Josh Schriver: The Lord's Little Liar in the Michigan House of Representatives

After a Satanic display was placed at the Michigan capitol, rep. Josh Schriver demonstrated clear incompetence and dishonesty in his reply

My last post described a letter written to the Michigan Capitol Commission, signed by 8 members of the state’s House of Representatives, in opposition to a holiday display placed on the capitol grounds by local congregations of The Satanic Temple. The letter indicated no legal theory that would render acceptable the censorship of the religious views of The Satanic Temple in a public forum, raising the question as to whether the signatories are even cognizant of the elementary-level constitutional principles that conflict with their calls for government intervention into religious speech. This ignorance, whether motivated and willful or genuine and uneducated, should be of concern to anybody who values Free Speech and Religious Freedom. However, at least one of the signatories, Josh Schriver, took the opportunity for media attention to flagrantly lie about The Satanic Temple and the circumstances surrounding the holiday display.

Schriver is a faith-lobotomized little shit whose social media is full of biblical passages and appeals to thoughtless Christian tribalism. He was the recipient of a Thank You card sent on behalf of a donor to The Satanic Temple from The Satanic Temple. This is something we offer donors who seek to let politicians know that their actions — whether intentionally, but almost certainly unintentionally — are driving support for the growing Satanic movement. There is nothing threatening about these cards by any stretch of the imagination, and we believe it is important to make politicians aware — especially during this era of official stupidity — that there are people outside of their insular tribes who may be growing in size and relevance as an unintended consequence of their over-reaching actions.

Josh was thrilled that somebody determined him important enough to receive such a card, so he ran to show it off on social media, alleging that it was “After alerting our nation to the partnership between Michigan Democrats and the Sadistic Satanists, the evil duo sent me and my wife a creeper card… to our home address. Totally inappropriate.” Then at the end, he mysteriously added, “You stand by this, @MichiganDems?” tagging the official account of the Michigan Democrats.

The card, of course, says nothing about the Michigan Democrats, nor is there any type of partnership between Michigan Democrats and The Satanic Temple. Nor would there be. We are a religious organization, and we are non-partisan, despite those who pretend to believe that our First Amendment protections are a sinister plot enacted by their opposition. This is not to say that we are obligated to take neutral positions related to matters that are directly relevant to our community and practices, but we simply do not engage in partisan party politics. I also could not find what might have led Schriver to believe that Michigan Democrats had partnered with The Satanic Temple to begin with. Due to my position in The Satanic Temple, I am also 100% certain that there is no partnership between Michigan Democrats and our organization, nor were there ever any discussions or plans for establishing one.

All of this suggests limited options for why Josh Schriver is claiming, as fact, that such a partnership exists:

1. As indicated by his signature on the letter addressed to the Michigan Capitol Commission, Josh may actually have no idea at all what a Free Speech-protected Public Forum is, and it may be that he has no understanding of the limits placed upon government intervention into the forms of expression contained therein. It is therefore possible that Josh does not even know that the capitol grounds, when opened to nativity scenes and other religious iconography, are a public forum, and that no political support was necessary for us to gain inclusion. This option indicates sheer incompetence on Josh’s part.

2. Josh’s social media is full of reposted partisan media reports of dubious accuracy and authenticity. Recently, he posted an article from The Daily Caller that made the obviously false claim that The Satanic Temple is not protected by the First Amendment. It is possible that Josh simply saw the claim that we are partnered with the Michigan Democrats elsewhere and, being completely unable to separate fact from fiction — merely choosing whichever "information" he believes most convenient — credulously accepted the claim as true. Of course, if Josh is in fact this vulnerable to misinformation on the internet, this is again an indication of sheer incompetence on his part.

3. Josh simply decided to lie. Having apparently little to no understanding of the duties related to the office he holds, Josh may have wanted to make himself central to any religious debate offered, in hopes that reciting Bible verses could serve to mask his ignorance of Law and Government. In order to make his personal religion appear relevant to national politics, Josh wants to pretend it is his political opposition that is inserting religion into the discussion, and he is simply rising to the challenge. Of course, being that the claim that The Satanic Temple is partnered with Michigan Democrats is so clearly a lie, based upon no interpretation of any evidence that he has bothered to present whatsoever, Josh shows a certain contempt for the intelligence of those he is appealing to when propagating such a lie. This shows both incompetence and dishonesty.

So, which is it? I went directly to Josh to ask. Being that Josh Schriver has low engagement on his social media, it is impossible to believe that he somehow missed me putting the question to him multiple times on various posts, and in his own Direct Messages via Twitter (currently branded as “X” for reasons of whimsical stupidity). The fact that Josh very obviously ignores a simple question asking him to clarify what many people would consider a significant claim that he made publicly indicates that the most likely reason Josh claimed The Satanic Temple has partnered with Michigan Democrats is option 3: He is willfully lying. Worse, it could be a mixture of options. It could be that option 1 was true and, upon realizing that his assumption was based on a complete misunderstanding of basic legal rights, he has decided not to correct himself and ignore the whole thing, now making the claim an intentional lie born of incompetence. In fact, neither option 1 or 2 negates the fact that, at this point, Josh’s failure to correct his remarks amounts to intentionally lying about the situation. 

It is dangerous to make general statements about the character of large and diverse religious movements. All are likely to contain their good elements and bad, as they are all made up of humans with human foibles that run constant through all communities. Some members will use their religion, regardless of what religion it is, to justify their worst acts of pettiness and depravity, while others will use it in an effort to better themselves and the world around them. This is all true, and yet, nonetheless, it seems that the ironic effect of generally accepted moral supremacy leads inexorably to depravity. Whether it is the self-identified Christian hiding hypocrisy and lies behind a cross, or the online “activist” who uses their moral cause to shame and destroy others, “moral self-licensing” is certainly a greater candidate for the root of “evil” than the concept of a personal Satan. I will say that The Satanic Temple would never knowingly propagate lies, such as that being propagated by Josh Schriver, against our own opposition. Even if some loyalty to the truth were not compelling enough (which it is), we simply have no interest in appealing to an audience that is either gullible enough to accept flagrantly false information, or can be counted upon to not care what the truth is so long as the lie supports a preferred narrative. The people of Michigan clearly deserve better than Josh Schriver.