[music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Operator: In commercial printing,
please press three.
For the newsroom, please press four.
For all other departments, please press...
[line ringing]
Hi, I was wondering who I would speak to
regarding an upcoming local news event.
- [indistinct chatter] - Oh, okay, great.
Uh, I'm calling from "Big News Publicity,"
and there's a rally that's taking place tomorrow
at the State Capitol by the Satanic Temple.
The Satanic Temple.
S... S as in Sam.
Great, thank you.
And there you have it, and that was an ABC affiliate.
Man: Camera rolls.
Okay. [inhales, clears throat]
We thank you for coming to our convening.
Hail Satan.
Man: Not bad.
[both laughing]
Could you hold it for a beat longer?
Hail Satan.
Damn it. [mutters]
- [feedback echoing] - Man: Test, one, two.
Hey, how's it going?
- It's going fantastic. - Why are you here today?
We're here to spread a message of goodwill,
and benevolence, and open-mindedness,
- and free expression. - What is your name?
That's not important.
It's a beautiful day here at the State Capitol...
great day to be a Satanist...
great day to be a human being.
[clears throat] We honor Governor Rick Scott!
Hail Satan, Rick,
for providing us this opportunity
to make the Satanic clause clear
and make our presence known, and, uh...
Man:
I believe it, and I'm very excited about it.
[man yells indistinctly]
Reporter: A satanic temple
fully supports Florida Governor Rick Scott, who has been
pushing for prayer in public schools.
Jesus Christ became my savior at a very young age...
That's right, Satanists pushing for prayer
and backing a Tea Party favorite.
We spoke to one of the Satanists today
about why they support the law.
Lucien Greaves, and yes, that is the name
the gentleman gave us,
told us that the law would lead to, quote,
"A boom in religious diversity."
Basically, the argument being you open the door to God,
you open the door to Satan.
We're not what you think we are,
and we're here to... we're here to help people
understand that about us and also about themselves.
Man: What do you think of Rick Scott?
Think he's a great American.
Man:
- I do, and, uh... - Man:
No.
Hail Satan!
- Hail Satan. - Hail Satan.
Hail Satan!
[scattered clapping]
[feedback echoes]
Nicholas: It was awkward. it was messy,
and it was awesome. It was national news,
but more importantly, we realized
that we were on to something.
Woman: And where did the name "The Satanic Temple" come from?
Malcolm: When I was looking at all the different
Satanic organizations that existed,
uh, the name wasn't taken. [laughs]
Nicholas: The Rick Scott rally was a media stunt
to show the hypocrisy of what Rick Scott was doing,
and it required a spokesperson.
I didn't want to do it. [laughs]
He is the leader of the Satanic Temple,
and we're gonna be on the steps of the Capitol Building.
Man: Usually when I think of, like,
a gaggle of satanic, you know, worshippers,
I think of them wearing, like, the red hoods.
- Man 1: Yeah. - Man 2: Yeah.
Like, that's like the group color,
and then leader color would be, like, black, gray, brown.
Man: Oh, I like that.
Malcolm: When we first started, it was staged,
and there was an actor involved,
but very quickly, um, everything got real.
[indistinct chatter]
At the beginning, we didn't have the hubris
to think that we could start
a large global religious movement.
When the Satanic Temple got started,
I wanted to be sure
that Satanism was properly represented.
I very much felt that I was a Satanist,
but there was no need to kind of publicly advertise that.
Man: Lucien.
You excited?
Not yet.
Man: You excited?
No. I'm filled with angst.
I wanted somebody else to be the face of this,
but I... I found very quickly
I didn't want somebody else to be the voice of this.
God and Satan work in mysterious ways,
and we're not really sure, you know,
how all this is gonna manifest.
Lucien: It became very clear that there was
no amount of coaching I could give somebody
who wasn't authentically attached to Satanism
that would make them a credible interview subject on the topic.
Man: Why'd you guys pick, uh, Governor Scott...
Lucien: When it became my face and my voice,
it needed to be everything I believed in and stood by,
or it could not be at all,
so that's when everything changed.
Woman: We will begin with Lucien. All right, Lucien.
So is it, like, Lucien as in Lucifer?
Is that where... is that why you're called that?
Sure, as you like.
- [woman laughs] - As you like.
I don't kn... Like, is that your birth name?
- No, it's not. - Okay.
So, what is it that first drew you to the Satanic Temple?
Well, I... I helped co-found the Satanic Temple.
Why?
Uh, why? Because it is an embodiment
of my deeply-held beliefs,
and I think there's a distinct need for a counterbalance
against the dominant religious privilege in America today.
What are the deeply-held beliefs
that drew you to the Satanic Temple?
Uh, essentially, we view, uh, Satan as a symbolic embodiment
of the ultimate rebel against tyranny.
Nicholas: Once you realize how the media is constructed,
it becomes incredibly easy to manipulate.
[news theme plays]
Good evening to you,
at six o'clock I'm Chip Scarborough.
Well, the owner of a Meridian cemetery
has already said he plans to pursue charges
against members of New York's Satanic Temple,
and now police are investigating
the unusual ritual.
This you have to see to believe.
A group of devil worshippers
giving Westboro Baptist Church a run for their money.
God hates fags.
Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish,
and God is not running out of room in hell.
Nicholas: How do you fuck with Fred Phelps?
Well... you fuck with his mom.
Woman: A group from New York's Satanic Temple made the trip
to Meridian to protest the Westboro Baptist Church.
They performed a ritual they called Pink Mass
on the grave of Catherine Johnston,
the mother of Westboro founder Fred Phelps, Jr.
The ceremony involved two same-sex couples
kissing over her grave.
They then declared Catherine Johnston
a lesbian in the afterlife.
Malcolm: One of the things that I wanted to play on is,
you know, the Mormons have the belief
that they can baptize the dead
and do this postmortem conversion,
so I proposed that every time a same-sex couple kisses,
that she's pleasured in the afterlife.
You know, which I took from "It's a Wonderful Life."
You know, "Every time a bell rings,
an angel gets its wings."
Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
That's right.
Lucien: And then developing, as these things do,
into the obvious idea, which is putting your testicles
on the tombstone of the founder's mother's grave.
It's remarkable, it hadn't happened before.
It is an unusual crime that we haven't come across,
to my knowledge, in a while.
Malcolm: There was a desperate attempt to figure out
- what to charge us with. - [woman giggles]
The headline read, "Police Want to Arrest," you know,
"Satanists who Turn the Dead Gay."
[speaking in Latin] Satana, blessed be.
Blasphemy isn't just
directed at other people to offend them.
Blasphemy is very much
a declaration of personal independence,
and I don't mind, of course, when people are offended.
[bell tolling]
Woman: It's a city known for its witch trials,
but the newest neighbors on Bridge Street in Salem
are Satanists, the religious and political organization
choosing this spot for its international headquarters.
Man: According to the Satanic Temple's website,
the group is all about religious pluralism.
Lucien: What we want to do is force people
to evaluate their notions of the United States
being a Christian nation.
It's not. We're a secular nation.
We are supposed to be a democratic,
pluralistic nation. We are supposed to be a nation
that doesn't allow the government
to dictate what is appropriate religious expression.
The donors have to wait to find out
whether those donations are tax-deductible
once there's a ruling. Uh...
Early on it was agreed
that Lucien would be the spokesperson
and that I would keep in the background.
Here's our... our humble offices.
This is Malcolm's desk, and this is mine.
Sorry about the mess.
- [object clatters] - [laughs]
This is, uh, where we're going to have the shop.
This is where people will be able to buy prints or T-shirts
or whatever else we have on sale.
A lot of what we are doing
is going to direct people's perception
of what Satanism will be hereafter...
but the Satanic Temple did not invent modern Satanism.
- [audience applauding] - [music playing]
Host: You see now the Reverend Anton Szandor LaVey,
who is the founder and high priest
of the First Church of Satan,
who uses, as somewhat of a credo,
this timeless quote,
"Remember, evil backwards spells live."
