Satanic Temple Takes City To Court For Blocking Proposed Monument To Satan

The Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, is suing the city of Belle Plaine, Minnesota, for withdrawing permission for a memorial monument two years ago. Local government officials had fights over free speech and religion-themed tributes in the city’s Veterans Memorial Park.

“I knew this was going to be a problem,” city council member Paul Chard said Saturday. “The pot got stirred pretty quick.”

Chard said the reference was not for the Satanic Temple’s monument, but to the city’s initial acceptance in 2017 of another monument, a steel silhouette of a soldier praying over a grave marked with a cross at a veterans' memorial park. At the time, some complained that the monument violated constitutional separation of church and state, according to the Associated Press.

The Satanic Temple wanted its own monument — a 23-inch black cube inscribed with inverted pentagrams, topped with an upturned helmet — at the same place designated as a "public forum" where the soldier's monument was placed. The Belle Plaine City Council initially granted the permit for it, but withdrew it and ordered the removal of the soldier's monument when the public forum was shut down.

"As you well know, you can't decide to suppress speech just because hecklers didn't like it," Bruce Fein, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer representing the temple, reportedly said.

Since the protests in Belle Plaine, the Satanic Temple went on to place a statue of a goat-headed creature at the Arkansas State Capitol. This move was believed to be a way to call for the removal of a Ten Commandments monument there.

“People certainly have the right to protest and that’s fine, but the result of protest shouldn’t be depriving others of their civil rights,” Malcolm Jarry, the Satanic Temple’s co-founder, said Saturday.

According to the latest lawsuit, the city violated its First Amendment rights and breached its contract by rescinding its previous approval. The temple also said it already paid to have the marker built.

“As you well know, you can’t decide to suppress speech just because hecklers didn’t like it,” Bruce Fein, a lawyer representing the temple, said.

The Satanic Temple, which has 18 chapters across the country including one in Minnesota, demanded in December the city pay them the $35,000 they spent on the display.

"The lawsuit itself lists 10 different counts and calls for $50,000 in compensatory damages on top of any punitive damages (“with interest”). All of that is in addition to legal fees and a request that the Court allow the Satanists to erect their display in the park," according to a statement.

Belle Plaine is insured through the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust.