(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Juan Mendez, the assistant Democrat leader in Arizona’s state Senate, invited members of a local Satanic temple to participate in political activism, the Grand Canyon Times reported.
Arizona Senate Republicans posted footage of the disturbing scene to Twitter, which showed a masked Mendez announcing the group’s presence and praising the demonic mission of its members.
“We are graced with the presence of ministers and members of the Satanic Temple of Arizona,” Mendez said.
The group, which joined to “fight for the rights” of Satanists, purports to practice “non theistic satanism divorced from superstition without any belief in gods or devils.”
Their creeds, however, invoke “religious values” including compassion, justice, bodily autonomy, free speech, science, humility and noble action.
According to the Satanic Temple Arizona’s website, Satanism is a particularly useful “weapon” for combating Christianity.
“Satan is the ultimate archetype and thus makes his character a perfect weapon to be able to combat Church and State issues,” it says.
Mendez continued to note that the mission of the temple was to encourage “empathy among all people,” guided by their “conscience to undertake noble pursuits.”
Satanists have increasingly been attempting to assert their religion in the political arena— including last month in Reno, Nevada, where a Satanist leader gave the opening “prayer” for a Washoe County Commission’s meeting.
The Satanist ended his prayer with “Hail Satan,” to which several members of the gallery responded by shouting prayers in the name of Jesus Christ.
Reno area Deputy District Attorney Nate Edwards stated that Satanic invocations were part of a trend because “if you do open your floor for invocations, then federal law is that you have to let everybody have a turn signing up.”
Still, other upstanding Americans are putting a stop to the demonic activism.
Deputies of the Kinney County, Texas Sheriff’s Department, for example, recently adorned their patrol cars with Bible verses.
Kinney County Chief Deputy Armando Garcia said that the Bible verses are “important because God is our true one leader.”
“I am a Christian and I trust in God. In a lot of the dangerous situations I’ve been in, I believe he’s the only reason I’ve come out of those situations,” Garcia added.
Still, the law does not always support Christians in their struggle against the forces of evil.
Michael Cassidy, a U.S. military veteran, was charged last month with a “hate crime” for destroying a Satanic Baphomet statue at the Iowa capitol in December.
