Police are investigating after someone ripped down a city-sanctioned statue of a hooded demon outside the State House in Concord, New Hampshire.
The Satanic Temple’s holiday display, which depicted the pagan deity Baphomet was unveiled Saturday night but knocked down before Tuesday morning.
“Santa wouldn’t do this,” Concord Deputy Police Chief John Thomas quipped. “Santa loves everybody.”
State Representative Ellen Read, Democrat, approached the Satanic Temple about doing a display after seeing other holiday displays at the State House, she said.
“I approached them as a person who cares about equal representation on public grounds for religions,” Read said.
On Tuesday morning, Read could be seen picking up the pieces of the goat-headed figure off the ground after it was vandalized, including putting the statue’s life-size legs in her car.
“The reaction seems so emotional, so knee-jerk, that the idea that a mannequin and a goat mask would create all of this animosity,” Read said.
The city of Concord had approved the demonic display, saying it was permitted under the First Amendment. A Christmas tree, a nativity scene, and a Bill of Rights display were also erected.
“Under the First Amendment and to avoid litigation, the City needed to choose whether to ban all holiday displays installed by other groups, or otherwise, to allow it,” the city said in a statement.
“After reviewing its legal options, the City ultimately decided to continue the policy of allowing unattended displays at City Plaza during this holiday season and to allow the statue. It is anticipated that the City Council will review next year whether permits for unattended holiday displays should be allowed at City Plaza,” the city said.
However, the mayor was not keen on the display.
“I opposed the permit because I believe the request was made not in the interest of promoting religious equity, but in order to drive an anti-religious political agenda,” Mayor Byron Champlin said.
One New Hampshire Christian advocacy group, Cornerstone, mocked the display, saying The Satanic Temple is “not Charles Manson: it’s just your liberal feminist aunt trying to trigger you by mocking your faith.”
“The Satanic Temple are not Satanists. They have no religious belief in any Satan figure. They are normal, atheist feminists who use Satanic imagery as a legal tactic, to fundraise through media exposure, and because offending Christian grandmothers brings a sense of meaning to their sad lives,” the group said in a statement.
The Satanic Temple has sued over abortion bans and at one point even turned on their own leader over transgender ideology.
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