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Satanic statue unveiled in Detroit to prayers, protests
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A massive statue in that pays tribute to a goat-headed deity was unveiled in a ceremony in Detroit on Saturday to the sounds of prayer and protest.
The ceremony was billed as the "largest public satanic ceremony in history," WWJ reported.
Just before midnight Saturday, approximately 700 people gathered at a warehouse to unveil the monument to Baphomet, a goat-headed god who is the symbol of contemporary Satanism, Time reported.
Photo: Chris Switzer
Posted by The Satanic Temple - Detroit Chapter on Sunday, July 26, 2015
The statue, which is nearly 9-feet tall and weighs about a ton, shows the figured seated on a throne, wings spread, with a pentagram carved above the goat head. The figure's legs end not in feet, but cloven hooves. Two children, a girl and a boy, gaze up at him.
The image can be seen on The Satanic Temple's Facebook page.
It was originally made for the state capitol grounds in Oklahoma City, but Oklahoma's Supreme Court banned religious displays on Capitol grounds, The Detroit Free Press reported. It eventually made its way to Detroit.
Photo: Matt Anderson
Posted by The Satanic Temple - Detroit Chapter on Sunday, July 26, 2015
Hours before the dedication, approximately 100 people gathered to pray and protest the monument.
"I'm here to stand against this being in the City of Detroit," Bishop Corletta Vaughn of the Holy Ghost Cathedral in Detroit told The Detroit Free Press. "We will not turn over our city to Satanists. It's a violent spirit that's moving to the city and infiltrating that place. We will drive them out of Dodge."
One woman carried a sign during the protest that read "SATAN cannot exist where there is truth and JESUS is the TRUTH."
Another woman called the statue "blasphemous to God."
The unveiling location was kept secret to the majority of the city and was known only to those who bought a $25 ticket.
The event was scheduled for a restaurant, but the owner of the business canceled the reservation when he found out what was going to happen, WWJ reported.
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