[audience laughing]
Somehow, that never occurred to me.
The most interesting thing about Satanism
is that people... willingly choose to identify
with an adversarial being.
What are you doing?
I'm giving a blessing to the audience.
I don't think they appreciate it.
- They were throwing it back. - [audience laughing]
This is the sign of the horns.
Jesper: It's a founding aspect of Satanism
that you troll people.
That's the original troll, isn't it, is to say to people,
"Yeah, I'm a Satanist," and see what happens to people.
I mean, they just... they faint, or they get angry,
or whatever happens, and then you move on from there.
[man speaking in foreign language]
[all speaking in a foreign language]
- Hail Satan. - All: Hail Satan.
[organ playing]
Anton: Satan is simply a word
that means the adversary or the opposition
or the accuser.
It doesn't necessarily mean evil, or brutality, or cruelty.
It simply means the dissenter.
Well, I had a man come to me the other day,
and he said that it was just terrible.
When... when he joined the Satanic Church,
he was masturbating just about every day,
and now he's masturbating
two and sometimes three times a day...
- [all laughing] - ...and he's very happy,
much happier than he's ever been before.
- Man: That's an improvement. - [all laughing]
I always get a lift when I come here.
I suppose like other people do when they go to church,
which I haven't done for many years now.
[solemn drumming]
Jesper: Before the Church of Satan,
every time you had someone who was called a Satanist,
that was because of attribution by other people.
- Cover her face... - Woman: No!
...with the mask of Satan.
Jesper: But the Church of Satan is a watershed moment
in the history of Satanism because that's where
the attribution of a Satanic identity
is not just something that some people do to others.
It's something that people do to themselves.
One of the differences
between the early Church of Satan
and the Satanic Temple, that the early Church of Satan
was much more of a rat pack carnival.
They were never political, whereas the Satanic Temple
is actually refining Satanism and making it into a new tool,
a new weapon in the ongoing culture wars.
Woman:
If you're godless, free-thinking,
and a rebel, then you are a Satanist
in the eyes of many in our community and society,
and certainly by people in your government...
whether you like it or not.
Before I decided that I was a Satanist,
it was really the Bible that said,
"This is what a Satanist is like."
I attended church when I was a kid,
and funny story is that I played Eve
in a musical in middle school. [chuckles]
The story of Adam and Eve
is the story of Eve's original sin.
Eve was very curious, as her nature was as a woman.
[snake rattling]
Jex: The Devil appeared in the form of a snake
and offers the fruit of enlightenment.
- [whispering eerily] - We are taught to fear that,
but at the same time, it seems the most liberating,
because if we did not have that opportunity,
we would have to be in total servitude
without free choice,
and ultimate servitude is slavery. [chuckles]
Reframing it in the light of it being salvation
is probably one of the greatest tricks
ever played on humankind.
[birds chirping]
[serpent whispering eerily]
- [apple crunches] - [chorus vociferating solemnly]
Jex: Satanism is about embracing that Satanic status
rather than being controlled by it.
After I learned about the Satanic Temple,
I set up a time to meet with Lucien.
Throughout the conversation,
I realized that we have very similar ideas
of what contemporary Satanism was evolving to be.
[thunder rumbling]
Jex: The Devil directly challenged God...
so as a Satanist, I believe that
directly confronting injustice and corrupt authority
is an expression of one's Satanic faith.
And I believe activism is a Satanic practice.
[crowd hollering]
Jex: Traditionally, Satanists practiced very privately,
you know, closed doors,
black candles, black metal music.
But, with the Satanic philosophy
being one where Satan represents
rebellion against arbitrary authority,
we believe it required a level of political participation.
We are Satanists.
We are also Americans.
We are just as powerful
as those who work in this institution here.
Man:
We do not seek followers. We are seeking collaborators,
individuals for a visionary Satanic alliance,
leaders of the new American era.
- [crowd cheering] - [music playing]
Jex: I think that we need to go into the public sphere
and announce ourselves without shame.
- Hail Satan. - Crowd: Hail Satan.
- Hail Satan. - Crowd: Hail Satan!
Satanic Temple is mostly an idea
between a handful of people that had potential,
and the problem was how do we engage more individuals
and how do we make it, you know, take off?
It's one of the strangest stories to roil Boston
in recent memory. A Satanic Black Mass
was scheduled yesterday on Harvard's campus.
Here to talk more about the black mass
is Lucien Greaves. So, Lucien, just for people...
Nicholas: Lucien and Malcolm had gotten permission
to host a Black Mass...
in Boston. Uh, yeah, Boston's, uh,
it's pretty fucking Catholic.
A Black Mass is a grotesque,
deliberate perversion of a traditional Catholic mass,
you know, quite vulgar,
but then again, a mass is kind of vulgar too,
if you really think about it.
I mean, you're drinking blood and eating flesh?
I mean, that... that's just creepy.
They asked if I wanted to participate, so I flew out,
and there was a lot of miscommunication
in the beginning.
But I did the work of getting a lot of people to show up.
The punk scene was mobilized.
Lucien: We thought this would be a small-scale event.
A declaration of independence from superstition
was what it was meant to be, but the archdiocese in Boston
insisted on seeing it another way.
[indistinct chanting]
Reporter: Thousands of Catholic
in a more-than-hour-long procession
through the streets of Cambridge.
If someone was going to do a KKK reenactment
or a minstrel show or something like that,
I would hope the reaction would be outrage.
Man: This is definitely an act of hatred,
an act of bigotry directed towards the Church
and towards her faithful people.
We've actually got a little bit of a petition
if anybody watching would like to sign.
Nearly 60,000 names of people
who objected to this hateful event.
Jex: There was a sense that we should just give up
and cancel it, and I just remember feeling,
like this unexpected sense of justice and feel like,
"No, we can't." I ended up standing on a table
and saying, like, "We weren't...
We aren't gonna give in to this."
In just moments near Harvard University,
some very mean-spirited students
will be exercising their First Amendment right
by insulting Catholics not just at Harvard
but around the globe.
They're about to start a satanic mass, which they know
is deeply offensive to Catholics. What do I think?
Well, frankly, I think they're awful.
Nicholas: It was nuts.
It was way more than we had prepared for,
and hours before we were supposed to go on,
Harvard canceled it.
Jex: This event was, like, extremely chaotic,
and there was no plan for who is communicating with the media,
and, like, I kind of got thrown in front of a news camera.
A very unproductive conversation.
Uh, it's just very disappointing.
We're looking for a change of venue right now.
Um, we still have our participants.
We haven't quite worked it out yet.
Woman: Now apparently you've got this
sort of moving Black Mass.
Where do you think they're going?
Are they, like, going undercover or underground?
I mean, it's sort of interesting
because we've been chasing them for the last 90 minutes.
Well, hopefully... [chuckles] ...hopefully they're going away,
that's where they're going.
Some, uh, Chinese restaurant with a comedy club up top of it
just off campus agreed to host the Black Mass.
Reporter: The Black Mass,
featuring four individuals in hoods,
one man in a white suit, a cape, and a horned mask,
and a woman revealed to be wearing only lingerie.
No word on whether they shared a scorpion bowl after.
[wolf howls]
We were all slightly broken the next day,
and I remember just, like, I had this just wave
of just this core of, like, sadness. I felt guilty.
I felt just, "What did I do?"
And then it just occurred to me
this is the Catholic Church of Boston,
which covered up decades of child rape,
moved priests around, covered it up,
let them continue their raping and child abuse
and then had the gall to say what we're doing was sinful?
I mean, fuck them.
Uh, that was the moment that I really became a Satanist.
Woman: Let's shift gears a little bit.
Tell me about Oklahoma.
Okay, so Oklahoma had a Ten Commandments monument
on government property.
In my view, it's clearly making a religious statement
by doing that, and the Satanic Temple says
if you're gonna put your giant piece of marble
that says, "Christianity, Christianity, Christianity,"
then you also need to put up our gigantic monument
to Satanism.
