-
A tablet that lists the 7 tenets of The Satanic Temple, placed at the foot of the temple’s holiday display in the city plaza in front of the NH State House, was cracked less than two days after it was unveiled. -
The Satanic Temple’s holiday display, including a Baphomet statue and 7 tenets of the religion, was placed Saturday in the city plaza in front of the NH State House. -
The Satanic Temple’s holiday display, including a Baphomet statue and 7 tenets of the religion, was placed Saturday in the city plaza in front of the NH State House.
Vandals finished the job late Monday or early Tuesday, fully destroying the The Satanic Temple statue that had been erected in front of the State House on Saturday evening.
The final blows came after the the statue was repeatedly damaged during the first two days it was up, said Ellen Read, the state representative who coordinated the unveiling.
In an interview Monday afternoon, Read, a fifth-term Democrat from Newmarket, called on the Concord police to investigate the vandalism.
“If the nativity scene had been vandalized, would the police investigate it? If the answer is yes, then I think the police should also investigate this,” said Read, who described herself as the longest serving “openly secular” state legislator in the country.
A Concord Police Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Read contacted The Satanic Temple, which is based in Salem, Massachusetts, a few months ago to inquire about the prospect of setting up a display in front of the State House.
“I reached out because I did not think it was necessarily good for us as a society to only have a Christian display and only have Christianity represented on Main Street,” Read said.
Hours after a ceremony on Saturday, which was streamed live on Facebook, the slab that contains the religious tenets was knocked over.
The tenets include: a call to value “the struggle for justice” over “laws and institutions”; that one’s body is subject “to one’s own will alone”; that the “freedom to offend” should be respected; and that “beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world.”
In the ensuing days, the plaque displaying the temple’s seven tenets was shattered more than once, the statue of Baphomet, the group’s half-goat, half-human deity has been “messed with,” and a flagpole had been “demolished,” Read said.
The display has generated significant attention on social media, with some celebrating it as a statement of religious freedom and others characterizing it as a representation of “pure evil” that must be removed.
The City of Concord said in a statement on its Facebook page that a permit for the display was approved based on the First Amendment and in an effort to avoid litigation.
“After reviewing its legal options, the City ultimately decided to continue the policy of allowing unattended displays at City Plaza during this holiday season,” the statement said.