The state has tried to be polite. Now it’s time to be ‘rude.’
The state has tried to be polite. Now it's time to be 'rude.'
R uining Christmas cheer with Satanic holiday displays, perverting afterschool clubs in elementary schools, and ritualizing the already gruesome practice of abortion apparently isn’t enough for allies of the Prince of Darkness. A group of Satanists in Kansas have announced their plan to celebrate a public “Black Mass” inside the state capitol.
The Satanic Grotto, a Kansas-based nonprofit, describes itself as “an independent and non-denominational Satanic church that utilizes philosophies from many walks of the left-hand path.” The group adds piously: “We are feminist, LBGTQ allies, and Anti racist.” Scroll down its website and you will find “The Law of the Grotto” — a list of eight laws guiding the organization. Self-preservation is a top priority, with no mention of the common good. Law number three suggests the importance of “respect” toward others, but with a revealing caveat: they will “strive to be polite, until it’s time to be rude.” It is in law number seven that their true colors are most clear: “Retribution is the cost of breaking the law: We recognize that that [sic] in this world only might is right and violence is the ultimate source of all authority” (emphasis added).
Michael Stewart, the Grotto’s head, calls himself “The Devil of Kansas.” He recently announced plans to celebrate a Black Mass inside the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka on March 28. Steward says he hopes that “God will fall and Kansas will be embraced by the black flame of Lucifer.” He also says that a Black Mass is a form of “therapeutic blasphemy” that is “meant to reflect our own pain and anger of us being subjected to religion that we never gave consent to.”
Rather than a sinister desire to make Satan reign or a benign effort to help its members “heal,” this, I’m betting, is more of a publicity stunt.
For those who are unfamiliar with the rituals of the occult, a Black Mass is a Satanic ceremony designed to be a sacrilegious and blasphemous parody of a Catholic Mass. Monsignor Roger J. Landry said as much in a 2014 article, “In the early days of Black Masses, rebellious clerics consecrated the Eucharist during the ceremony before defiling the Host with spit, blood, urine, excrement, sexual fluids and blasphemies. Since renegade ex-priests willing to debase what they once adored are hard to find, however, Satan worshippers eventually began to resort to stealing consecrated hosts by breaking into church tabernacles or taking them from Mass.”
Msgr. Landry’s explainer came on the heels of an attempt by two different Satanic groups to conduct public Black Masses. First, New York’s Satanic Temple and a cultural club at Harvard’s Extension School planned a re-enactment of a Satanic Mass on campus. In response to the overwhelming outcry, Harvard’s President issued a statement of disapproval. The Satanic “Mass” didn’t happen. The other attempt was set to be held later that year at a theater in Oklahoma City. The organizers claimed to be in possession of a consecrated Host. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma sued, successfully arguing that the Host was stolen property. The stolen Host was turned over to a Catholic priest. More recently, the Satanic Temple announced plans to hold a “Black Mass” in Atlanta last October. After legal action was initiated by the Archdiocese of Atlanta, organizers admitted that they did not have a consecrated Host and did not intend to use one.
Picking up on the lessons from Atlanta, Stewart says, “No one in my organization has stolen anything, or obtained it through false means or lies. . . . The communion wafer will still represent the body of Christ, and there will be a desecration of it. We are using that to manifest Satan.”
Last week, Governor Laura Kelly announced that the Satanic Grotto will not be allowed inside the State Capitol, but she will allow the group to hold the Black Mass outside the building. “There are more constructive ways to protest and express disagreements without insulting or denigrating sacred religious symbols,” she said. “However, as governor, I also have a duty to protect protesters’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression, regardless of how offensive or distasteful I might find the content to be. Therefore, all events planned for March 28 will be moved outdoors to the grounds surrounding the Statehouse.”
Chuck Weber, Executive Director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, says the order to move the event from inside to the statehouse steps is “a distinction without a difference.” Weber insists that, in addition to accommodating rights to “free expression,” Kelly also has a “duty to express her condemnation of this provocative hatred and anti-Catholic bigotry.”
The “Devil of Kansas” plans to defy the governor’s order. “I will be performing that Black Mass in our State Capitol. If they have to arrest me, then they have to arrest me,” Stewart said. “I will be putting the call out to every satanist within three hours of Kansas City or Topeka and saying, ‘Who wants to march into the Capitol with me?’ We’ll see how many show up.”
No one disputes that a state may forbid speech advocating the use of force or unlawful conduct when it is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action. The Satanic Grotto in Kansas is a group whose governing “laws” encourage resorting to violence and whose leader has publicly announced his refusal to accept a reasonable accommodation to publicly conduct an offensive satanic ritual. Now, Stewart and his followers stand ready to storm the Kansas State Capitol.
Denying the Satanic Grotto entry to conduct a Black Mass in the Capitol was entirely within the governor’s authority. Because the leader of the Grotto is already encouraging members to disregard this order, the governor should also consider withdrawing her offer to accommodate the group outside.
To put it another way, the state has tried to be polite. Now it’s time to be rude.