Just imagine it, a statue of Satan right here
next to the Ten Commandments at the State Capitol.
The statue will be a symbol of Satan as a goat.
I want to show you
what this is gonna look like. Take a look here.
It's a seven-foot-tall goat-headed demon
sitting on a throne with two children next to it.
Lucien:
Newscaster: They submitted designs,
and they hope construction will start soon.
If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it right.
This is not something that can be easily ripped down.
Like, we're gonna do this in bronze.
We're gonna make something beautiful.
We're gonna make something permanent.
So we decided to raise money
to make a gigantic Satanic statue.
And I have a friend who studied traditional sculpting,
so I called him up, told him the deal.
He said, "Are you serious?"
and I said, "Yes, I am," and he said...
"I'm going to clear
the next six months of my schedule."
♪ There's a call Comes ringing ♪
♪ O'er the restless wave ♪
♪ Send the light Send the light ♪
♪ There are souls to rescue There are souls to save ♪
♪ Send the light Send the light ♪
- ♪ Send the light ♪ - ♪ Send the light ♪
♪ The blessed gospel light ♪
- ♪ Let it shine ♪ - ♪ Let it shine ♪
- ♪ From shore to shore ♪ - ♪ From shore to shore ♪
- ♪ Send the light ♪ - ♪ Send the light ♪
♪ The blessed gospel light ♪
- ♪ Let it shine ♪ - ♪ Let it shine ♪
- ♪ Forevermore... ♪ - ♪ Forevermore... ♪
Nicholas: I was envisioning, you know, goat head,
I mean, everything you associate with Satanism.
Lucien became involved at that point
and kind of codified it into an actual Baphomet.
The Baphomet image was taken
from a 19th century drawing of the sabbatic goat.
Nicholas: I originally wanted bat wings,
but a Baphomet does not have bat wings.
It has angel wings.
We decided that Iggy Pop would be the torso.
And a real Baphomet traditionally has breasts,
but because we wanted to get this
in front of the State Capitol,
we were worried that the breasts would hinder us
from doing that.
One of the things that I insisted upon
was having two children... looking up.
Having little kids around it, that's just ridiculous.
Are we making a mockery of everything
with regard to Christianity in this society?
You may not like the Satanists.
Guess what? That doesn't matter.
- Reporter: Do you? Do you? - David: Everybody is equal.
I don't care. All religions are the same to me.
Reporter: So you think it's perfectly fine to put a satanic
whatever message they're gonna have up there?
- How crazy is it? - Yes. I mean... You believe
in an invisible man in the sky too.
You call him Satan, you call him God. I don't care.
Whatever I believe in...
Hollow: I had followed the Satanic Temple
in the news when they had announced
that they were making the Baphomet statue.
I thought it was genuinely inspired.
I thought it was hilarious.
And I was completely astounded.
These guys are super cool. These are my people.
This is the best thing I've ever seen.
- I was like, "Holy shit." - I want to be a part of this.
Woman: I think I donated 25 dollars,
and then I wrote them and said, "If you're ever in L.A.
and you need some help, hit me up."
I think you're an incredible organization,
and I would really like to be involved.
Jay D: From a constitutional law perspective,
I'm really interested in the Satanic Temple
because it is basically making these public bodies
confront the real implications of their decisions
to allow religion into the public square.
The government can't say, "You're a good religion.
You're a bad religion."
- What? - That's why you should not have
religious artifacts on public property.
Their figurehead is an Antichrist.
They should be able to put the statue up,
and then they should be shot right next to it,
- and then we take it down. - Man: So violence is the way
- of dealing with it? - Man 2: Yes. You're advocating
violence against people with religious beliefs...
Lucien: The Baphomet monument is far more
than simply some middle finger to the evangelical right.
Really... we were...
we were giving the Oklahoma government a civics lesson.
Reporter: It must be removed.
That is the order on the Ten Commandments monument
outside the State Capitol in a seven-to-two vote
by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Reporter 1: Well, a group of Satanists
is tonight claiming victory.
Are you still pushing to have the goat with the horns
and so on put up on the State Capitol grounds?
No, we don't want our monument there
without the Ten Commandments there. Um,
the point all along was that it would complement
and contrast the Ten Commandments
and reaffirm that we live in a pluralistic nation
that respects diversity and religious liberty.
I joined this group because I saw the TST website,
and it was something that spoke to me.
- Thank you. - Lucien: When people wanted
to start identifying with the Satanic Temple,
there was no turning back on that.
People would write us messages
and were wanting to get involved...
so we decided to allow people to apply
to run a chapter in their own city.
[indistinct chatter]
Jex: I decided to launch a chapter in Detroit.
Response was incredible. It was huge.
Hail Satan. Hail Satan.
Jex: I don't know if I was surprised
that people wanted to get involved.
I was surprised at how many people wanted to get involved.
Sadie: All right, friends. Thanks for coming.
Um, I want to tell you guys to start with
that we have three people that we want to make
new members today. Nick, and Dell, and Erin.
We have a lot of work to do,
and I think Christian privilege is a huge problem in our country
because it dictates our laws. It dictates everything we do,
what bathroom I can use in some states.
- Hail Satan. [laughs] - Hail Satan.
I've just always been an extremely curious person.
And I used to spend a lot of time
at the bookstore alone because I was a huge loser.
'Cause I don't like to be involved in groups.
I'm not a very social person.
Most of my interactions are online.
It wasn't until I took that step to try to meet
these people, that's where it really all came together,
and I was terrified that I was just gonna
meet a bunch of people that were like,
"All right, so we're gonna meet up at the church.
We'll hand out spray paint cans,
and we'll kick over some graves." And...
everyone was amazing.
I came from a very,
like, conservatively religious background.
I was very much a devout Christian growing up.
You could almost say a zealot.
I've taught Bible school in our church.
I've taught Sunday school in our church,
and at the age of 13, I was called to be a deacon.
The day that I graduated confirmation,
you know, we're sitting in church,
and, you know, we're supposed to feel
the holy spirit come in, and I'm just like...
[groans softly]
[exhales] ...okay.
When I was in sixth grade,
we went on a field trip to see the film Gandhi.
The next day our history teacher said,
"You realize that in spite of all these great things
that he did for his countrymen and everything like that,
because he wasn't a Christian, he went to hell,"
and I'm like, "Really?"
This guy almost invented the idea of nonviolent protest,
but he's not a Christian, so he went to hell.
I'm like, "Is that the moral to this story? Really?
I call bullshit!"
This thing inside me was just, like...
I want to be the opposite of what these people are.
That's when I started, like, looking for Satan anywhere.
- Hail Satan. - Crowd: Hail Satan.
[chuckling]
[indistinct chatter]
Chalice: When I became a member of the Satanic Temple,
when I fully embraced who I was as a Satanist,
uh, it was my coming home.
This is crazy. Isn't this crazy?
[chuckling]
You all, like, came from all over the place.
Man:
- Woman 1: Yeah. - Woman 2: Yeah.
[all laughing]
Invoking Satan is invoking the struggle for justice
and equality for everyone.
Stu: Invoking Satan is the firm denial
that only one point of view is correct.
A willingness to fight for all points of view
in accordance with reason is imperative.
Michelle: Invoking Satan
is to reach out without reservation
and eat from the tree of knowledge
rather than be subjected to the whims of blind faith.
We will no longer choose apathy over action
and perpetuate our own oppression.
All: Ave Satanas.
- All: Ave Satanas. - Ave Satanas.
All: Hail Satan!
- Oh, those are cute. - [indistinct chatter]
Satanism is looking out for the Other
because we are the Other.
In three years, we have gone from three people to 50,000.
[crowd cheering]
As we bring the Satanic revolution to the world,
we do indeed invoke Satan and all that he means to us.
Join us in reciting, ave Satanas!
Crowd: Ave Satanas!
- Hail Satan! - All: Hail Satan!
