Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office says state officials intend to appeal
In Des Moines on Monday, Chief District Judge Stephanie M. Rose ordered the current director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to approve Satanic Temple Iowa’s application for a holiday event in the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol. The order came after years of rejected applications. Rose said the religious group was likely to succeed on its free-speech claim and ordered approval within seven days; Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office said state officials intend to appeal.
The case asks whether state officials may deny a religious organization permission to hold a Capitol event because of objections to the observance. In August, the Satanic Temple and the leader of its Iowa organization sued the state in federal court. The plaintiffs argued that current and former Iowa officials discriminated against their religion by repeatedly refusing to permit the holiday event and violated their constitutional rights and state law.
The order is the latest step in a back-and-forth between the religious organization and Republican state officials. In recent years, Iowa’s Republican leaders barred Satanic Temple Iowa’s holiday observances, citing policies at the state Capitol that prohibit gratuitous violence and obscene displays.
Founded in 2013, the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple says it does not believe in Satan but describes itself as a “non-theistic religious organization” that advocates for secularism. The organization is separate from the Church of Satan, which was founded in the 1960s.
The Satanic Temple has not always been barred from participating in the holiday season at the Iowa Statehouse, where the rotunda includes a Christmas tree and other religious holiday installations. A Satanic Temple Iowa display depicting the goat-headed figure Baphomet was vandalized three years ago, leading to increased scrutiny of the group and its observances. In 2024, the group’s application for a display and event was rejected.
The proposed event would include costumes of the European folklore character Krampus, along with caroling, coloring for kids and ornament making. In denying the application, state leaders cited policies intended to protect children who may be present in the public space and pointed to the costumes’ use of sticks, which could be used as weapons. Satanic Temple members reject that premise.
Rose wrote that the officials’ arguments likely did not justify the denials. She said concern that the Krampus character may frighten children is “not a permissible basis for excluding speech.” She also wrote that concern about sticks carried as part of costumes “cannot justify denying the entire event.”
Rose said the state department could impose the same conditions it applies to other events. Props would remain subject to the building’s regular security screening.
Members of the Satanic Temple celebrated the ruling, as did the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which is representing the religious organization.
Matt Kezhaya, an attorney for the Satanic Temple, criticized the state’s treatment of the application. “Too often, fear or misunderstanding of the ‘other’ is amplified by petty governmental bureaucrats looking to score cheap political points by portraying unfamiliar beliefs as ‘dangerous,’” he said in a statement.
“This was always going to be a family-friendly event,” Kezhaya added. “None of this became ‘harmful’ just because state officials disapproved of our chosen expression.”
Spokespeople for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and Gov. Kim Reynolds did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Josh Kelety reported from Phoenix.