet in their secretive rituals. "From the mythology created by these accusations against the Templars, we now have a symbol for Satan pictured as a goat-headed beast," Greaves said. Since the 1960s, a variation of the horned goat head has been the official symbol of the Church of Satan, which is not affiliated with the Temple of Satan. The head of the Church of Satan has told CNN he does not approve of the idea of a Satanist statue on public grounds. Oklahoma state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft told CNN that he doesn't think the Satanists' statue will be approved. “What will disqualify them has really nothing to do with Satan as such; it's that it has no historical significance for the state of Oklahoma,” he said. Trait Thompson, chairman of Oklahoma's Capitol Preservation Committee, said he has not received the Satanists' proposed design yet. He also said that no applications will be considered until a lawsuit over the Ten Commandments monument is settled. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued over Oklahoma's Ten Commandments monument, calling it an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. After news broke of the Satanists' proposal, the state was flooded with requests from religious groups seeking to erect monuments to their own faith, including Hindus and Pastafarians, a satirical religion that "worships" the Flying Spaghetti Monster. An Oklahoma lawmaker told CNN that the Satanists' message wouldn't fly in the Bible Belt state, where nearly two-thirds of the population is Christian. "Any monument displayed on state property should reflect the values of Oklahoma or memorialize those who built or defended our freedom," Rep. Bob Cleveland said Tuesday. "In my opinion, this Satanist monument does not meet with the values of Oklahomans." soundoff (3,489 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Next »
Next entry »'Eat, Pray, Love' ... minus the pizza and sex
« Previous entryAfter a schism, a question: Can atheist churches last?
|
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
|
|
|
this baphomet thing is retarded, first of Satan and I are not the same entity, there is a difference between Mastema and I. Baphomet is the perverted image of Mohammed and Cernunnos, both of which were the primary enemy of Charlemagne church. My point is your actually offending me, Mohammed’s, and Cernunnos’s honor with the association. Try going with my classic image of the whole torch in one handbook in the other and broken chain on the ankle cuff. You know the big green statue in new York, she likes that one. The association with Satan needs to end, the fact if Satan still works for the Tyrant God.
I always pictured Satan looking a little like a young Heath Ledger.
Everything in nature is so perfect and so perfectly complex in function that it could have only been created by a perfect designer.
Nice try.
@prfct, of course that is an absurd statement. nothing in nature is "perfect"
oh yea? how does it a seed, with no intelligent life in it, know when to germinate? I find that extraordinaraly perfect
That's only because you lack knowledge in phenology or even basic biology.
I suppose they have the explanation for how it was coded to react that way right?
lol, I read that as Phrenology and almost spit out my tea.
Seriously, "prfct"? SMH
Mankey,
"I suppose they have the explanation for how it was coded to react that way right?"
It's called Evolution, I think.
perfect like Tay-Sachs
Familiar with the Ebola virus?
If everything in nature were perfect, people would not be catching diseases or die of cancer, and there would be no natural disasters like hurricanes or volcano eruptions. What a ignorant comment this is.
mosquitoes and malaria... perfect.
Everything is perfect in nature? LOL, you have not been paying attention.
sorry i had something to post for the last 12 minutes still working on getting past the filter, fckin free speech hating motherfuckers
'Everything in nature is so perfect '
huh? which plane of existence are you living on where this is true?
fuck you CNN i give, i can blatantly curse but if their is hafe a fuck'n in crabsnaches paragraph, its censored like a whores burp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSlEjidRzlo
what that was entirely appropriate did you see Jesus saying fuck you
The human body has many flaws – spine not ideal for bipedal motion, laryngeal nerve is unnecessarily long (more so in giraffes), optic nerve creates a blind spot, etc. Evolution is the only explanation.
What would be absolutely hilarious is if after the satanic statue is erected there are no tornados in OK for the next year.
Lmao. That WOULD be funny...
