New Statue of Satan in Detroit

[Nikka]

A controversial statue unveiled by the Satanic Temple at a secret ceremony in Detroit has attracted protests. But who is the goat-headed figure? And what do the elements of the statue symbolise?

The bronze statue is nearly 9ft tall and depicts a winged hermaphrodite known as Baphomet, flanked by two smiling children. It cost $100,000 (£64,000) to make and hundreds of Satanists turned out to see it unveiled.

Long term, the Satanic Temple wants to move the piece 900 miles (1,450km) south-west and erect it opposite a Ten Commandments monument outside Oklahoma City's Capitol Building.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33682878

[yodajazz]

I'm curious to see, how Christians respond to this. Somehow, I feel like this is not going to end well. I mean, Christianity is the religion of Love, and they are not intolerant like Muslims, right? But seriously, I see the Ten Commandments as more than a religious statement. They are more importantly, a guideline on how members of the community should treat one another. I see that as a key reason why the Jewish community has survived and thrived throughout the ages.

[Ben in LA]

Freedom of religion. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. I'm not a satanist, but I support this statue.

[Stavros]

Even if one were to allow 'Satanism' or 'Devil Worship' as a religion, it does beg the question -What does the religion believe in? In view of the fact that 'Satan' in various forms has been associated with the opposite of God, it is logical to assume that whatever it is that God asks of humans, the opposite is called for by Satan. This could mean that if God says it is wrong to kill, Satanists think it is right. That if God says it is wrong to steal and tell lies, Satan says steal as much as you like, tell as many lies as you like.

In fact there are many 'organised' Satanic groups, some of which claim to be 'atheist' which to me begs another question -Why use the name Satan as a defining identity? The group behind the statue in Detroit, 'The Satanic Temple' seems to me to use the imagery of Satan to promote an individualist creed which is simply another form of libertarian doctrine copied from Aleister Crowley but not acknowledged, in particular his 'law': Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. In other words, the Satanic Temple gives you the divine right to watch porn, get laid, smoke dope and drive on the wrong side of the road at 3am, and other transgressions of Christian/Religious America.

This is not a religion, anchored in a system of belief that explains why we exist, and how we got here. It is just an excuse to party while pissing off the deluded millions who deny themselves their daily dose of pleasure in case God does not approve. The confusing mix of shapes and images in the statue in Detroit says all you need to know about this juvenile repudiation of one authority in favour of another -as if an individual needed permission from either God or Satan to visit Latina Tranny.com...

[buttslinger]

Poor Stavros has nobody of true substance to talk to since Prospero passed away, there's a real void down here now.
On the path to God, who was the last Character Jesus ran into before he denied worldly ties and was accepted into heaven??? THE DEVIL, that's who.
Who offered Eve that apple? SATAN!
Who wagered with God about Job? BEEZLEBUB!!!
Satan originated in the Bible, the fallen Angel, halfway in Heaven, halfway in Earth.

[Stavros]

Who offered Eve that apple? SATAN!

There is no mention of an apple in Genesis, and no mention of Satan either. A serpent persuades Eve to taste the fruit of the forbidden tree, it may have been an olive or a peach for all we know, if it ever existed. The serpent we are told was cursed for its indiscretion by being forced to crawl on its belly so we must assume this was an upright being, and probably human, since grovelling is not the position of a proud man; or it is the concept of persuasive temptation and grovelling a sad recognition of the inability to say no. The curious symbolism of the serpent is that while it appears in its negative guise to be poisonous and deadly, in its positive guise it represents healing and wisdom, hence the motif of the physician, a serpent coiled around a staff, possibly from Moses...just another reason why the Bible should not be read literally.

[buttslinger]

I wonder how the snake persuaded Eve to eat that olive from the tree, did he point or talk her into it? I bet he lisped. I may have spoke too soon, I am not sure when Satan's birthday was. I'm still trying to get my head around that whole incest thing that was going on back then. Shameful!!!!

[templek]

Was king Herod motivated by the devil Shen he butchered all the new born male babies?

The Romans kept detail records but there is no record of any roman ruler who slaughtered boy babies.
Do people believe the reason we have different languages is because men were building the Tower of Babel to heaven and God made speak different languages to confuse them and end the project?

[trish]

The righteous live forever in eternal stability. The sinister shall decay and vanish from sight. Proof: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...l/524008b.html

[Stavros]

I wonder how the snake persuaded Eve to eat that olive from the tree, did he point or talk her into it? I bet he lisped. I may have spoke too soon, I am not sure when Satan's birthday was. I'm still trying to get my head around that whole incest thing that was going on back then. Shameful!!!!

You take things too literally, Buttslinger. Have you never heard one person describe another as a 'snake'? Was Snake Plisken in Escape from New York merely human, or will a lover of old movies in 2525 wonder if he was called a snake it is because he was a snake? Consider this:
Moses was found abandoned in a small covered boat (an ark) by Pharoah's daughter -obviously it would not make sense for him to have been discovered by a bricklayer's daughter- but so too was Sargon of Akkad, one of the first recorded 'rulers' of men who conquered the Sumerian city states in what is now Iraq give or take a thousand years before Moses was born (as in 2334 BC for Sargon, 1393BC for Moses). Same concept, but different river. Curious, what? Could it be that men of destiny have special origins, for that is how ye shall know them? Virgin birth anyone?

Yes it is true that the coming of Jesus is foretold in the Old Testament...except that the appearance of a healing prophet was standard fare in Judaic theology and there were plenty of prophets before the man from Nazareth and for that matter, for some Orthodox Jews, the Messiah is still on track to return, because that other guy, Jesus, was an imposter, just another clever dude whom people chose to believe was the real thing.

Lucifer was cast out of heaven, and became the bad guy of angel-land. Far be it from me to suspect that societies think if you do some bad stuff you may be cast out of your own community and be condemned and shunned as a poor example to others -maybe even sent to prison (sounds like hell to me), and then set up a junk shop full of knock-off gear on the edge of town, and rob banks because you can't get a regular job- or become an artist making weird sculptures that nobody understands...