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Holiday display in the Illinois Statehouse rotunda in Springfield, Illinois

Satanic Temple’s Holiday Display Coming Back to Illinois Capitol Rotunda

The Illinois State Capitol Rotunda will feature a holiday art display from the Satanic Temple that will stand alongside other religious exhibits.

This year’s installment, the third for the organization, will feature the satanic figure Baphomet depicted as a baby to celebrate the holiday Sol Invictus, the State Journal-Register reported.

The Satanic Temple is a social activist organization that is an outspoken supporter of women’s reproductive rights, the separation of church and state, and several other social justice issues.

According to the organization’s website, Sol Invictus is a “celebration of being unconquered by superstition and consistent in the pursuit of sharing knowledge,” and has its origins in the cult of Sol in pre-Christian Rome.

“This year’s tradition marks a greater urgency in the Baphomet’s message of harmony and reconciliation,” Satanic Temple’s director of campaign operations Erin Helian said in a statement, obtained by The State Journal-Register.

The display will be installed at 1 p.m. Monday, December 20, at the rotunda in Springfield, overseen by members of the congregation.”

The display has been a source of controversy with local Christian leaders. A Nativity scene was installed at the rotunda recently at an event sponsored by the Diocese of Springfield, where Bishop Thomas Paprocki said the Satanic Temple’s displays “should have no place in this Capitol or any other place,” according to The State Journal-Register.

“Our real message is to re-establish pluralism,” Greaves told the Journal-Register. “It doesn’t mean that people with opposing viewpoints have to be in conflict.”

The Satanic Temple’s first holiday installation at the rotunda was in 2018, followed by another installation in 2019 called “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift,” which featured the forearm of the biblical Eve beside an apple and snake. (NYPost / VFI News)

"Lord, we pray that you will bring satanic activity to an end. We ask that you would bring people into Your light and expose the lies of the enemy."