- Ave Satanas! - All: Ave Satanas!
- Hail Satan! - All: Hail Satan!
[crowd cheering]
Stu: I was just a member, a card-carrying member,
and I wanted to get more involved,
but I had no real aspirations to be...
you know, I don't know. I just wanted to do something.
In the capital of Phoenix, there were these invocations
or prayers before city council meetings.
So please, if you can, stand for the invocation.
Stu: It's usually a hundred percent Christian,
and then every now and then they'll throw another group in
to celebrate how diverse they are.
Michelle: I was a nobody. I was kind of, like, you know,
just in this organization as a bystander,
commenting and supporting online,
and then I was very interested in helping out
in whatever capacity that I could.
Stu: Michelle was a radio personality at the time.
I was an attorney, and the first thing we did
was we wrote an email
to the city clerk in Phoenix and said,
"Hey, we see you have this invocation program
on a rotating basis. We'd like to be on that list."
We got a response email that said,
"Okay, here's your date."
A lot of people talking about the Satanic Temple
in Tucson, set to give an invocation
at the Phoenix city council meeting
coming up next month.
"Let us demand that individuals be judged
for their concrete actions."
Reporter: That is just part of the prayer
that members of the Satanic Temple plan to read
at the Phoenix city council meeting.
Stu: People that were interviewing us
were bringing holy water with them.
Uh, it was... it was complete insanity,
and there came a point where Michelle and I were like,
"What have we done?"
You wouldn't let ISIS come in
and give a prayer at the city of Phoenix.
Are you comparing these guys to ISIS?
Well, ISIS is evil. What is Satan?
Jim: I'd like to make a motion to change the practice
relating to invocations
and those chosen to give the invocation
be residents of the city of Phoenix.
That's okay to do that.
That's constitutional to change it,
but what we couldn't do
is apply it retroactively in this case.
That would be an unconstitutional suppression
of a minority religious viewpoint,
which is in contravention of the First Amendment
of the United States Constitution.
Stu: We knew that there were gonna be meetings,
but we decided that, uh,
it was probably dangerous for us to go.
I mean, people were threatening to murder us.
Uh, people were threatening to shoot us
on the way up the steps, um, and it wasn't worth it,
and it was streaming live, so we watched in horror.
We cannot stand by while a hate group
stands up and gives your invocation.
It's our goal to shut down their agenda,
which is to bring death and destruction over Phoenix.
We take a Pledge of Allegiance. It's one nation under God.
- Man 1: Yes. - Man 2: Yes.
That's not out there by mistake.
[crowd applauding]
How many people actually have a dollar bill
or a piece of money in their wallet or their pocket?
I do believe it says, "In God We Trust."
- Man 1: Yes! - Man 2: Yes!
[crowd cheering]
So are we invoking still the blessings of God
on our state and our city?
Are we invoking the curses of the deity spoken of
that they serve as Satan?
There are too many curses on our land,
and we don't need another curse.
Do we want God in this room, or don't we?
Don't mock God.
We want to lift up the name of Jesus.
There is no other name in heaven on earth
whereby a man must be saved in the name of Jesus Christ.
Let's get that straight. Make no mistake about it.
Jesus is the way.
Please, as briefly as possible.
We have a lot of cards to get through.
In a matter of one week,
a decades-old tradition of public prayer
before the city of Phoenix council meetings was history.
In its place, a moment of silent public prayer.
Michelle: It's kind of shocking that they would do away
with a 60-year tradition
for something that was so harmless.
The more hate that was thrown at us,
the more important this seemed
because it seemed like such a deeper issue
than a two-minute speech, where I'm like,
"Is this how everyone that's different is treated?"
And, you know,
it's not something that I'd faced in my own life.
For me to get this from my religion,
a minority religion, um, it was pretty eye-opening,
and that's what made me realize
how absolutely important this is.
Thank you.
Male reporter: The bill today allowing a monument
of the Ten Commandments
to be placed at the State Capitol
was filed by Senator Jason Rapert.
Female reporter: State Senator Jason Rapert says the monument
isn't meant to be a religious statement,
rather a testament to what he calls
the historical moral foundation of law.
These references are woven into the fabric of our society.
We're one nation under God.
Our national motto is in God We Trust.
It's time in our country to remind ourselves of,
really, those things that were important to us,
that were universal to us.
Senator Rapert, you know, again...
I'm a taxpaying member of the state of Arkansas,
and those are my Capitol grounds,
and I don't want that there.
I was a... I would say a zesty little atheist,
and I happened to go
to the American Atheist rally in Memphis.
One of the presenters
is a gentleman named Lucien Greaves.
You may be aware of our monument campaign
in Oklahoma.
Mason: He proceeds to give an entire presentation
of how they took a Ten Commandments monument down
in Oklahoma...
and my immediate thought was, "I've got to talk to this guy."
- Our Lady Victory. - All: Pray for us.
[crowd singing]
Man: Monuments to both the Ten Commandments
and Satan could soon find a home on the grounds
near the Arkansas State Capitol.
Today the subcommittee of the Capitol Arts
and Grounds Commissions held meetings
to review the proposed monuments.
Woman: The American History and Heritage Foundation
wants a Ten Commandments monument,
and the Satanic Temple wants a statue of Baphomet.
All: I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. And Mr. Lucien Graves is here.
Did I pronounce that... Graves, or...
- Lucien: Greaves. - Greaves, I apologize.
I want to get that right too, but they have proposed to place
a statue of Baphomet on the Capitol grounds.
Here's a... here's a more recent picture of our monument, uh,
it stands at eight feet, six inches in height,
a width at the base of the throne
of 37 and a quarter inches.
From the back of the throne to the front
it's 46 and a half inches,
and the widest point is at the tips of the wings,
which is 55 and a half inches in width.
If you have any questions?
What are you memorializing, or what is your monument to?
Well, we think that our monument commemorates
what makes America great,
and in our case, we believe that that's religious liberty.
Woman: And you mentioned earlier
that if the Ten Commandments monument doesn't go up,
then you would withdraw this request?
Correct. What we're trying to avoid
is the appearance of one religious viewpoint,
uh, apparently co-opting the power
and the authority of a government institution.
We feel that that is unconstitutional.
And just as none of the Ten Commandments
are cited within the Constitution
or... or in any of your state laws,
um, the principle of this kind of religious equality
and government viewpoint neutrality
is enshrined in the Constitution.
Rapert: American jurisprudence based a lot of our initial laws
on the Ten Commandments. You will find this
in the writings of our Founding Fathers.
For most historians, the question,
"Was America founded as a Christian nation?"
is fairly straightforward to answer.
The record seems quite clear that we were not.
You can look at the U.S. Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln: And when George Washington
signed that document,
he laid the foundation for our great democracy.
- [strains of "America" playing] - G... gee, that's wonderful.
Kevin: The only mentions of religion or God
in the Constitution,
uh, in fact, are ones that keep religion away from the state.
And if you look at the 1950s, you can see a lot
of the trappings that Americans point to today
as proof that their nation
is a Christian nation were invented.
Billy: Many people say, well, what is hell?
- Hell is separation from God... - Kevin: We see in the 1950s
the origins of what we might term an evangelical lobby.
Billy: Jesus demanded repentance.
Kevin: Billy Graham tells Americans
that communism is directed by Satan.
Billy: We thought we could get along without God.
We thought we could get along without a moral standard.
We thought we could get along without the Ten Commandments
and the Sermon on the Mount,
and we're beginning to wake up to the fact that we can't!
Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish."
Repent!
Kevin: The country's just learned
that the Soviet Union has the atomic bomb,
and he warns them that Armageddon is coming.
Unless the nation rediscovers its religious roots,
it'll be destroyed.
As America went to war with the godless communists
of the Soviet Union,
Americans discovered God themselves.
And so this is a remarkable moment
when the nation really does start to think of itself
as Christian.
In just the span of a few years,
"Under God" is added to the Pledge of Allegiance,
"In God We Trust" is placed on paper currency
and becomes the nation's motto.
For most Americans, these ceremonies
and slogans mattered more than anything
that was literally written in the Constitution
because they were the things they said day in and day out.
Their kids said the Pledge. They saw it on their money.
It was all over their world.
It really becomes an integral part
of who Americans think they are.
We are what we believe.
Male reporter: Victory today for the placement
of a Satanic monument on State Capitol grounds.
That's right. This proposal is deemed sufficient
by the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission,
but now comes the hurdle of getting the statue
approved by the legislature.
It will be a very cold, cold day in the pits of hell
before you'll ever see a statue from the Satanic Temple
or some other group like that at the Arkansas Capitol.
Female reporter: For Greaves, it's a monumental task ahead,
stirring up what could be
a controversy of biblical proportions
on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds.
Woman: Do you think that most people think
you're kidding or that most people think
you're evil?
You know, it's really interesting
because people who don't understand the value
and concepts of Satanism are so ingrained
in this Judeo-Christian concept of good and evil.
Of course, why would anybody claim to embrace evil?
But we're not doing that.
All: Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death, amen.
[bagpipes playing]
Male reporter: The bagpipes had just started
playing once again.
This is all happening because the newly-formed
After School Satan Club is holding an open house.
Organizers say the After School Satan Club
is designed to counter after-school Christian clubs
holding meetings inside public schools.
Male reporter: The Satanic Temple
says that the club is meant to broaden
the mindset of students
through critical thinking skills.
[indistinct chatter]
You know, I understand you guys don't want to follow
the status quo of religion. That's fine.
What you guys do on your own time
- is your own business. - Jex: Mm-hmm.
If you really just want to help the community,
- then go help the community. - We can help
the community as Satanists.
How are you guys gonna help the community as Satanists?
- We have been. - When people already have...
Around the country.
We are providing an alternate viewpoint,
an opportunity for kids to have an understanding
that there is different ways of looking at the world.
That's fine. You're not their parents.
Why don't you go do this at your kids' school?
- Please, please... - You guys are horrible people.
You have scared an entire school district.
You have frightened an entire community.
I hope that falls in line with your guise
of enlightenment and prosperity.
- Time to go, lady. - Bunch of assholes.
Man: Hey, watch your language with the kids.
[indistinct chatter]
Looking good.
- [overlapping chatter] - Woman: I was gonna say.
Lucien: When people ask what kind of child
would want to be involved in a club like this,
the answer is, I was that kind of child.
Narrator: Devil Worship. Exposing Satan's Underground.
Whether a Satan exists is a matter of belief,
but we are certain that Satanism exists.
To some it's a religion.
To others it's the practice of evil in the Devil's name.
It exists, and it's flourishing.
Lucien: You can't really fully understand
the Satanic Temple if you don't understand
the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and '90s.
The United States was caught up by anti-Satanist hysterics.
Baby killings, ritualistic rape, cannibalism.
Lucien: I was a young child
seeing these claims about satanic cults,
a criminal network, abusing babies,
and driving children to Satanism.
Man: Unsuspecting young people are drawn to the occult
by seemingly harmless pleasures.
They start by participating in fantasy role-playing games
- like Dungeons & Dragons. - [demonic laughter]
Okay, you enter a very small room,
and there's a large black coffin right in the center.
The gates shut behind you.
Hollow: As a kid in the '80s, I loved Dungeons & Dragons...
and I played Dungeons & Dragons constantly,
and several of my friends' mothers forbade them
from hanging out with me. That was, like...
you know, my childhood brush with the Satanic Panic.
Woman: Millions enjoy D&D, as the game is called,
but we don't really know how many find
unsuspected dragons in their psychic dungeons.
How, then, do we deal with our demons?
And then I was a young teenage metalhead.
[heavy metal music playing]
Hollow: I loved heavy metal and Dungeons & Dragons,
which meant that there was, like, a social campaign
against everything I loved.
Man: If one or more of these warning signs
are evident, you should look further for ritual items
such as a pentagram or other satanic symbols.
Experts advise you contact
your local law enforcement agency at once.
Hollow: The church called it satanic,
and, you know, I didn't mind antagonizing them,
so I just embraced some of these symbols
and ideas, you know, but what it really was,
is, like, these were the things that made my life great.
D&D was awesome. I'd play D&D all night,
whole weekends, whole weeks at a time sometimes,
when I could, you know?
And then, you know, heavy metal shows
is what my life was built around in my teens.
Man: Chris Edmonds is a Detroit disc jockey
whose specialty is finding secret recorded messages
by playing music in reverse.
Chris: A lot of people hear the phrase, "My sweet Satan."
♪ Here's to my sweet Satan ♪
- Chris: You hear it? - My sweet Satan.
Michelle: With Dungeons & Dragons
and heavy metal music,
parents were like, "Well, those are the doorways
to the Devil," and it's like... In hindsight it's like,
"Yeah, maybe you're right." [laughs]
You'll note on our model the pentagram on the right
and the left side of the upper chest.
Lucien: Today people laugh about the moral panic
surrounding things like Dungeons & Dragons
or backwards masking in music, but the fact of the matter is
the Satanic Panic ruined people's lives.
Man:
- Pardon me? - Do you worship Satan
- in any fashion? - Not at all.
Jesper: People who got accused of satanic crimes
were not Satanists and... and innocent.
Hollow: The thing that I think is really remarkable
and that everyone has to pay attention to
is that the Satanic Panic fantasies
were being indulged by Christians.
Reporter: A Pennsylvania grand jury report
released last month
found more than 300 Catholic priests
sexually abused more than 1,000 children since 1947.
The Satanic Panic, we now know in an entirely verified
and publicly known way, was projection.
They were doing it.
I was playing D&D.
I came to see that these cults themselves
never actually existed,
that the real evil was in the witch hunt itself.
Man: I know not if she be a witch.
Woman: No, no, no, no! You have the wrong woman.
In just a few minutes' time the trial
of Bridget Bishop, accused of witchcraft.
- [bell ringing] - [indistinctly yelling]
Lucien: Unlike the Salem witch trials,
where there was some degree of introspection afterwards,
there was even an apology from one of the judges.
There was a general recognition
that something had gone wrong and things needed to change...
no such thing happened with the Satanic Panic...
and so I feel like this is very much our fight,
forwarding what it actually means
to be a Satanist,
and not allowing witch hunters to define that for us.
Man: In the coming months...
The Satanic Temple of West Florida
is collecting socks.
Woman: To help bring dry socks to local homeless people.
It doesn't matter about the name
or where it's coming from,
as long as, you know, they're doing what they can.
Ah! We have donations.
Menstruatin' with Satan is a charity campaign
that focuses on collecting menstrual products, tampons,
pads, to distribute these to local shelters in our area.
Siri: The Seattle chapter of the Satanic Temple
did a blood drive, which was really, pretty fun.
Male reporter: For drivers along the I-10
near Casa Grande,
the Satanic Temple of Arizona
has now adopted a two-mile stretch of roadway.
Female reporter: They even use pitchforks to pick up trash.
Yes, pitchforks.
This is a group who just wants people to know they exist,
they're friendly, and they also hate litter.
As of yesterday, uh, Seabright State Beach
was officially adopted
by the Santa Cruz chapter of the Satanic Temple.
Male reporter: The Satanic Temple will serve
as the caretaker for it,
constantly helping keep it clean
for the next year.
Shiva: In order to help manage the expansive growth
that we were experiencing,
we decided to start the National Council.
We've become pretty much the de facto governing body
of TST.
We work directly as a point of contact
with the chapter heads of the chapter
to address any concerns, to help them develop ideas,
and to make sure that they're on the right track
in terms of what the overall mission of TST is.
That's our overarching thing to do
as... as part of the National Council,
is to work with the chapters.
Yeah, Kym, do you think that that's an... a reasonable pivot?
Like... God, I'm using corporate buzzwords.
- [all laughing] - Um...
We just want to be conscientious.
