Group says their Satanic display at Mich. capitol isn’t the bad Satan

In another attempt to denigrate and mock public displays of Judeo-Christian faith, a Satanic group in Michigan has put up its “Yule Goat” display in a special ceremony outside of the Lansing State Capitol building to honor their religion.

The “Yule Goat” entry in Wikipedia describes it as a pagan and/or Norse tradition but makes no mention of Satanism.

Members of the Satanist group told FOX47 that if other religions are allowed to display holiday symbols, then every religion should be able to, apparently even if what they “worship” is lies, hatred, despair, sin and damnation.

So Happy Holidays.

“With beliefs comes conflict and there’s nothing you can do about it other than go through it,” said Marr Duck, “media liaison” for The Satanic Temple.

Earlier this week, Lansing Mayor Andy Schor was asked to take down a menorah at the Capitol because complaints that it violated the separation of church and state.

The goat rite included residents of Lansing and nearby localities, some of which were “anointed” at the ceremony.

“Today is the winter solstice and originally when this nativity went up years ago it was on the winter solstice and that’s a tradition we’ve tried to carry forward,” said member Renard Seir.

By law, a religious representation can only be held on public property for seven days and it must come down at night. Thus the yule goat can’t be on display overnight, but organizers will put it up in the morning and take it down each night for six days this holiday season.

“We don’t practice in and idolize the Satan that is presented in the Bible. We go by a literary version,” said Seir. The group says they want people to learn more about their religion and ask respectful questions to learn more about it. “We deal with people who don’t completely understand what it is we stand for all the time so we always try to be charitable and speak to people whether it’s here or anywhere else,” Duck said