Kim Reynolds said a 2023 Satanic Temple display was “absolutely objectionable”
“State officials have made it clear that they denied TST permission to hold events in the Capitol rotunda because they disagreed with their religious viewpoint,” said Shefali Aurora, an ACLU of Iowa staff attorney, in a statement on the court order. “It is a foundational principle that the government cannot restrict speech in this way, favor one religion over another, or discriminate against religious groups because they don’t agree with them.”
On Monday, Chief District Judge Stephanie M Rose directed the current director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to approve the holiday-event application within seven days. The order came after years of denials of the group’s applications, and Rose found that the Satanic Temple was likely to succeed on its free-speech claim. The application seeks a December event in the rotunda of the Iowa state capitol.
The group said its proposed holiday event would include costumes of Krampus, a European folklore character, along with caroling, coloring for children and ornament making. In denying the application, state officials cited sticks included in the costumes that could be used as weapons and policies meant to protect children in the public space.
Rose wrote that the officials’ arguments did not justify the denials. She said the argument that Krampus might scare children was “not a permissible basis for excluding speech,” while the argument about the costume sticks “cannot justify denying the entire event.”
The Satanic Temple and its Iowa chapter leader filed a lawsuit in August, alleging discrimination by former and current state officials. Republicans in Iowa, who currently control the governorship and majorities in the state house and senate, cited capitol policies prohibiting gratuitous violence and obscene displays as justification for denying the applications.
According to the office of Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, state Republicans intend to appeal Rose’s decision. The Iowa Department of Administrative Services and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds had not yet commented on the court order.
In 2023, Reynolds stated in response to the group’s holiday display at the state capitol, “like many Iowans, I find the Satanic Temple’s display in the Capitol absolutely objectionable. In a free society, the best response to objectionable speech is more speech, and I encourage all those of faith to join me today in praying over the Capitol and recognizing the nativity scene that will be on display – the true reason for the season.”
In December 2023, the group had a religious holiday display at the Iowa state capitol. The report said it was vandalized by a Christian military veteran. Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk pledged $10,000 to the accused vandal’s legal defense. The following year, the Satanic Temple’s application for a holiday display and event was denied.
The report included a photograph by Charlie Neibergall/AP of the Iowa capitol building in Des Moines, where the group had applied to stage the December event. A photograph by Scott McFetridge/AP showed the damaged display at the Iowa state capitol on 15 December 2023.
The Satanic Temple, founded in Salem, Massachusetts, in 2013, characterizes itself as a “non-theistic religious organization” that advocates for secularism and emphasizes separation from the Church of Satan, founded in 1966.
Under Rose’s order, the department’s current director must approve the application for the planned December event within seven days. The attorney general’s office says state Republicans intend to appeal, leaving the approval deadline in place as the immediate step in the dispute.