New Hampshire capital includes Satanic symbol as part of their holiday display ‘to avoid litigation’
Concord's mayor has criticized the Satanic display
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In an effort to "avoid litigation," New Hampshire’s capital city said it will allow The Satanic Temple (TST) to be part of the holiday display in the city's town square.
The city of Concord, New Hampshire, said in a Facebook post Saturday that TST had received a permit allowing them to display a holiday monument near the city's nativity scene outside the New Hampshire State House.
The city explained that under the First Amendment, and to avoid litigation, Concord had to choose whether to ban all holiday displays installed by other groups or allow the TST display.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"After reviewing its legal options, the City ultimately decided to continue the policy of allowing unattended displays at City Plaza during this holiday season and to allow the statue," the Facebook announcement said. "It is anticipated that City Council will review next year whether permits for unattended holiday displays should be allowed at City Plaza."
TST Statue (The Satanic Temple)
"The Satanic Temple has been making requests to install its monuments at holiday displays as part of a show of unity and religious pluralism," the city said. When excluded in locations throughout the country, TST has both threatened and brought lawsuits under the First Amendment, the post noted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Similar to other holiday displays it has installed around the country, the Satanic Temple received a permit for the monument to be included on Concord’s City Plaza during the month of December," the City of Concord's Facebook post reads.
"Not to be confused with the Church of Satan, the stated mission of The Satanic Temple is to ‘encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice and undertake noble pursuits,'" the post added.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, in an interview with The Boston Globe, Concord Mayor Byron Champlin criticized the TST display.
"I opposed the permit on the basis that the request was not made in the interest of promoting religious equity, but to drive an anti-religious political agenda leveraging the attention one can receive during this time of year," he said.
Lucien Greaves, spokesman for The Satanic Temple, with a statue of Baphomet at the group's meeting house in Salem, MA. (Getty Images)
The city, along with its post, shared a photo of the statue, which leaders of TST unveiled on Saturday night, according to a Facebook live posted online.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The statue is of Baphomet, a deity and occult symbol with yellow eyes, wearing a purple stole with upside crosses and a tablet with the temple’s seven fundamental tenets, Boston.com reported.
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TST cofounder and spokesperson, Lucien Greaves, told Fox News Digital that in saying that they allowed the holiday display to avoid litigation, the City of Concord was "acknowledging that they did not really have a choice but to follow the law."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And the law demands, as it should, that the government not insert itself in matters of religious opinion practice, or identity," he said. "This is the very essence of religious liberty, that each of us is free to believe or disbelieve, to have and hold our religious opinions, as we see fit."
"Even those who feel uncomfortable with Satanic imagery should nonetheless be proud, when our displays find public placement, that we live in a nation where such freedom still exists," he added.
TST told Fox News Digital that the statue was shoved onto the pavement two-and-a-half days after its unveiling.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TST Statue (The Satanic Temple)