I’m a stanch believer in the separation of church and state. “In god we trust” should be removed from our currency, the ten commandments should be excised from every government building, chaplains shouldn’t be reciting prayers in Congress, and nativity scenes should be banned from the Iowa State Capitol and every other government building.

The Satanic Temple erected the Baphomet statue in the State Capital as a countermeasure and antidote to the nativity scene also exhibited in the building.

The Satanic Temple uses Satanic imagery to promote human rights, social justice, secularism, and the separation of church and state. They are a non-theistic religion that uses Satan as a symbol and a metaphor. They don’t believe Satan is a real person, and they don’t resort to violence if someone denigrates their faith or desecrates their religious symbols.

Evangelicals believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and their religious beliefs are the antithesis of the peace-loving creed of the Satanic Temple. They use the Bible to justify racism, homophobia, xenophobia and misogyny. They become apoplectic whenever anyone mocks and ridicules their religion, and evangelicals and Christians of all stripes have started countless wars in the name of Jesus.

A former military officer and evangelical zealot who desecrated the display of the Satanic temple and beheaded the statue of Baphomet is being hailed as a hero by evangelicals. Never mind that the Satanic Temple was given approval by state authorities to participate alongside other holiday displays, evangelicals are applauding his criminal behavior.

WWJD? If Jesus came back and visited the Iowa State Capitol, would he destroy the statue of Baphomet, or just shake his head and lament the fact that the Satanic Temple embodies and practices his peaceful religion better than evangelicals?