I so want a miniature version of this for my desk.
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The article linked to is missing this great quote from Lucien Greaves, spokesman for the Satanic Temple:
āThe statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.ā
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An interesting argument, but a counterpoint: why should Satanists have to abide by the taboos on the depiction of icons that Christians do? Itās only in certain denominations that the depiction of religious figures is looked down upon.
To non-Christians, the Ten Commandments are just as much a religious symbol as a statue of a deity ā youāre literally posting your religious laws out in public. āI am the Lord your Godā¦You shall have no other gods before meā¦ā thatās just as offensive to me (being atheist) as a full statue of a supernatural being. At least I get to look at the nice craftsmanship for the statue.
If the Ten Commandments get to go up, Satanists and other religions should get their fair share of the separation between church and state in the way they feel is most appropriate. Iād rather neither go up, but thatās the Establishment clause for you.
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Well, Iām talking purely from a standpoint of equal comparison - apples to apples and all that.
From a distance, any stone slab with words on it looks roughly the same - you have to approach the slab and read the words to glean any sort of meaning from them. It might be a war dead memorial, or it might be a groundsbreaking dedication, or it might be a marker for the site of a historical event, or it might be a piece of poetry, or whatever. You might lack the context to understand it, if it doesnāt make its own nature clear, or it might not be in a language you can read, even.
In contrast, a full figure sculpture is immediately obvious. A giant goat-headed man seated on a throne flanked by children, rendered in three dimensions, has a way of catching the eye and forcing itself into the mind. You can choose not to read engraved words, but you canāt choose not to see a statue of a demon, or of a god, or of anything else, really.
The point I was making, though, is that the Satanists are relying upon the following logic - if the government allows a public monument of the Ten Commandments, then in all fairness it must also allow any directly comparable monument of any other religious text. A full figure statue is not at all the same thing, however.
If the government had allowed a full figure statue of Yahweh, then the Satanists could demand it is only fair they be allowed a full figure statue of Baphomet. But this is not the case. And, indeed, if the Satanists are allowed to have their full figure statue, that would then open the door for full figure statues of any religious figure you please, and I could easily see the Christians responding with a colossal rendition ofYahweh smiting Baphomet in righteous flame, or something equally invidious.
No, they need to stick to the solid footing of the argument, match the oppositionās actions beat for beat as equally as they can. They oughtnāt complicate the matter by deviating in terms of form and structure.
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Sadly, I agree. They will lose based on the fact that itās a much more visible and impressive installation. A plaque would have been much more doable, and I hope they scale back when they are told āno statueā. They will also need to demand police protection for the parkā¦if it canāt be provided due to cost, then the Ten Commandments should be removed also.
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Come now, children of the beastā¦
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It will be in lawsuit settlements when kids and drunk frost all poke their eyes on those big horns!
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Please, please, please someone put this up on Thingiverse.
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One, they made Baphomet Male. Two they robed the torso. Three, they inverted the star. Four, they covered the legs. Five, looks like they took away the cleft hoofs in favour of a cloven hoof. Too bad.
The 13th century discovery of Baphomet by the Templarās has been bastardized ever since.
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I hadnāt heard that and thatās hysterical. I have to be honest, this just confirms that this is one of the great trolls. I believe Greaves is sincere in wanting the statue up but that line just screams troll, or at least highly cheeky, to me (and Iām totally fine with that).
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The rugrats are a nice touch.
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That etymology is subject to debate, and in any case it hasnāt been used that way in centuries. There comes a time when itās okay to let these things go, man.
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ā¦Those are the same thing.
Wait, are you proposing that Baphomet was an actual thing that actual people worshipped? LOLZ.
Their IndieGoGo campaign was successfully funded, so no, not joking:
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If only I could give you reddit goldā¦
Without Satan there is no Christianity.
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Iād rather see a slightly paraphrased engraving of Wheatonās Law. Have a giant arrow pointing to the Ten Commandments monument next to text reading. āTL;DR: Thou shalt not be a dickā
wait ā¦what? these romans who tortured him first by making him drag that cross across the town and up a hill, nailed him to that cross and stabbed him into the side were jewish?
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Youāre thinking āpolitical evilā, and yes it costs a lot more than $20K to buy a politician (and they do look that much more evil, so maybe itās a āmass unit of evil per dollarā sort of thingā¦).
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Yeah, I was reading about it in the Blood Libel, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the Turner Diaries; so it must be true.