We want to do as much good as we possibly can.
- Mm-hmm. - Woman: Cool.
Lucien: I initially imagined that the Satanic Temple
would have no central authority,
but at this point we're very keen to make sure
chapters don't put out the wrong message.
Jex: There is a prescribed set of rules
about how you are supposed to protest.
You go to your local politician.
You register to hold a rally
that is approved by the city council.
But I feel very strongly
that you can't dismantle corrupt systems of power
while functioning within them.
We don't have money. We don't have power.
We have relatively little voice.
When we go and we do a political action,
it's more than just a protest.
To us it is the celebration of our Satanic spirit.
It's a ritual in and of itself.
In much of our ritual practice we are taking
traditional symbols of what we see
as an oppressive religious institution
and destroying those symbols as a form of empowerment.
We often use nudity
because there is a sense of shame surrounding nudity
that still exists and is pervasive today.
If I can, I like to use bodies of men.
I'm very interested in staying away
from the fetishization of the beautiful female body.
We have used wine in the past,
the idea of kind of, like, choking on wine...
because the Church uses wine as a metaphor for,
you know, the blood of Christ,
but we see it as a form of oppression and control.
[indistinct chatter]
Man: Hail Mary, full of grace. The lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners...
[continues indistinctly]
Jex: If there's anything that anti-choice protesters
have been good at, it's the spectacle.
We wanted to create a context where we can start to understand
that people who are protesting outside of clinics
are doing something that's somewhat perverse
and disturbing.
So anyways, that was where our starting point was,
"How do we do this? How do we match them?"
And then it was a lot of brainstorming and spitballing
and conversation until somebody made a joke
about how they fetishize the fetus,
how it becomes this kind of object
that is revered in a way that seems somewhat unnatural,
and, um,
you know, we landed on fetish babies,
adult babies. [chuckles]
[indistinct chatter]
[men wailing]
Man:
Jex: Uh, we're talking
about the abstraction and fetishization
of the fetal image as one that speaks
and diminishes women's power and voice.
A lot of people look at performance art
and are a little bit confused by it,
but that's exactly how we feel
when we see these people in front of clinics.
All: Pray for us.
What the heck just happened? Why are they doing this?
- I have no idea. - All right.
They're worshiping... they're worshiping Lucifer.
I mean, they're... they're Satanists.
Reporter: I don't know much about Satanism. What is it?
Is it the worship of Satan?
No, we're actually non-theistic,
and modern Satanism has been recognized
as non-theistic for some time now.
Man 1: So the word Satanist has nothing to do with Satan.
Like, if somebody wants to worship
a pickle jar full of sand...
- Man 1: What did you say? - Man 2: A pickle jar...
- A pickle jar full of sand? - That's what it sounds like.
Man 3: That's exactly what it sounds like.
If you don't believe in the Devil, why call yourself
- a Satanist? - It's called Satanism
'cause there's nothing else to call it.
This wasn't pulled out of a hat.
This wasn't something that was made up
just to screw with people.
This is a sociopolitical counter-myth.
The reason I'm pressing you on this
is... is because I sort of know
a fake media story when I see one,
and the whole Satanism thing seems like that.
Who calls me from out of the pit?
Jesper: The most important thing about modern Satanism,
in my opinion, is that it has
a lot of symbolic impact on a global level.
- Hail Satan! - Hail Satan.
[sobs] No!
I mean, everybody knows Satan.
He's as famous as Santa Claus or the Grey aliens.
[chortling] I am a part of you all.
Lucien: In the literary concept John Milton wrote
that Satan was derived from heaven.
He was ousted for not stepping in line, like the rest of us,
and now we fight back.
[overlapping chatter]
You're not wanted here. You're not wanted here.
Out. Get out, Devils.
America: When I tell people that I don't actually believe
in a literal Satan,
they're almost disappointed and upset.
They don't like the idea
that we've taken a religion's villain
and made him sort of our champion for rebellion.
Woman: What it's preaching is evil.
It's preaching against Christianity.
It's anti-Christian.
To say that a Satanist
is anti-Christian is, again, a half-truth.
They are anti-Christian in the sense that
they are post-Christian. They are...
They've actually left Christianity.
They are taking Satan with them.
Wonka: I like the story of, like, Abraham,
who's gonna kill his son, and Satan comes over.
He's like, "Hey, don't do this."
[whispering eerily]
Wonka: And on one side it's... Everyone goes,
"Well, that's him tempting Abraham,"
and you go... On the other side, it's him going, like,
"Hey, asshole, don't kill your kid."
Satan didn't sit on his ass and just watch that happen.
He got up and did something.
Jesus walked into the desert with no food, right?
[chuckles] Satan comes to him, and he tempts him
with water and food. He's starving in the desert.
Like, "Hey, dude, don't do this.
Have some water. Like, you're fine."
Shouldn't they just call themselves atheists
if they don't believe in anything supernatural,
a supernatural being?
Being an atheist is boring. There's no community.
There's no iconography. There's no history.
There's no code of conduct or ethics.
There's no tenets.
It's just defining what you're not.
And with modern Satanism, you can define what you are.
I mean, we've defined Satanism
for the Satanic Temple with our Seven Tenets.
America: One should strive to act with compassion
and empathy towards all creatures
in accordance with reason.
The struggle for justice
is an ongoing and necessary pursuit
that should prevail over laws and institutions.
One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
The freedom of others should be respected,
including the freedom to offend.
To willfully and unjustly encroach
upon the freedoms of another is to forgo your own.
Wonka: This is my favorite one.
Beliefs should conform
to our best scientific understanding of the world.
We should take care
never to distort scientific facts
to fit our beliefs.
People are fallible. If we make a mistake,
we should do our best to rectify it
and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
Sadie: 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.
- Hail Satan! - All: Hail Satan!
I am very surprised
to find myself part of an actual religion.
[chuckles]
I wholeheartedly
agree with the Seven Tenets of the Satanic Temple.
I believe they far outweigh the Ten Commandments
in terms of morality
and, uh, best-case practices to live your life,
and why can't that be a religion?
Why can't me following a code of ethics,
having fellowship with brethren,
why... why can't that be a religion?
- Man: I'm recording. - All right.
Well, I want to thank you for tuning in to get an update
on the Arkansas Ten Commandments monument.
Female reporter: In Little Rock,
while the Ten Commandments continue to be watered
throughout the morning,
they stand tall in their new home.
Take a look. This is exactly where it sits right now.
It was installed on the back side
of the Capitol Building this morning.
And I want to say thank you to everyone
who has contributed to erect this monument.
Lucien: This is absolutely a declaration of faith,
and this monument will almost certainly come down.
When our first Ten Commandments came up, she had a short life.
She lasted about 24 hours before a fervent believer
in the separation of church and state
took her down with his car.
Michael: Freedom!
I wake up, and I'm like, "Oh, my God." [chuckles]
Get this. Police say around 4:45 in the morning local time
a 32-year-old man
rammed his vehicle straight into that monument.
This man drove his vehicle into the statue,
streamed it all on Facebook. He's now facing charges.
I felt a huge pressure come over me,
and I heard inside, "Destroy it tonight."
Male reporter: He says he's a Christian
who supports the Ten Commandments
but not when they're replicated on State Capitol grounds.
Mason: This was not a good thing in my eyes
or in the Satanic Temple's eyes
because we wanted this to come down the correct way
and not this way,
and of course, this did nothing but help Rapert's cause.
Rapert: We have to take a stand for civility in this country.
All of this radical talk from the Satanic Temple
that would cause unstable people to get out
and carry out these acts. What culpability do they have?
Journalist:
I don't even know how to quite respond
to that question.
You see, you got to understand the kind of people
you're dealing with here.
The man that claims to be the head of the Satanic Temple,
this guy runs around the country using the name Lucien Greaves.
It's not even his real name.
Fake names, fake arguments, coming into Arkansas
to take advantage of gullible people.
The leader of the Satanic Temple,
he's using a fake name.
