Satanism in Iowa

Satanism in Iowa has made the news twice recently. A Satanic invocation at a county function a couple of weeks ago outraged Christians. The Ottumwa City Council has an open policy for public invocations that allows members of all religions to participate - in compliance with the United States Constitution.

Former council member Matthew Dalbey, a member of the Satanic Temple, delivered the invocation, saying, "That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise. It is done. Hail Satan." Dalbey said he was not trying to provoke anyone and emphasized that the Satanic Temple is often misunderstood.

"I think as a community, we have a tendency in Ottumwa to ... jump to conclusions and to fill in the blanks with information that's not really true, based on very little effort and research and background on it," he told KTVO/Tri-State Trusted News. "And I think if we'd all do our homework, we'd probably get along a lot better, and we'd find or have more in common than we probably do apart."

Despite the objections, the city of Ottumna has no plans to change the policy, which is a good thing. If government functions allow opening invocations at all, they must allow all people of all religious persuasions to participate. They could also abolish the policy, but I for one like seeing religious diversity on display.

The second story concerns a recent judicial ruling. An Iowa judge ruled this week that the Satanic Temple could hold a holiday event at the state capitol, over the objections of Republican lawmakers. Republicans have vowed to appeal the ruling, but for now the event should be going forward.

The religious organization and Iowa Republican state officials have been in a legal battle over the group’s applications to hold a holiday event at the state capitol in recent years. Republicans in Iowa, who currently control the governorship and majorities in the state house and senate, have cited the capitol building’s policies prohibiting gratuitous violence and obscene displays as justification for denying the applications.

According to the office of the attorney general, Brenna Bird, state Republicans intend to appeal the federal judge’s decision. The Satanic Temple and Iowa chapter leader filed a lawsuit in August, alleging discrimination from former and current state officials. Chief District Judge Stephanie M Rose stated in her court order that the group was likely to succeed on its free speech claim and ordered the current director of the Iowa department of administrative services to approve the holiday event application within seven days.

Calling the event obscene or gratuitous only because it is being put on by a group calling themselves Satanists is classic example of Poor Oppressed Christian logic. Obscenity does not mean "follows a different religion than me" and allowing religious diversity is not "oppression." Christians will holding their own event at the capitol, so it's the easiest thing in the world for Christians to just attend that instead.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the problems that people have with Christians are not because they practice Christianity. It's because they harrass people in the name of "proselytizing" and insist on driving other religions out of public spaces that are open to all. If they would just quit doing those two things they would be a lot more popular.

Rebuke Christian Nationalism

Tomorrow is election day in the United States. It will be two more years before we get another chance to rebuke the Christian Nationalists who are intent on turning our country into a toxic theocracy not that different from countries running under the Sharia law that they all claim to hate. I contend that it is far better to stop them now so we can limit the damage as much as we can. A lot of that damage has already been done, and more is on the way if they win again.

You can argue all you want that both major political parties are the same. I'm a progressive myself and am often frustrated by the centrist, corporatist leanings of a lot of Democrats. Progressive policies are popular, but wealthy donors on both sides of the aisle work to keep them from even being implemented. That sameness prevents a lot of political discussions that we should be having about many important issues. This election, though, one big difference is clear. The Republican Party supports Christian Nationalism and the Democratic Party does not.

Christian Nationalism is not just another political ideology. It is the very dangerous idea that all non-Christians - and Christians who don't worship the "right way" - should be relegated to second-class citizens. It contends that civil law should be based on the Bible, and not just the Bible as written, pushes its own cherry-picked interpretations of Biblical law as defined by specific churches. They violently oppose homosexuality and abortion, which Jesus said nothing about, and have no problem mistreating the poor, which Jesus said a lot about.

Surveys show that only about ten percent of the population is committed to Christian Nationalist ideology, but about another twenty percent is "sympathetic" to it. I know that nothing I write is ever going to reach the True Believers, but if you are at all sympathetic to the movement you should realize that they aren't going to stop with non-Christians. If you're the wrong kind of Christian, they'll outlaw you too once they're done with everybody else.