Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he would support the legal fund of a man who is accused of vandalizing a display by The Satanic Temple inside the Iowa Capitol on Thursday. Michael Cassidy was ch…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ® said he would support the legal fund of a man who is accused of vandalizing a display by The Satanic Temple inside the Iowa Capitol on Thursday.

Michael Cassidy was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief for knocking over and destroying a statue erected by the temple inside the capitol, The Des Moines Register first reported.

“Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government,” DeSantis said on X, formerly Twitter. “I’ll chip in to contribute to this veteran’s legal defense fund. Good prevails over evil — that’s the American spirit.”

    • littlewonder@lemmy.world
      66·
      10 months ago

      Not to mock, but to test the separation of church and state and whether all religions really are allowed to participate.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
      422·
      10 months ago

      Exactly this. While the religion is real, and their morals are pretty tight, they are also encouraged to use this sort of drama to drive separation of church and state.

      • littlewonder@lemmy.world
        181·
        10 months ago

        I don’t think they’re encouraging drama. This story would be a nothing-burger if the Christians hadn’t lost their damn minds about it.

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
          25·
          10 months ago

          Paraphrased: You don’t think they’re encouraging drama. This wouldn’t have been a story if so much drama wasn’t encouraged.

          They know their target :-). The fact that those Christians are so readily triggered by nonsense is predictable.

      • phoenixz@lemmy.ca
        121·
        10 months ago

        There is no real religion, they do not believe in Satan, they literally state so, and mostly use it to push back against christian intrusions into government and schools

        • eltrain123@lemmy.world
          131·
          10 months ago

          Belief in an artificial deity does not have to be present asa defining characteristic of religion. They have a strong moral code that they promote and follow with doctrine and practice, which meets the definition of a religion, regardless of supernatural deity.

          • phoenixz@lemmy.ca
            1·
            10 months ago

            Not sure if I agree. I’ve never encountered a religion that is not based off the supernatural, the supernatural is the entire core premise of religion in general.

            The church of the flying spaghetti monster and the satanic temple are organisations and satirical, but they are not religious in any way.