SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS – Illinois has joined the list of states hosting Satanic-themed sculptures, statues and installations within its government buildings.
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Currently, in the Illinois State Capitol Rotunda in Springfield, a new and sure-to-be-controversial installation has been created called “Snaketivity.” The installation, described as a holiday display by the Chicago Chapter of the Satanic Temple, features a woman's hand holding an apple with a snake encircling it. The words “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift” are featured on the installation, too. According to a release from the temple, this is in step with the values of the temple, which advocates knowledge and rationality over superstition, ignorance and dogma.
The sculpture is based on the biblical tale of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis in which Eve, the first woman created by God from the rib of Adam, was tempted by Lucifer in the disguise of a snake, to eat from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, which, according to the Bible, was a perfect place God created to house humans and the rest of creation. According to that creation myth, humanity first knew death when Eve succumbed to that temptation. The story is considered by Christians to be the fall of man.
That sort of mythology, which has no basis in scientific fact, is the antithesis of the Satanic Temple. In a release from the Chicago chapter, the temple stated it is a “non-theistic religious organization determined to halt the dangerous encroachment of theocracy into American Government.”
“The Satanic Temple – Chicago appreciates this Constitutionally-protected opportunity to contribute its perspective to the numerous religious viewpoints on display in the capitol during the winter holiday season,” it said in the release.
On its website, the temple describes its mission in the following way:
...to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will. Politically-aware, civic-minded Satanists and allies in The Satanic Temple have publicly opposed the Westboro Baptist Church, advocated on behalf of children in public school to abolish corporate punishment, applied for equal representation where religious monuments are placed on public property, provided religious exemption and legal protection against laws that unscientifically restrict women's reproductive autonomy, exposed fraudulent harmful pseudo-scientific practitioners and claims in mental health car and applied to hold clubs alongside other religious after-school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations.
These are their seven fundamental tenants guiding that mission:
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
Beliefs should conform to one's best understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
Every tenant is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
The display will be at the capitol until Dec. 29. A call to the Illinois Secretary of State's Office, which administers the capitol building and such displays, has not been returned at this time.
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