No Separation of Satan and State? Satanic “Christmas” Displays Aren’t Progress
What would the Founding Fathers have said about satanic displays at Christmastime on government property? Would they have insisted their First Amendment mandates allowing such or that something has gone terribly wrong with their American experiment?
The Land of Lincoln is now more like the land of Satan, because in the Illinois Capitol Rotunda we now “find a nativity scene for Christmas; a menorah for Hanukkah; and, alongside these displays, an arm holding an apple, with a snake coiled around it [shown],” reports American Thinker’s E. Jeffrey Ludwig. “This snake sculpture is a gift from the Chicago branch of The Satanic Temple. Called ‘Snaketivity,’ the work also has a sign that reads, ‘Knowledge Is The Greatest Gift.’”
It certainly is a great one, but it’s also quite lacking in those supposing that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause mandates such a “revolting travesty,” as Ludwig puts it. He asks rhetorically, “If a group of people incorporates as a non-for-profit religious organization to worship Medusa with her head covered with snakes, would those people be allowed to have a sculpture of Medusa in the Illinois Capitol?”
Sadly, and shockingly to many, recent history indicates the answer is yes. Just consider, for example, that in the central rotunda of Florida’s Capitol Building, Slate reported in 2014, “an atheist group hung a winter solstice banner celebrating the Bill of Rights and freedom from religion. Inspired, another atheist built a Festivus pole made of beer cans, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster added a small pile of holy noodles to the capitol’s halls.” Moreover, a pentagram reading “May the children hail Satan” was erected in Boca Raton’s Sanborn Square last Christmas.