Organizers say the Baphomet statue was destroyed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - On Thursday, the Satanic Temple of Iowa announced that their display at the Iowa Capitol had been significantly damaged.

The controversial display, which Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds called “objectionable,” featured a ram’s head covered with mirrors on a mannequin before being damaged.

Organizers say it’s a symbol of their right to religious freedom.

The Satanic Temple of Iowa posted the following message on their Facebook page:

“This morning, we were informed by authorities that the Baphomet statue in our holiday display was destroyed beyond repair. We are proud to continue our holiday display for the next few days that we have been allotted.

We ask that for safety, visitors travel together and use the 7 Tenets as a reminder for empathy, in the knowledge that justice is being pursued the correct way, through legal means.

KCCI has reported that 35-year-old Michael Cassidy of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was charged with Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. He has since been released.

Solve et Coagula! Happy Holidays! Hail Satan!”

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      461·
      11 months ago

      Because the whole point of conservatism and Christian Nationalism is that only the right people are protected by the legal system. Everyone else is beneath the law, denied rights and protections, and subject to retribution without cause and due process.

      Conservatives fight to assure those not protected do not gain civil rights.

      The white power movement fights to further reduce rights and protections, and narrow the set of those who qualify for them.

      • jandar_fett@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        These kinds of behaviors are really hammering home that Christians are just nazis with training wheels huh?

        • foyrkopp@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          11 months ago

          It’s the quiet part that’s (usually) not said aloud.

          Just take a look at the statistics of how i.e. criminal law is applied much more aggressively to conservative out-groups (PoC, poor, etc.) than conservative in-groups (white, wealthy, etc.). Then have a look at who is proposing politics intended to fix that imbalance an who’s talking about “taking a hard(er) stance on crime”.

          Another, rather specific example: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8769269/Former-abortion-clinic-worker-recalls-pro-life-women-justify-procedures.html

          Once you look our for the pattern, you’ll see it everywhere.

        • kmaismith@lemm.eeEnglish
          9·
          11 months ago

          I can’t imagine any would, that is an abstraction developed by not-conservatives trying to wrap head around conservative actions. To have a conservative in power say so overtly would fuel the people being oppressed into coordinated resistance and disgust fence sitters into voting against conservatism

          • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
            211·
            11 months ago

            I’m a conservative, and I think people should be equal under the law.

            What are you seeing that makes it seem otherwise?

            • CileTheSane@lemmy.caEnglish
              11·
              11 months ago

              What are you seeing that makes it seem otherwise?

              Satanic display at Iowa Capitol vandalized ‘beyond repair’

              Someone seemed to think it was appropriate to vandalize this display specifically.

              • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
                1·
                11 months ago

                So because someone targeted a specific thing here, that’s unequal, and the inequality must therefore be a core belief of conservatives generally? Is that the line of reasoning here?

                • CileTheSane@lemmy.caEnglish
                  2·
                  11 months ago

                  https://apnews.com/article/satanic-temple-display-vandalized-iowa-capitol-199fb41983a3f3a390b7be370214bb64

                  The display is permitted by rules that govern religious installations inside the Capitol but has drawn criticism from many conservatives, including presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. A Facebook posting by The Satanic Temple on Thursday said the display, known as a Baphomet statue, “was destroyed beyond repair,” though part of it remains.

                  Michael Cassidy, 35, of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said Friday. He was released after his arrest.

                  Cassidy is a Republican who was defeated by Democrat Keith Jackson in Mississippi State House District 45 in November.

                  It is possible for someone to be on the Conservative side of the political spectrum and still be a reasonable person who respects equality. It is not possible for a reasonable person who respects equality to support the Republican party.

            • brax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              5·
              11 months ago

              If you feel that people should be equal under the law, why do you align politically with the parties that don’t recognize trans rights, homosexuality, worker rights, social support, freedom of religion (not just Christianity), voting rights…

              You don’t believe people are equal under the law. At best, maybe you believe that groups of people are equal under law, but some groups are more equal than others.

            • voidMainVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              11 months ago

              This case right here. He thought that it was okay to vandalize a religious display that was from “the wrong religion”, and he’s getting let off with a slap on the wrist.

              • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
                1·
                11 months ago

                And the person letting him off is a conservative, I take it? And this is in comparison to a different arrestee who did the same to another display?

        • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          11 months ago

          There is a long history of right wing politicians cloaking themselves in the rhetoric of the left. You can watch it evolve over it’s history as the leftist talking points have… but the one thing that hasn’t changed since the beginning is the way they behave shows a belief in the aggregation of power. Conservatives support a hierarchy with a lot of executive power at the top and a failure state at the bottom. The left looks to broaden and scatter power horizontally…

          It’s part of why complaining that social services and welfare programs are artificially disruptive to a “natural” order and determining and expelling non-citizen underclasses and narrowing the rights to fully participate has existed since the beginning of right wing rhetoric but they never sell it outright as “some people deserve to die poor or to serve in a perpetually subordinate position”. It has always required a grift to get the masses to sign on. It’s also why they tend to pair themselves with the church going crowd. Their base has to believe at some level that inequality is not just natural but justified and that helps when you already have people you veiw as fundamentally inferior.

    • brax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      11 months ago

      Because the Christian hegemony rules with an iron fist in the west. A big part of TST’s existence is about bringing that hypocrisy to light.

    • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
      122·
      11 months ago

      Perhaps they were simply trying to uphold the separation of church and state. Maybe the thing that caused the attack was “a church display at the state capitol”