(ZENIT News / Iowa, 27.12.2023).- Michael Cassidy, a Christian and former military officer pushed the statue of Baphomet from the Satanic scene erected in the Capitol of the State of Iowa, and decapitated the statue of the satanic image. He was arrested and charged with “fourth degree felony,” according to Iowa’s Public Security Department.
The statue was part of the scene set up, with official authorization, in the Capitol of the State of Iowa. The decapitated head was thrown into the garbage. Cassidy destroyed the statue to “wake up Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.”
He also said that the existence of the “satanic scene” was a provocative sample during Christmas. It was set up by the Satanic Temple’s Association, which has been recognized legally since 2013 as a religious organization. Strangely, the Association says it doesn’t believe in God or in the devil or in supernatural beings. It uses symbolisms and themes that annoy Christians, such as the diabolic, abortion and blasphemy, described as expressions of freedom.
This representation was coloured during Christmas in red and black, with black candles and a figure with a goat’s head and beard called Baphomet, one of Satan’s names. The networks published messages wishing “Happy Saturnalia and Yule for all.”
Michael Cassidy, 35, former pilot of the U.S. Navy and civil test pilot, destroyed the controversial montage, which was criticized by many. His action was described as a minor felony, but he faces a year in prison and a US$2,560 fine.
He asked for financial support on the Internet to cover the fine and his defense in court. In just one night, he collected US$40,000, which three days later rose to US$75,000. “My conscience is at the service of the Word of God, not of bureaucratic decrees. So I acted,” he said. He will give the money leftover from legal expenses to “a Christian legal fund.”
Cassidy also said: “My most profound hope is that Americans of all political persuasions can unite and be in agreement that: one, Jesus Christ is Lord; two, that Satan is the Evil One.”
And he stressed the limits of freedom of expressions when it comes to the honour of God: ”To Christians that defend satanic altars when they talk with their friends, relatives, in their church, to colleagues or on X . . . would you use the same argument if you were talking with God?”
Referring to satanists, he said they defend “profoundly held beliefs” and “reject arbitrary authority (. . .). The world can tell Christians to accept submissively Satan’s legitimacy, but none of the Founding Fathers would have considered that the Government’s sanction to satanic altars inside Capitol buildings would be protected by the First Amendment . . . . Anti-Christian values have spread constantly over the last decades, and Christians have behaved as the proverbial frog in boiling water.”
The police arrested Cassidy after he handed himself over to the officers in the building. Iowa’s Satanic Temple, author of the scene in the State Capitol intends to file a complaint for fourth degree damages. ”I saw this blasphemous statue and I was indignant,” said Cassidy
