Overcoming a devil of a time with state officials, the Satanic Temple mounted its holiday display Monday in the Florida Capitol Rotunda.
The diorama of an angel falling from cottony clouds into flames went up just down the hall from Gov. Rick Scott’s office. It’s in a spot adjacent to where until Monday morning, a manager scene had been placed by the Florida Prayer Network.
Like the Satanic display, the Nativity had been allowed by the state’s Department of Management Services to occupy the spot for a week.
“As long as the Nativity scene is going to be there, we’ll be here,” said John Porgal, an activist with the American Atheist Center, who helped place the display for the New York-based Satanic Temple.
The Satanic group had its application for a display rejected last year by DMS, which found the proposal “grossly offensive.” But this year, the Satanic Temple reached out to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a national advocacy organization, which threatened a lawsuit if Florida leaders denied the Satanists while giving other religious displays the green light.
Pam Olsen, of the Florida Prayer Network, said she came to the Capitol early Monday to remove her group’s larger Nativity display, replacing it with a small, framed picture depicting the familiar manger scene.
“I didn’t want to get into dueling displays with them,” Olsen said.
Also sharing the Rotunda space was a menorah, two displays put up by atheist groups and a Festivus pole inspired by "Seinfeld" that is made out of empty Pabst Blue Ribbon cans.
A Panama City mother, visiting the Capitol with her two young daughters, said the plentiful holiday options carried a meaningful lesson this season.
“I think everybody has a right to have their own faith represented,” said Katie Clark, flanked by Willow, 12, and Sarah, 8. “That’s really what this is all about.”
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