It was a deal with the devil.
A group of Satan worshippers has gotten the green light from local officials to install a statue honoring military men and women in a Minnesota park.
The Satanic Temple, which has never before succeeded in having a monument placed on public land, announced Friday that it had received approval to install the monument at Veterans Memorial Park in Belle Plaine, according to the Washington Post.
Lucien Greaves, spokesman for the organization based in Salem, Mass., told the paper that Belle Plaine officials “didn’t offer any resistance, to their credit.”
Greaves, who also uses the moniker Doug Mesner, said the group’s motives weren’t evil.
“It’s not about being shocking or upsetting the locals, though it’s an inevitable byproduct,” he said.
The Satanic Temple application to Belle Plaine officials described the monument as a “black steel cube with embossed inverted pentagrams with inlaid gold on four sides.”
“An inverted helmet rests on the top of the cube. A plaque on one side of the cube reads: ‘In honor of Belle Plaine veterans who fought to defend the United States and its Constitution.’ ”
The monument deal is the latest chapter in a battle that dates back to last summer, when a resident objected to a metal silhouette of an infantryman kneeling before a cross. The resident objected on the grounds that the cross violated the principle of separation of church and state.
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