Iowa Satanic Temple is standing up for our rights

So, lately, I find myself rooting for the Satanic Temple of Iowa.

What would my Sunday school teachers say? Maybe it’s all the heavy metal I listened to in the 1980s. I was warned at church camp.

No, I am not worshipping Satan. Neither is the Satanic Temple. Not that it should matter.

The temple describes itself as a “non-theistic religious organization” that advocates for secularism. It is separate from the Church of Satan. The temple preaches the values of “compassion, empathy, justice, bodily autonomy, respect for others' freedom, respect for scientific fact, and doing your best to resolve mistakes when you make them.”

So, they strike me as sort of the Unitarian Universalists of satanism.

The ACLU Temple members filed a complaint with the Iowa Office of Civil Rights after they were denied space in the Capitol rotunda during the holidays in 2024. They just wanted a display and small event representing their beliefs among Christmas displays representing Christian beliefs. Doesn’t sound like too much to ask.

What they hit was a stone wall of phony arguments from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, which coordinated with the governor’s office, denying their application. It was the First Amendment that took a holiday, apparently, from protecting freedom of religion, or from religion, and free speech.

The Capitol belongs to every Iowan, including members of the Satanic Temple.

Filing the complaint checks a required box on the way to a lawsuit. That’s where this dispute is likely headed. Temple members also sought public records detailing how the decision was really made, but the governor is claiming “executive privilege.” The temple is headed to court to obtain the records.

You may recall in 2023, a display set up by the temple was destroyed by some guy who drove all the way from Mississippi to do the job.

That was after some folks on the Christian right raised hell and put a block under it. A lawyer who is a state lawmaker went on social media and tried to explain the constitutional reasons the display had to be allowed. Soon, his account was buried in vitriol.

In October 2024, the temple applied to hold an event in the Capitol Rotunda on the first floor. There would be a Krampus costume contest, caroling, coloring pages, make and take ornaments. It was described as “family friendly,” which tracks.

At first, the Capitol events coordinator in the Department of Administrative Services scheduled the event and asked the temple for a memorandum of understanding with event details, which the temple filed. They even gave them a song list, including I’ll Be Your Mirror by The Velvet Underground and Nico, Waiting for the Night by Depeche Mode, Lucifer’s the Light by King Dude, and Saturnalia by Cauda Pavonis.

But Adam Steen, director of Administrative Services, was called to the governor’s office, according to the complaint, to coordinate a response. The application was denied.

Why?

Well, of course, kids who visit the Capitol to learn about the government might see visual displays, sounds and other actions harmful to minors. That includes obscene material, as well as “gratuitous violence and gore.” None of that was going to happen.

Administrative Services also had a problem with Krampus, a fictional figure cooked up in Germany and Austria in the 12th century. St. Nicholas rewards good kids with gifts while Krampus punished bad kids. Some get smacked with a birch rod.

That gave Administrative Services another excuse. Krampus’ stick, or sticks, featured in costumes could be used “as weapons on children.”

What about Civil War reenactors, who march on the Capitol occasionally with rifles, bayonets and swords? I once got caught behind them at a security checkpoint, so I know.

The temple, of course, clarified the sticks were part of costumes for appearance only and never intended to be used as weapons. They offered to drop the costume contest entirely. But Administrative Services did not respond.

“We believe this discrimination on the basis of our actual and perceived religion, and retaliation, violated our rights under the Iowa Civil Rights Act,” the complaint argues.

Um, yeah. This case doesn’t look like a close call.

“As I’ve said before, the Iowa State Capitol Complex is a place that is open to the public, where children and families routinely visit,” Reynolds told The Gazette after the complaint was filed.

“Because of this, the State’s event policy takes into consideration conduct that would be harmful to minors. This satanic event, which specifically targeted children, would have been harmful to minors and so it was denied,” Reynolds said.

Well, this is hardly surprising, considering First Amendment protections are collapsing all around us. Diversity, equity and inclusion can’t be uttered on state university campuses and had to be scrubbed from websites. Professors and public-school teachers had better be careful what they teach, or they’ll be in the attorney general’s crosshairs. We’re banning books from school libraries.

And don’t get me started on the Trump administration. He’s hell bent to punish law firms who represented his political enemies, silence the media for reporting critically on his mayhem and deport students who wrote something he doesn’t agree with or even watched a pro-Palestinian protest. Protesters who can’t quite grasp this “Golden Age” of America need to shut up or face retribution from the Justice Department or catch a one-way flight to Guantanamo.

Our rights are being chipped away by offenses large and small.

And, yeah, I know satanism is hardly popular. But it’s unpopular speech that has, over the decades, strengthened the First Amendment.

Persecuted communists played a key role. So did a kid who strolled through the Los Angeles County Courthouse, wearing a shirt saying “F*** The Draft.”

A Minneapolis scandal sheet was shut down in a case establishing a precedent barring prior restraint, or actions to stop news before its published. In 1957 Paul Sweezy, a professor who refused to answer questions about past lectures, was found to have his due process rights and academic freedom violated.

In state courts, comedian Lenny Bruce struck a blow against obscenity laws. The Des Moines Leader won its case against the Cherry Sisters of Marion after reprinting a scathing review of their vaudeville act. Hustler publisher Larry Flynt won victories for satire and opinion aimed at public figures.

“Ridicule is often the strongest weapon in the hands of a public writer; and, if it be fairly used, the presumption of malice which would otherwise arise is rebutted …” the Iowa court ruled, setting a malice test decades before the Supreme Court.

Protecting unpopular speech is an American tradition. Or used to be.

These cases help protect all of us from government speech edicts and censorship. The Satanic Temple of Iowa is standing up to a clueless government decision. We should all be grateful.

And they ought to teach that to the kids during the Capitol tour.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com