His name is actually Doug Mesner.
My name isn't Douglas Mesner either.
I have double-layered pseudonyms.
Man: The Ten Commandments monument will be back up.
The law will be fulfilled.
Jay D: There are a lot of Ten Commandments monuments
of the same exact sort
in many places all over the United States
which were put up around the same time
because they were distributed
by Paramount Pictures in connection
with "The Ten Commandments" movie.
Woman: Wait, what? Paramount Pictures?
Yeah, the story is that Cecil B. DeMille
was involved in making these Ten Commandments
in connection with the film and then donating them
to governments around the country,
and that's the story.
To promote a movie?
It's connected to the promotion of a movie.
That's crazy. [laughing]
Kevin: The Ten Commandments monuments
are designed to look like the stone tablets
that are carried down by Heston in the movie.
The stars from the film,
they're spreading them all across the country,
and it becomes much more present
in the everyday life of Americans
where it hadn't been before.
The Ten Commandments need no interpretation.
Like all good law... they are simple and basic
and immutable.
[crowd applauding]
Reporter: Donations are pouring in
to replace the Ten Commandments monument,
including the maker of a film made at the State Capitol.
The people behind "God's Not Dead"
pledged to donate 25,000 dollars
to rebuild the monument.
Mason: Pure Flix is a Christian film production company...
that made the flick "God's Not Dead 2"
here at our State Capitol.
People seem to forget
that the most basic human right of all
is the right to know Jesus.
Mason: Melissa Joan Hart was here.
I'm not gonna be afraid to say the name Jesus.
This was a "real movie" here in Little Rock, Arkansas...
[crowd hollering]
...and so the conservative Christian base in this town,
it was all about the fact that they were helping
Senator Rapert and his godly mission.
Most of our viewers
are born-again believers or Christians,
and they applaud the Ten Commandments monument
on the State Capitol.
It's a... it's never happened before.
The... the church in America has been silent for too long.
The Satanic Temple, as much as they posture
and much as they holler at the State of Arkansas,
they cannot force a monument of Baphomet
on our Capitol grounds.
Nothing would make me happier
than to see Baphomet on our Capitol grounds.
I would love to see Baphomet.
I would love to see the Hindus, the Buddhists,
everyone have their fair piece of the lawn out there,
their piece of the grass.
When I look at Baphomet, I see the voice of the marginalized,
the voices of the hated, the voice of the misunderstood,
the voice of the folks who don't agree mindlessly
with what the majority is telling them.
You know, I'm an ordained minister
before I got into politics as well,
and I want to say on this, what this nation needs
is an overflowing of the anointing of God.
We will not live by your commandments.
- We're free! - [crowd hollering]
Those who will not live by the law...
- [crowd hollering] - ...shall die by the law!
[hollering continues]
Mason: I think we can all come together
and have a reconciliation and all coexist.
Jay D: I would love to see the Baphomet
standing next to a Ten Commandments monument
to represent religious pluralism,
one of the greatest features of the American experiment.
It's... [laughs] It's...
I... It's probably never gonna happen.
Woman:
I actually chose a couple spots I thought would be nice for it,
and they said, "Well, how about this spot?"
they... they kind of wanted me to take.
- So is that something... - Most easily run into
- by a truck from the road. - [all chuckle]
Stu: We're trying to do this within the system
because that's the best way to challenge the system
is to kind of use their laws
and the system they've created against them.
Reporter: Satanists sue Missouri.
Abortion rights were the focus today
in the Missouri Supreme Court.
Current Missouri law requires a woman
be given an informational booklet on abortion.
Woman: Paperwork that said, "Life starts at conception."
Mary Doe is suing Missouri Governor,
Eric Greitens.
I think that if we're being sued by the Satanic Temple,
we got to be doing something right.
We're doing something right here in the State of Missouri.
Thank you. Thank you.
Jay D: This lawsuit by the Satanic Temple
on behalf of one of its members is like the Hobby Lobby case.
Reporter: The evangelical Christian owners of Hobby Lobby
craft stores challenged Obamacare
that requires for-profit companies
to provide comprehensive birth control coverage,
saying it violated their religious beliefs.
Given the court's ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby,
the Satanic Temple has some sincerely-held
religious beliefs of its own.
The Satanists believe that, quote, "The body is inviolable
subject to one's own will alone."
And they say they strive to make all decisions
regarding personal health based
on the best scientific understanding of the world.
It's brilliant, right? Because one of the things
the Supreme Court said in its Hobby Lobby decision
is we can't question people's religious beliefs.
If they say it violates their religious beliefs,
so be it. She should be exempted from that law.
Judge: We're ready to proceed on the first case.
- James: Good morning. - Judge: Morning.
James: May it please the court,
it's appalling that the state of Missouri legislates into law
that a human life comes into existence
at conception. And if you...
What creates the presumption that the statute
that says life begins at conception
is solely based on a religious tenet?
There is no scientific basis for it.
It's just a proposition.
It's like saying, "Jesus rose from the dead."
You can believe that, but you'd be appalled
if the Missouri legislature legislated that into law.
The thing is I know we... if we talk with our lawyer,
he's gonna say, like, "No,
people just don't understand what this really means."
[indistinct chatter over the phone]
Lucien: Lawsuits move so slow.
I mean, nothing's been resolved, you know?
Nothing's happened,
and it's... it's... And yet it's a pi... It's a massive...
it's a massive legal bill...
and there's really nothing so far to show for it.
We're paying for it through... just the regular donations
we receive and proceeds from merchandise sales.
It broke the 100,000 dollar mark
some time ago,
and I'm not sure how far it's exceeded that by now.
I mean... it just hurts my feelings to look at it.
There's no doubt that this is my life's work...
and I don't want the Satanic Temple
to be known for me,
but the success or failure of the Satanic Temple
has always been, uh, you know,
either my vindication or failure.
William: As the Satanic Temple developed,
we would hear less and less from Jex.
And Detroit became a bit of a mystery even to us,
um, in terms of what was going on with the chapter...
which was under her control.
After centuries of biblical patriarchal dominance,
the annihilation of native and diverse cultures,
the propagation of racism and homophobia,
we owe our oppressors!
We owe them hostility, inextinguishable justice,
and uncompromising destruction.
We outnumber them.
We possess the fortitude to bring down powerful men
and dismantle racist systems.
Their existence is only made possible
by our own inaction.
They have given us just enough to have something to lose.
They have built a system that grinds us down,
and they tell us to swallow our grief
and our rage in the name of respectability,
that obedience is patriotism.
There is no model for moving forward.
We are the model.
Who taught you how to protest? Who taught you how to get mad?
Who taught you how to speak up?
'Cause we are going to disrupt, distort, destroy,
and reclaim, resist, and rebuild!
- Hail Satan! - All: Hail Satan!
- Hail Satan! - [all shrieking]
[sighs] How do I put this? Hmm. Let me think.
She called for, um, Donald Trump to be killed.
Um, that's obviously problematic
because we are a completely nonviolent organization,
and that's completely against our ethics.
It was glaringly obvious that Jex,
being the wild card that she is,
wasn't really gonna fit in the organization anymore,
so Jex Blackmore is no longer part of the Temple
at this point.
Lucien: Um, I called her, ultimately, but that was, uh,
that was a National Council discussion. Uh...
she said what she said,
and we just couldn't have a double standard for anybody.
I don't want to go off on camera right here.
- Woman: I understand. - About the injustice of that
in many different ways, but yeah, it's been a lot.
I have to say it does feel a little bit
satisfying to be...
you know, fired from the Satanic Temple
for being too extreme.
There's a great fear that we are going to do
something that is so offensive
that it's going to somehow discredit our work.
I mean, we're a Satanic organization.
There's, like, this... this fear of our legal system
that is part of what I'm fighting against,
and part of what I think is important for us
to be liberated from.
Lucien: I love Jex.
