Letter To Michigan Capital Commission Regarding Satanist Display

Our letter to the Michigan Capitol Commission in reply to a letter submitted by eight members of the Michigan House of Representatives in protest against a Satanic holiday display

Yesterday, we (The Satanic Temple) became aware of a recent, undated memo bearing the letterhead of Michigan State Representative Neil Friske decrying the recent inclusion of a holiday display provided by a local congregation of The Satanic Temple at the State Capitol. The letter calls for the removal of the Satanic display while advancing no coherent legal theory to mitigate the open and obvious affront to the First Amendment posed by the demand. Worse, the letter is co-signed by seven additional state representatives who are apparently equally contemptuous and/or unaware of the most basic fundamental principles of constitutional law and democracy.

Ironically, the letter states, “As elected representatives of our respective districts, we are entrusted with upholding the values and principles that our nation was built upon.” Though Friske comes to the non sequitur conclusion that such a mandate demands that our display be taken down, “upholding the values and principles that our nation was built upon” demands that our display remain. For our nation was founded upon principles of Religious Liberty and Free Expression, nor were the founders of our republic unclear in how expansive these liberties were envisioned to be. Thomas Jefferson wrote in A Bill For Establishing Religious Freedom (1779) that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” In his memoirs, Jefferson clarified, “protection of opinion was meant to be universal,” [and the document included] “within the mantle of its protection the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.”

Citing vague concerns for “good and morality,” Friske fails to demonstrate any evidence that he knows anything about The Satanic Temple, our ethics and values, or the meaning of our symbols before denouncing them as “representing hatred or evil.” One can only conclude that Friske penned his letter not only in complete ignorance of who The Satanic Temple are, but in complete ignorance of the oath of office he swore to uphold, the spirit of which should surely lead one to accept that symbols causing him discomfort in a public square are far lesser an “evil” than a government imbued with the ability to regulate matters of religious conscience.

Irrelevant to the question of our religious sovereignty and Free Speech, but worth mentioning here, The Satanic Temple happens to believe in liberal democratic ideals as items of religious conviction, with Satan being an icon for Enlightenment values. One may protest that we have chosen inappropriate symbols for these values, but it is incontrovertible that Friske and his co-signatories agreed to uphold those values when they took public office. Their letter calls their competence as public officials into serious question.  

We urge the Capitol Commission to address Friske's public campaign to subvert the public understanding of its function, and to remind the public, as well as the Michigan House of Representatives, that ours is a nation of laws in which pluralism will always prevail over petty partisan demagoguery.