Satan Temple's goat-headed
statue debuts Saturday
Christina
Hall, Detroit Free Press 6:50 p.m. EDT July 24, 2015
(Photo:
The Satanic Temple via AP)
DETROIT
— A controversial monument
to be unveiled Saturday downtown is an event that Michigan
Christians have tried to shut down, according to a news release Friday.
The
Satanic Temple will reveal the 1-ton, bronze, goat-headed idol called Baphomet
after 9 p.m. ET to those who have bought $25 to $75 tickets. The location of
the unveiling is secret — the original venue canceled the booking — and will be
sent to ticket-holders via email Saturday, officials said in the release.
The fête,
which the group calls the largest Satanic ceremony in history, will kick off
its legal efforts to secure placement of the monument next to a Ten
Commandments monument on public grounds in Arkansas or Oklahoma.
The
statue is backed by an inverted pentagram and flanked by statues of two young
children gazing up at the creature, which has horns, hooves, wings and a beard.
It cost more than $100,000 and had been planned for a spot at the state Capitol
in Oklahoma City until Oklahoma's Supreme Court banned religious displays,
including a monument of the Ten Commandments, on Capitol grounds.
"It
was always our intention to take this wherever it was relevant, wherever it was
necessary, and wherever that dialogue needed to take place," said Lucien
Greaves, a spokesman for the group, which is less about Satan worship and more
about highlighting what it perceives to be improper religious influence on
governments.
A Ten
Commandments monument is planned outside Arkansas' Statehouse in Little Rock.
The
Satanic Temple plans to unveil its 1½-ton Baphomet monument, which shows Satan
with horns, hooves, wings and a beard flanked by two young children, at a
private event July 25, 2015, in Detroit. (Photo: The Satanic Temple via
AP)
The
statue was to be unveiled at Bert's Marketplace in Detroit's Eastern Market
district, but Bert Dearing said he returned a $3,000 rental fee when he
learned about the group that booked the place.
"It
would be great if we had a large turnout" for the 10 a.m. Saturday Mass at
St. Joseph Catholic Church in response to the statue, the Detroit Mass Mob
posted on its Facebook page Friday. Other churches in the Mother of Divine
Mercy parish, three historic churches near downtown, also plan Masses
specifically because of the unveiling.
Baphomet,
subject of the statue that the temple plans to unveil, was the idol that the
Knights Templar were accused of secretly worshiping in chapter houses across
Europe and the Holy Land before the order was disbanded in 1312. Back in
the Templars’ day, Baphomet was said to be a disembodied head but has been
represented as a goat-headed figure since the 1800s.
The
Satanic Temple, different from the Church of Satan founded in the 1960s, views
Satan not as an evil figure, but one who dared question authority. The
temple also advocates for the separation of church and state.
Baphomet
is meant to symbolize plurality and religious liberty, Greaves has said.
Jex
Blackmore, Satanic Temple Detroit chapter founder, has said the group doesn't
worship Satan but does promote individuality, compassion and views that differ
from Christian and conservative beliefs. Its chapter has more than 200
registered members.
New York
City-based sculptor Mark Porter, who worked on the statue for five months in a
Florida near Daytona Beach, Fla., said he initially found the task creepy.
"I
started thinking about it: Why don't I like it?" Porter said. "And
then after looking at that every day for a year, it's just whatever. It could
be Mickey Mouse."
The
unveiling will be a musical celebration that includes Detroit's Wolf Eyes
band and Boston-based punk act Sadist. The ticket website promises "a
night of chaos, noise and debauchery at the unveiling, a hedonistic
celebration introducing the controversial Baphomet monument accompanied by
provocative performances and installations."
Contributing:
Nancy Kaffer, Detroit
Free Press; The Associated Press
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