Dave Leshtz is the editor of The Prairie Progressive.
“Satanism is as American as apple pie.”
–Bill Douglas, author of The People are Kind: A Religious History of Iowa
It was hot as hell on Sunday, September 14, in Toledo, Iowa—the scene of a public reading of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
For the second time, members of the Satanic Temple of Iowa gathered to honor the epic poem they consider the foundational text of what history calls The Enlightenment. My car’s thermometer reached 93 degrees as I parked in front of the Tama County courthouse. Undeterred by the heat, eight Temple members were dressed in their traditional Satanic black finery as they read Milton’s blank verse masterpiece beneath a black pop-up tent.
When I attended the Temple’s first public reading last summer, members were still smarting from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services’ abrupt cancellation of their planned event at the state capitol. Agency director Adam Steen had yanked its approval, forcing the group to look for another government location.
Why a government location to celebrate Satanism? Well, why not, since the capitol has always welcomed displays by Christian groups, and Governor Kim Reynolds annually announces and promotes an “Iowa 99 County Bible Reading Marathon.”
Iowa’s Satanic Temple members, most of whom are native Iowans with deep roots in their communities, dealt with Steen’s cancellation by scouting around for another government location for their reading. They found the Tama County courthouse in Toledo and peacefully read aloud every word of Paradise Lost just a few yards away from a small group reading from the Bible in observance of the governor’s statewide “Bible Reading Marathon.”
All went well for both groups, although some of the Tama County Board of Supervisors weren’t happy. They had issued a permit to the Temple, unaware of its Satanic beliefs, and vowed to be more careful in the future.
Since then, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed a discrimination complaint against the Department of Administrative Services, director Steen, and the governor’s office. If the name Steen sounds familiar, it’s because he recently resigned his position in state government and announced his candidacy for governor, boasting “I am the faith guy. I’m a Jesus guy. I’m a ‘Make America Great’ guy.”
ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said,
It’s one of the foundational principles of our country, and our state civil rights law, that the government should not favor one religious viewpoint or belief over another, or treat its citizens worse or better based on their religion. That means, among other things, that when the government makes the public space in the state capitol available for other religious groups to use, for example, a Christmas or Hanukkah holiday display, it cannot then legally deny the same right to other religious groups, and that includes our clients.
Members of The Satanic Temple Iowa have the same right to express their beliefs as all other religious groups do.
When the Satanic Temple came back this year with another request for permission to read on the courthouse lawn, the Tama County Supervisors first considered imposing various conditions on the group, such as a $100 deposit, proof of insurance, and a pile of paperwork.
But somewhere along the line, the supervisors became enlightened and said to hell with it, offering no resistance to the request. Temple Minister of Satan Mortimer Adramelech told me that one of the supervisors said, “It’s a nice place to sit and read a book.”
Mortimer Adramelech holds a copy of Paradise Lost
Because this year’s reading was on a Sunday, a courthouse bell rang every half-hour. Temple members used it to change readers’ shifts.
Snacks were shared and Adramelech put up with questions from me while members listened to the Temple’s core religious text, revered since its first publication in 1667.
Satanic Temple members in Iowa follow tenets based on empathy, compassion, reason, science, and bodily autonomy. Next on their agenda is a “Vampire Ball” at the Garden Nightclub in Des Moines on October 17. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund (Venmo @iowatransmutualaidfund or Box 4845, Des Moines, IA 50305).
Tama County courthouse:
Civil War monument in the Toledo town square
Mortimer Adramelech:
