A former Mississippi political candidate is facing criminal charges after a bedazzled statue of Baphomet, a figure associated with the Satanic Temple, was discovered decapitated at the Iowa State Capitol.
Michael Cassidy, 35, a former U.S. Navy pilot, told Fox News that he saw the controversy surrounding the display, which was heavily criticized by Republican politicians like Ron DeSantis, and drove to the Iowa Capitol to see it for himself. He said it hit a “nerve” and went on to destroy it.
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According to an archived version of his campaign website, Cassidy pushed for a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who destroys a statue in his own state.
Cassidy was arrested and faces vandalism charges, which could carry a one-year prison sentence and a $2,560 fine. He has since been released
Why is he not being charged under Iowa’s hate crime laws?
I would like to see this, although I wonder if the correct answer is that religion is not a protected group. If religion is a protected group, this is a hate crime.
I don’t know the right answer. Religious persecution is a real thing and has caused the deaths of countless people across the years that humans have existed. BUT Christians aren’t being persecuted in America (at the moment at least) and have an undo influence on the levers of power. I feel like a good thing to do would be to give the IRS teeth and and have individual Churches or Church organizations that violate the terms of their non profit status actually lose it and have to pay taxes on the huge amount of wealth they own (mostly land but I am sure other shit).
Yes, all churches need to pay taxes.
Nuh uh! Churches do charity work so they need to be tax free. — any christian we’ve argued with over this on the internet.
See, the thing about charity work is, it’s tax deductible!
Come now, we both know Christians would just then cry that non-belief isn’t a religion.
In fact, I’m pretty sure I remember hearing that come up in the past… They’re using motivated reasoning. They want a specific outcome, not a set of principles applied.
I understand though what we need to realize is that this isn’t simply “non-belief”. Satanic temple members have strongly held beliefs as part of the core tenants of satanism. It’s a non-superstitious religion. It’s just as valid a religion as christianity or islam.
I agree with you, I’m just pointing out that the Christians are not using logic or reasoning despite using words that might convince you otherwise.
I can’t argue with that.
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Or, was that behead your enemies?
I think it went something like this, “Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.”
Pretty sure it went something in Ancient Greek and that you’re just parroting an interpretation without any introspection of the source text nor the context from which it was lifted.
Try doing something scholarly next time. Hot-take-Bible-Quotes are worthless.
For reference, the seven tenants listed next to the destroyed display:
I One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.
V Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
It makes a lot of sense to me why Christians would be against this.
Christians have an utter landslide of reasons to believe the most outlandish of complete nonsense, but I’ve always been a fan of science, facts, and reality.
So I thank you. <3
Tenets to live by if you ask me. I wished we all did.
TIL I’m a Satanist.
As am I, apparently.
Welcome! As in all things, be mindful of those with ill intentions, but most of us are perfectly swell people. :)
A little late but we all are svelte ppl yeah baby yeah. Edit: Svelte swedish, just to clarify. Means starved. Yeah. Now you know. Starved for knowledge yeah
