You better watch out, you better not cry, you better look out, I’m telling you why: Satan is coming to town.
Or, at least, The Satanic Temple of New Hampshire and Vermont (TST) is bringing its Satanic Representation campaign to the capital.
The faux devil-worshipping group unveiled its holiday display at the Concord City Hall Plaza in front of the State House over the weekend, just a few yards from the traditional creche displaying the nativity of Christ.
Now, visitors stopping to get a glimpse of the baby Jesus can get in the holiday spirit by also viewing a statue of the goat-headed demon, Baphomet, holding a lilac and an apple. There is also a marble slab displaying the TST’s seven tenets.
“A lot of people run from the word ‘satanic,’ but we embrace it,” TST Minister Vivian Kelly said at Saturday night’s unveiling.
State Rep. Ellen Read (D-Newmarket) helped the TST get the necessary permits for the display and told NHJournal the group has every right to have its display alongside the traditional Christmas imagery.
“Everything has the potential to offend, even the nearby nativity scene. Not only is over a third of the state not religious, never mind Christian, but I can imagine those who have been judged, harmed, or abused by the Christian church feeling offended by the nativity scene displayed on public grounds. And yet the nativity scene has stood perennially, unmolested, for years,” Read said in a statement provided to NHJournal.
