The Satanic Temple has filed a complaint against Iowa officials over their refusal to approve a gathering at the State Capitol rotunda last winter.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed the complaint on Tuesday on behalf of TST before the Iowa Office of Civil Rights, claiming discrimination based on religion.
In their complaint, TST accused the Iowa Department of Administrative Services of “taking action to limit our access to the State Capitol,” citing its decision to bar the group from holding a multiday reading of Paradise Lost by John Milton last July.
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After initially green-lighting the event, according to TST, IDAS canceled the event after deciding to prohibit multiday events at the Capitol and allow groups to host only one event per year.
TST then applied to hold a holiday event in December that would include Krampus costumes, caroling, a “ritual” and “other family-friendly activities such as coloring pages.”
IDAS did not respond to their application in a timely manner, the group claims, and then ultimately decided to deny the application for the holiday event.
“The scheduled day of the Event came and passed. At least one other religious event took place inside the State Capitol on that day,” stated the complaint. “Respondents were working together — not to find a way to accommodate our request to access the State Capitol on equal terms — but to prepare media statements about the denial.”
ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said in a statement that it was “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.”
“Members of The Satanic Temple Iowa have the same right to express their beliefs as all other religious groups do,” she said. “However, state officials treated the Iowa congregation of the Satanic Temple worse than others because they do not approve of their religion. That’s wrong, and it’s illegal under the Iowa Civil Rights Act.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a written statement defending the decision to reject the ritual, noting that “the State’s event policy takes into consideration conduct that would be harmful to minors.”
Reynolds claimed the proposed “satanic event, which specifically targeted children, would have been harmful to children and so it was denied.”
In December 2023, TST put up a statue of Baphomet near a Nativity scene at the Iowa State Capitol, only to have 35-year-old Navy veteran Michael Cassidy topple the display.