I worked with her from the beginning,
and it's really quite sad,
but... you know, as we cohere this organizational structure,
we have to have a kind of uniform set of rules.
We lose some things and we gain some things from that, I guess.
One, two, three, four.
Jex: Like, the reality is the Satanic Temple
has become formalized in a way
that is a much more traditional institution.
I fear that that special space
that was created for people... is gone.
Man: [chuckles]
Lucien: Yeah, more or less.
I mean, I assume they need to drill?
Yeah.
Woman: Hey, good morning, guys.
We are here at the State Capitol.
In just a few hours we are expected to see
the Ten Commandments monument back up.
So Article Two, Section 24
of the Arkansas State Constitution
says that there shall never be any preference given by law
to an establishment of religion, a denomination...
Man: Your head's cut off.
- Lucien: Okay. - Yeah.
Anyways, the point is, is when a senator tries
to take ownership of your religion,
give it over to the government, uh, that's a...
Any Christian should be offended.
[indistinct chatter]
Yeah, yeah.
[line ringing]
- Man: Hello? - Stu: Hey, it's Stu.
I did. I saw it.
Wake up, America.
Wake up, church. Wake up, Christians.
It's about time in the United States of America,
as a Christian nation,
we get back to upholding what we believe in.
- Woman: Amen! - Man: Amen!
Rapert: This is a Christian nation.
Stu: I can't see how they could possibly
get around this stuff.
This is a violation,
and they just completely ignored it.
You know, once the thing is going, we'll file.
Lawyer: I... I'm just really hard-pressed
to come up with a way in which we could lose this case.
[chuckles]
We want to put up monuments in every state,
every county, every city and every town
and every organization that wants one,
we're gonna help you do that.
Why are there Ten Commandments monuments bills
simultaneously in multiple states?
Why are there abortion restriction bills,
anti-LGBT bills simultaneously across different states?
Clearly there is a concerted effort,
and that is not religious liberty.
That's Christian supremacy.
♪ I put a spell on you ♪
♪ Because you're mine ♪
♪ I can't stand The things that you do ♪
♪ No, no, no No, I ain't lyin' ♪
No, I don't care If you don't want me... ♪
Stu: I mean, we have to push this back
because what they're looking for is, essentially,
some kind of Christian Sharia law, their version of it...
where legislation and their view of morals
is implemented by a church
that a lot of us aren't a part of,
and we just can't let that happen.
[crowd applauding]
♪ I love you, I love you Yah yah gow ♪
♪ I put a spell on you ♪
♪ Lord, lord, lord ♪
♪ 'Cause you're mine Yeah ♪
♪ I can't stand the things That you do ♪
♪ When you're foolin' around ♪
♪ I don't care If you don't want me ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm yours Yours, yours ♪
♪ Anyhow, yeah ♪
♪ Yeah yeah yeah ♪
One, two, three.
[indistinct chatter]
[owl hoots]
Reporter: The Satanic Temple will hold a rally
at the Arkansas State Capitol
Thursday, August 16th.
The centerpiece of the rally
will be a Satanic statue of Baphomet.
Reporter 1: The Satanic Temple says the organization
is being discriminated against
because the state will not install
a Satanic monument on the Capitol grounds.
I'm Shiva. I'm the Director of National Events for TST,
and I thought we could start by going around the room.
I'm from right here in Little Rock,
and I am tickled pink that all of you
are here in our fair city. Tomorrow's gonna be fun.
I'm from El Paso, Texas. I'm with Frontera Satanica.
I'm one of the cofounders of Satanic Arkansas,
and we are super stoked that you guys are here.
I'm Lanzifer Longinus.
I'm... I'm head of the San Marcos chapter.
Man: I was the head of the San Antonio chapter,
and, um, the Devil's work is never done.
I'm Jeremy, Skullcrusher if we're using pseudonyms.
And I am the Monster from Atlanta.
- [all laugh] - And, uh,
I'm just here to support something
that's very important to me.
Glad to be here. Fuckin' hail Satan.
[all laughing]
[keyboard keys clicking]
Woman: Are you excited?
No.
Man: They're gonna have, I guess
a nine-foot-tall statue of Satan.
Well, we came here today in order to negate that.
Boy: Honk the horn.
- [car horn honking] - God bless you.
[indistinct chatter]
Woman: Their platform is separation
of church and state,
which makes it sound really nice, so yeah.
They just want to irritate, if you want to know the truth.
We're a Christian country,
and so they don't have the right to alter that.
They don't have a right to put their monstrosity
on the State Capitol.
Man: But do we really wanna believe
there's no consequence but God?
There is this individual that has,
like, a previous conviction for planning,
- you know, mass shootings... - Hmm.
Hollow: ...and our anonymous sources
have said that he will definitely be there,
and that is a concern.
And what happens if you see somebody
that I don't see pulling some shit?
Hollow: So we've got the outer team,
which I think at this point is gonna be six people,
so they should see something first.
Somebody's gonna have to really get through two layers
of people to get to you. That makes it very implausible.
Well, I don't think anybody else around here
is really considered a target,
so I think that's really all we're worried about.
Lucien: This is the infancy of the Satanic Temple.
In our own humble little way, we are changing the world.
More and more as time goes on,
people are seeing that we are a genuine movement.
This would be very difficult to maintain
if somewhere in any of our minds,
those of us who are actively working on this,
we didn't truly believe
in every element of what we're doing...
and to be doing this as anything other
than an authentic expression of who we are...
I just can't see doing that without being psychotic,
which I guess... is... is a theory. [chuckles]
It is out of not only Satanism but patriotism
that I am motivated to come to protest events,
to have the pilgrimage, to visibly be a part
of a declaration of those beliefs.
That's an ancient human religious tradition.
I mean, that's the pilgrimage.
Stu: I think it's a sense of duty to do this.
I don't even feel like it's optional at this point.
Michelle: You know, you see Christian theocracy
just, you know, creeping itself into our government, you know,
and they're not gonna stop. They're just gonna continue,
and it is our duty as the adversary
to stand up to this.
I could just go along and just be a quiet
little secular individual, like a lot of people do.
I... I don't want to say the phrase, like,
"this has given my life purpose,"
but I would say that this makes life fun.
Radical Satanism has its claws... [chuckles]
...in the hearts of people across America,
and I think that's... that's...
that's something to pay attention to.
[crowd cheering]
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah... ♪
Lucien: Good people of Arkansas
and supporters of religious liberty,
- I present to you Baphomet. - [crowd cheering]
All: Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and in the hour of our death, amen.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners.
Lucien: Baphomet on the same grounds
as the Ten Commandments
does not represent the conflict but a resolution.
If Christianity abandons liberal democracy,
it will have forfeited the future to Satan.
- To which I say, hail Satan. - All: Hail Satan!
[crowd cheering]
♪ Satan never sleeps ♪
♪ He walks behind you ♪
♪ Through the night ♪
♪ And through the day ♪
♪ Silently he creeps ♪
♪ He's always there ♪
♪ To put temptation ♪
♪ In your way ♪
♪ So ♪
♪♪ If you're ♪♪
♪ Burning with desire ♪
♪ He'll find A way to fan the fire ♪
[hissing]
♪ Then in the embers Of the flame ♪
♪ You'll have Your foolish heart to blame ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Satan has a plan ♪
♪ He's out to capture you ♪
♪ In any way he can ♪
♪ Ever since the world began ♪
♪ He's tried to come between ♪
♪ A woman and a man ♪
♪ And so no matter ♪
♪ If you're great or small ♪
♪ He knows there's evil In us all ♪
♪ And that is why ♪
♪ Satan never ♪
♪ Sleeps ♪
And I do want to clarify,
we actually had just somebody two seconds ago
drive past asking us where this Satanic Temple statue is.
Just to clarify, that was here just for the rally
and was taken away when that rally was over.
Now, currently there is a lawsuit pending
in federal court,
the Satanic Temple claiming religious discrimination,
while the state responding,
calling the Satanic Temple a satire group.
[eerie whispering]