Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
Satan was just the victim of a hate crime. And it's all connected to Michael Cassidy. He's a Navy Reserve veteran, a former congressional candidate from Mississippi. And just back in December, he saw something that got his blood boiling: a giant statue of Baphomet, the winged, goat-headed pagan God that was just chillin’ on the grounds of the Iowa State Capitol. Which, for some context here, this is something that the Satanic Temple does to protest religious displays. Right, so the Iowa statue apparently came as a protest against state rules allowing religious displays in the Capitol during the holidays. And with this, Governor Kim Reynolds saying while she personally objects to it, that is technically their First Amendment right. But Cassidy seemingly felt different, because one day he just marched up straight to the statue and, as he put it, pulled its head off. With the Temple saying that the statue was “destroyed beyond repair.” And then, according to Cassidy himself, he walked proudly over to the police station and informed them what he just did. With the cops. Initially just citing him for fourth-degree criminal mischief and releasing him. But then he went on a big old media tour, including to Fox News, and made it very clear that his motives were religious. “It offended me. It touched a nerve. It was, you know, righteous indignation. I call it, you know, Christian civil disobedience.” And so this week, Polk County prosecutors charged him under the state's hate crime statute, which means this is a crime that could land him in prison for up to five years.
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Produced by: Cory Ray, Philip DeFranco
Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks
Art Department: William Crespo
Writing/Research: Chris Tolve, Philip DeFranco
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#Satanic #Iowa #Satan
Satan was just the victim of a hate crime. And it's all connected to Michael Cassidy. He's a Navy Reserve veteran, a former congressional candidate from Mississippi. And just back in December, he saw something that got his blood boiling: a giant statue of Baphomet, the winged, goat-headed pagan God that was just chillin’ on the grounds of the Iowa State Capitol. Which, for some context here, this is something that the Satanic Temple does to protest religious displays. Right, so the Iowa statue apparently came as a protest against state rules allowing religious displays in the Capitol during the holidays. And with this, Governor Kim Reynolds saying while she personally objects to it, that is technically their First Amendment right. But Cassidy seemingly felt different, because one day he just marched up straight to the statue and, as he put it, pulled its head off. With the Temple saying that the statue was “destroyed beyond repair.” And then, according to Cassidy himself, he walked proudly over to the police station and informed them what he just did. With the cops. Initially just citing him for fourth-degree criminal mischief and releasing him. But then he went on a big old media tour, including to Fox News, and made it very clear that his motives were religious. “It offended me. It touched a nerve. It was, you know, righteous indignation. I call it, you know, Christian civil disobedience.” And so this week, Polk County prosecutors charged him under the state's hate crime statute, which means this is a crime that could land him in prison for up to five years.
——————————
Produced by: Cory Ray, Philip DeFranco
Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks
Art Department: William Crespo
Writing/Research: Chris Tolve, Philip DeFranco
————————————
#Satanic #Iowa #Satan