SO MANY LIKE TO MAKE HATEFUL, JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS ABOUT PEOPLE WITH FAITH BEING STUPID OR UNEDUCATED. IF WE ACTUALLY DO THE RESEARCH, THE WHOLE THING ABOUT THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION, PERTAINING TO THE ORIGINS OF LIFE, IS QUITE THEORETICAL. SCIENTISTS CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW LIFE SPRANG FROM LIFELESSNESS. THE TRUTH IS THAT SCIENTISTS STILL TODAY DO NOT KNOW HOW WE GOT HERE OR WHY. WE HAVE MANY THEORIES, BUT THEY ARE STILL JUST THEORIES. ANYBODY WHOM BELIEVES THAT THEY KNOW THE ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS IS DELUDING THEMSELVES. THAT IS THE FACT.
Shouting doesn't make you right. Quite the opposite–if you have to use all caps to make your point in order to get attention, your point was probably not worth reading.
Be kind and stop yelling. The origin of God is what can't be explained. There is every reason to believe that the origin of life by natural processes will be fully explained some day because science has a stupendous track record for these kinds of things.
It's never easy to explain the supernatural now is it?
A scientific theory is a well substantiated explanation of how the universe works.
Evolution is a scientific theory that is supported by a vast amount of observation and evidence.
The origins of life on Earth are not fully known currently, but there are many promising avenues of research.
There was a time when we needed gods to explain lightning.
it wasn't very long ago that human flight was thought impossible and that sickness was caused by evil spirits.
one fact is undeniable, that nearly all things once attributed to supernatural cause have been determined to have a natural origin. the realm of the supernatural is simply a placeholder of ignorance waiting for the determination of that natural cause.
please show us love by not shouting...it does nobody any good (including yourself). hope you are doing well 🙂
How does anything you said disprove evolution? Scientists can't prove how life began so we're going to throw out everything else? I'm a Christian and I believe in evolution. I really don't see why it can't co-exist in your mind or faith? We all know the Bible is not meant to be literal.
quite to the contrary you have not had much bible study to make that statement. It has been meant to be taken very literal. We will all have to stand before the Lord one day. I'm not worried!
I agree that it was meant to be taken literally. But it's hard to do when there is a contradiction in every other chapter.
'quite to the contrary you have not had much bible study to make that statement. It has been meant to be taken very literal. '
funny but a lot of people would say the reverse to you. You have not had much bible study if you think its meant to be taken literally.
JVC- Bible "STUDY" is more appropriately called ' INDOCTRINATION'. Look up the meaning of these words.
Regarding your last statement, it is indeed a fact that most of what people believe can't be shown to be fact. Faith in the supernatural is supported by no facts.
The Theory of Evolution is not about the origins of life (Abiogenesis or biopoiesis), but rather the progression to more complex life forms.
that's interesting because I tried this thing called "going to college," and although biology was not my major I did take several courses on the subject and have read texts from multiple experts in the field of evolutionary biology. That being said let's get two things out of the way. first, the theory of evolution describes how life evolved SINCE the origin of life. It makes literally no attempt to describe where life origninally came from. Second, and probably most important, evolution is one of if not THE MOST well-supported scientific theories that doesn't rise directly out of mathematics in the modern repetoire. About the only two things that have similar amounts of substantiating observational evidence that I know of are the germ theory of disease in medicine and the valence bond theory in chemistry.
Guess the Obama Zombies are finally getting what they want – a statue of their Messiah Obama!
It's funny how the only ones who ever refer to Obama as the messiah are the GOTP...why is that?
Yup – President Obama presents a real quandry to the Christians: He is Christian. He is kind. He tries to help the poor and disadvantaged, and that really burns up a Christian Republican.
I suspect many Christian Republicans are afraid that President Obama IS God or whatever a 'messiah' is- don't godsters believe in some '2nd coming' or something like that?
Please .... from now on ... refer to President Obama as President Obama, our Lord.
I had no idea he founded the Pastafarians.
You thumpers keep talking about the 10 commandments. Which 10 are you referring to? Where in the text of the bible does it say "these ten commandments"?
You might not realize that they are a completely different set of 10 commandments than you were brought up to believe.
