One of the weirdest—and darkest—aspects of the abortion debate in 2020 is the growing profile of the Satanic Temple, which has been attempting to have abortion recognized as a religious ritual and a sacrament in order to use religious liberty laws against pro-life laws. In short, they are attempting to weaponize laws created to protect freedom of religion against pre-born children in the womb, something covered extensively in a creepy documentary titled Hail Satan. The Satanic Temple, run by Lucien Greaves, has raffled a “free abortion” and spends much of its time promoting feticide.
According to Global News, the Satanic Temple is now fighting to erect pro-abortion billboards in several states:
The Satanic Temple is suing an ad agency for alleged religious discrimination after the firm refused to put up its pro-abortion rights billboards in Arkansas and Indiana. The temple claims that Lamar Advertising is preventing it from sharing the details of its “religious abortion ritual,” which is seemingly designed to help women get around state barriers to the procedure. The temple says those who receive the abortion “sacrament” can claim a religious exemption from mandatory waiting periods, counselling and other state rules that make it more difficult to obtain a timely abortion.
The Satanic Temple does not believe in a god, but it is still listed as a tax-exempt religious organization in the United States. It describes its abortion “ritual” as a “sacramental act that confirms the rights of bodily autonomy.” The Salem, Mass.-based “church” says it had a contract with Lamar to put up eight billboards to promote its ritual. Lamar refused to put up the billboards because it deemed them “misleading and offensive,” according to the lawsuit. The temple says it was willing to make revisions, but Lamar refused to offer specific feedback for the revisions. Three mock-ups released by the Satanic Temple feature the message: “Our religious abortion ritual averts many state restrictions.”
One image shows a woman holding a tiny Adolf Hitler alongside the caption: “What if abortion had been an option?” Another shows cake batter with the caption “Not a cake,” and an embryo with the caption “Not a baby.” The Satanic Temple had sought to put up the billboards near crisis pregnancy centres in Arkansas and Indiana, which use state laws to restrict and delay access to abortions.
Greaves, of course, disagrees that these billboards are inaccurate—although they very obviously are. There is no ruling that recognizes abortion as a religious ritual, for example. And while an embryo may not be a “baby” (depending on how you define that term), a human embryo is, scientifically speaking, a unique, living, whole human being. Of course, Greaves is not a scientist. He is a Satanist. Those, as it turns out, are very different things.
