FreeSpeech and Censorship: Thread

[grarpamp]

US Left-Dem Wokesters Forcibly Topple and Erase History to Prop Up Baphomet...


Illinois State Capitol Approves Satanic Monument

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHFs6zPVIlY

The separation of church and state is a principle fundamental to the
United States' constitution. Along with sanctifying the free exercise
of religion, the establishment clause forbids the state from advancing
a singular belief system above others. Balancing the diverse religious
demographics of the United States is no easy task and its difficulty
is magnified during the Christmas season as nativity scenes and other
decor often attract objections from those who do not adhere to the
Christian faith. This year, the Illinois State Capitol finds itself
marred in controversy yet again as Christmas approaches but for
reasons entirely antithetical to any display detracted from for
advancing the Christian religion.

For the third straight year, the Illinois State Capitol has decided to
approve a display erected by the Church of Satan. This is the third
display approved by the Satanic religious group, with the first
instance occurring in 2018 then again in 2019 with a pause during 2020
due to pandemic restrictions before being showcased again this year.
The 2021 edition of the Church of Satan's display beneath the Capitol
rotunda is to mark its holiday of Sol Invictus, which will be observed
on December 25th -- Christmas day. The "deity" Baphomet is the
centerpiece of the display, transformed into an infantile
interpretation of the Éliphas Lévi illustration included in the French
occultist's 1856 treatise Dogma and Ritual of High Magic by an
Albuquerque-based artist named Chris P. Andres.

Lévi's image of Baphomet was incorporated into the pentagram designed
by fellow French occultist Stanislas de Guaita in his 1897 work The
Key to Black Magic which would be adopted as the Church of Satan's
official seal following its creation in 1966 by Anton LaVey. The
Church of Satan's holiday of Sol Invictus is a vestige of the pagan
origins of Christmas. Sol Invictus was the sun god within the Roman
pantheon of deity's whose festival was observed toward the end of what
was previously celebrated as Saturnalia.

The Cult of Sol Invictus in Rome still remains shrouded in mystery.
Some historians view it as a mystery school similar to the Mithraic
order that Constantine The Great belonged to while others view it as
an Aurelian era revival of the cult of the late Roman Emperor
Antoninus, who took the name Elagabalus after the Syrian sun god who
he worshiped. Elagabalus was the first and only transsexual Roman
Emperor who was assassinated in 222 AD, decades before the Cult of Sol
Invictus arose.

Regardless of the history of its origins, the contemporaneous
celebration of the Satanic iteration of the holiday of Sol Invictus
has been met with expected opposition. Bishop Thomas Parocki of the
Diocese of Springfield, Illinois voiced his vitriol of the Satanic
display vociferously. The American Society for the Defense of
Tradition, Family and Property supported the diocese dissent by
convening for prayer at the Capitol.

Despite the outcry against the Satanic monument, organizations
opposing it would be hard-pressed to accuse the Illinois State Capitol
of advancing one religion over another. Since November 30th, the
Capitol has also hosted a nativity scene of the birth of Jesus Christ
erected by the Springfield Nativity Scene Committee. The Capitol also
hosted a ceremony of the nativity scene on its own grounds when it was
completed.

The Sol Invictus display is another instance of the Church of Satan's
public relations efforts. The organization recently filed a legal
challenge to the State of Texas Heartbeat Bill claiming that its
ceremonial practice of abortion was protected under the first
amendment and their rights were violated by the law accordingly. For
all its effort on the public relations front, the Church of Satan
would have been prudent to invest more in legal research. Laws which
act in the general welfare of a state interest like public health
affecting but not designed to specifically inhibit religious exercise
have been ruled upheld as constitutional following the 1998 case
Employment Division v. Smith and subsequent case law affirming the
precedent it sent.

For all the benevolent intent it espouses by consecrating its Sol
Invictus monument, the Church of Satan is less enthusiastic about
discussing the exploitative practices of its founder as well as the
checkered history of its other founding members. Michael Aquino, who
died in 2020, was a priest within Church of Satan before starting The
Temple of Set following his departure from LaVey's order. Aquino was
famously renowned for his role pioneering psychological warfare linked
to the CIA's notorious Project MKUltra as well as connections to child
molestation cases at the Presidio daycare center in San Francisco and
others linked to Lawrence E. King's criminal enterprise uncovered by
the FBI's investigation into the Franklin Credit Union fraud scandal.

Although there is plenty of reason to debate the integrity of the
Church of Satan, the central question of the constitutionality of
their display at the Illinois State Capitol is less debatable. In
2019, the United States' government officially recognized the Church
of Satan as a religion under federal law. That year, the Church of
Satan was awarded tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Service Code. Despite claiming that status, the
Church of Satan has repeatedly contended that it is a non-theistic
group with most members joining for entirely secular reasons.

The decision of the Illinois State Capitol to display the Church of
Satan's latest monument on its grounds is a perfect display of how
difficult balancing the interests of different religious groups can
become. While objections to the Baphomet monument continue to be
raised, they are protected under the same amendment that protects the
Church of Satan's freedom to exercise its religious beliefs. While the
Church of Satan erected the display to symbolize its holiday of Sol
Invictus, it does much more than represent an esoteric holiday -- it
illustrates the starkly juxtaposed directions followed by citizens in
an increasingly polarized society with eschatological undertones that
are more becoming of the prophesized end times than the revelries of
the holiday season.