They don't really read the bible. I hope none of them have boiled a goat in his mother's milk.
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Exodus 34!!
And 23!
A cheeseburger is an abomination. Eating meat with milk products is expressly forbidden by God in the commandments he gave Moses in Exodus 34. Anyone who has eaten a cheeseburger has committed a great sin before God and deserves eternal damnation.
Good for them Satanists. I'm sick of conservative Christians screaming for religious freedom and denying it to any others. It is all silliness anyway, scary stories to keep small children in line.
I don't understand why everyone's so bent out of shape about the ten commandments being there, even if you don't agree with any of the Abrahamic religions they're still pretty good rules to follow. Like, why can't people just say "I don't agree with it but whatever," nope, someone has to build a monument to satan and get mad at Christians and atheists or whoever or whatever. FFS guys, didn't your mom or dad ever tell you life isn't fair, deal with what you're dealt?
@mik, no problem. just remove the commandments with religious references.
Good rules to follow?
Like worship only the one god? never take its name in vain?
Idiot.
Doesn't sound like you're saying "whatever" to this Satanic statue. And "Deal with what you're dealt" is pretty lousy advice if it means to just sit back and take it.
And the cute goat statue is meant to "serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures." Why are you all bothered by it? Do you have something against compassion and empathy?
Because most people do not want to be held accountable to anyone or anything especially God. I would much rather believe in the word of God than the foolishness of man. By the time the Lord comes back it will be too late for many! God does give people many warnings and did in the Old Testament too. He also gave everyone a conscience...and able to make their own choices. It's up to each one of us to decide the path we are going to take for eternity. Plain and simple. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out!
Jesus was supposed to return while some of the people he was speaking to were still alive. It's safe to move on. The path I've chosen is one of reason.
JVC: Funny because most rocket scientists don't believe in your God. They aren't called rocket scientists because that are dumb are they?
LOL!
Well, uh – God bless 'em, those crazy Satanists.
The Oklahomans certainly come off looking the worse. As a Christian, I respect the 10 Commandments and perhaps even their place in legal history. But to set them up in our government places actually showcases their inadequacy as secular guidelines for the issues that we must deal with. Setting them up in our public places is more in line with something Islamic extremists do with their Sharia law in the mad world they seem bent on creating. this is anathema to American thought and ideals and history. The Oklahomans and anyone else in the USA who sets up such religious law in public places are wrongheaded at least and simple-minded at worst.
Bring on GoatBoy and let us contemplate our religious silliness.
Hilarious.... I personally worship the flying Spaghetti Monster, but what the heck, to each his own...
Yeah, that flying Spaghetti Monster just never gets old, does it?
Ramen!
I'm convinced this entire monument thing was done by lawyers, for lawyers.
They are making big $$ on this stupid crap.
Just.
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a lovable gang!!! What better target than a bunch of self-righteous Okies???????
GO GETTUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An interesting story. But so is the bit of news about the relatives of the young men killed in Benghazi bringing a letter to Speaker Boehner demanding a select committee investigation. Somehow, THAT didn't rate space on CNN. Hmmmm......
I know how ya feel. As I recall, they didn't do much reporting on the TWELVE embassy attacks that resulted in the deaths of 168 people!
Not all those people were Americans, so most of them don't matter of course. And those that were Americans, well we were at War with Terror back then so it was ok.
f-k ya' up your Bengaza. Those fools shouldn't have been over there anyway.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know their aszz's were grass.
Too many people in this world anyway, so what's a little religious sacrifice to your gods. In this case, your god was Allah.
Get over it.
'In the letter to Boehner, which was delivered on early Monday afternoon and provided exclusively to Breitbart News'
provided exclusively ....and you wonder why no one else is talking about it?
They are out of their mind, for doing this I HATE SATAN, King of Lies
No need to hate Satan, he doesn't exist.
@dave, they have their gods, you have yours. get over it.
We should start a "War with Satan!"
Why are you committing religious persecution towards the Satanists?
Just so you can say you hated Satan before hating Satan was cool?
The problem with their claim, in the name of religious equal representation, is that the Judea-Christian 10 Commandments represents and promotes the different religions born of God (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Church of Satan, regardless of if it actually worships Satan or not, names itself after the being whose name literally means "Adversary of God" (with specific reference to the God of those faiths). The placement of this icon would not be about promoting their religion but specifically be about assaulting the other religions as that is the complete purpose and existence of the being in the first place. As such, this icon represents an assault on the Judea-Christian 1st Amendment rights and not a representation of general Freedom of Religion.
Excellent points!
<><
‾‾‾‾‾‾
Leave it to "Me" to side with this genius....(!)
I agree. Excellent points.
"I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians." -Thomas Jefferson
The 1st line on the 10 Commandments monument is an affront to all non-abrahamic religions.
The problem with your claim, in the name of religious equal representation, is that ALL imaginary beliefs must be represented if one is, lest the state 'endorse' a particular religion of set of religions.
How do you prove which ones are imaginary?
‾‾‾‾‾‾
<><
@me, all those that can be proven real already have been.
All religions are fairy tales, *all* of them.
@Me: how do you prove that they are NOT imaginary?
'The problem with their claim, in the name of religious equal representation, is that the Judea-Christian 10 Commandments represents and promotes the different religions born of God (Judaism, Christianity and Islam).'
you know there are more than just those 3 religions right?
oh and just so you know......satan means 'adversary', not 'adversary of god'
"the Judea-Christian 10 Commandments represents and promotes the different religions born of God (Judaism, Christianity and Islam)."
Comments like this epitomizes the self-righteousness of Christians and Christianity.
Personally would have gone with Cthulhu or Dagon. Least they're honest about their beliefs leading to the destruction of all living beings.
Now to be fair Cthulhu was only a messanger or herald for the Old Ones. Don't shoot the messanger...
As a christian that believes in freedom of religion and dislikes the extremist christian conservatives that keep pushing there own moral agenda and there extreme beliefs on others that don't share there views I find this funny. These are the same people that keep telling all of us we want government out of our lives I would say they have a problem. Because they really didn't think that hard when they allowed the privately founded Ten Commandments monument in OKC. Now the rest of us that live in Oklahoma have to just wait while this turns into a giant court case. Least that is the direction this foolishness is headed.
Bravo, that!
This is great. It would clearly be religious persecution if they deny this statue. Com'on, Oklahoma and Christians, don't be such hypocrites.
This has gotten out of hand. Separate church and state again, already. Geesh.
I think when they approve the atheist monument it wioll look just like the monumnet to the IPU Goddess.
Sirhuxley, thou shall not murder is a suggestion? The thing most disturbing thing is the drawing showing Children worshipping Satan when Satan represents evil. If they have to put this up to be fair, I think the drawing should be modified to take the children out. The 10 Commandments are not just Christian the y are also Jewish. Other religions laws such as Muslim also have the same or similar tenets. Our laws and moral society are based on them. I have to save their drawing of Satan is ugly and looks like the Mothman statue. The real Satan of the Bible was created as the most beautiful angel.
Satanists do not think Satan is evil.
You have your belief, they have theirs.
THAT IS THE POINT HERE!
↑↑ yet another Satanist basher ↑↑
To repeat what I said below: Our laws and moral society are not based on the Ten Commandments. Read them again. Count how many are U.S. laws. The answer is two – no murder, no stealing. Three if you count bearing false witness as perjury. And I'm pretty sure we'd have laws against murder and stealing without the Ten Commandments. So basically, they are a big fail when it comes to influence on American law and providing any kind of usefulness on morality.
BS on that morals came from religion. Morals existed *before* religion. Religion, particularly Judeo-Christian religions, do not have monopoly on morals. Get over yourself. Besides, the Christian god has killed way more people than Satan anyway according to the bible.
"... that Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." T. Jefferson
JoSnowden
So you didn't read the article then...got it.
The statue is not of satan...go back and read.