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A Satanic group’s “Black Mass,” scheduled to take place in the Kansas Capitol later this month, has led to all kinds of chaos due to lawmakers and Catholic leaders who want to prevent the group from exercising their First Amendment rights.
The chaos now involves changing the rules for who can hold events in the Capitol, a lawsuit against the Satanists, and a formal resolution denouncing the Mass as “despicable, blasphemous and offensive.”
In this case, the Black Mass is being conducted by the Satanic Grotto, an independent group that’s not affiliated with The Satanic Temple or the Church of Satan. The plan was that, on March 28, members would go to the 1st floor rotunda, which they had reserved, and “dedicate the grounds and our legislature to the glory of Satan.”
We will be performing rites to the Black Mass and indulging in sacrilegious blaspheme. God will fall and Kansas will be embraced by the black flame of Lucifer.
While Black Masses are typically inversions of a traditional Catholic Mass, there’s no modern guidebook for how to do one. They might include music and chants. Maybe the desecration of religious symbols. But more than anything, it’s a private group performing personal rituals. They’re not hurting anyone. They’re no different from Christians who visit public places to pray over them. And if you don’t like it, well, no one asked for your opinion. (It’s not like the event is taking place inside a church.)
Still, whenever a Black Mass has been performed in recent years, it has been surrounded by controversy. In 2014, one in Oklahoma City attracted hundreds of protesters. That same year, an event at Harvard University had to be moved off campus after social pressure. In 2020, Catholic leaders went ballistic after hearing that a Black Mass in Virginia was believed to be in possession of consecrated communion wafers… because they seriously thought the Satanists stole pieces of Jesus. That latter concern is what we’re now seeing in Kansas.
It’s honestly bizarre how all these people are threatened by the idea of a Black Mass. Hell, at this point, an inversion of a Catholic Mass would probably be safer for children.
But Kansas conservatives weren’t handling any of this responsibly.
The Catholic Bishops of Kansas released a statement earlier this month denouncing the event as “anti-Catholic bigotry” before calling on members to pray for the conversion of the Satanists.
They weren’t alone. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property—a right-wing group known for wearing cultish red cloaks—said they would hold a “rally of reparation” outside the Capitol during the Black Mass. They also launched an online petition calling on the event to be shut down. (It has over 40,000 signatures as of this writing.)
It didn’t take long for Gov. Laura Kelly (a Democrat!) to respond to the pressure. She announced that the Black Mass would have to take place outside the Capitol… because she was moving all events that day outside the building. (She didn’t have the power to unilaterally cancel the Black Mass, but by moving “all events” outside that day, it uniquely affected the Satanists without creating a legal problem for Kelly.)
… as governor, I also have a duty to protect protesters’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression, regardless of how offensive or distasteful I might find the content to be.
Since these rights are constitutionally protected, the Governor’s Office has limited authority to respond to such actions.
That said, it is important to keep the Statehouse open and accessible to the public while ensuring all necessary health and safety regulations are enforced.
Therefore, all events planned for March 28 will be moved outdoors to the grounds surrounding the Statehouse. Again, no protests will be allowed inside the Statehouse on March 28.
The Catholic leaders were still furious with that response, though. They wanted the entire thing shut down, not relocated… because apparently freedom of speech doesn’t apply to people whose views challenge their own.
Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, was unimpressed with Kelly’s response, telling CNA in a statement that her March 12 message “reeks of condescension and a willful ignorance about what is scheduled to happen.”
“Make no mistake: A vile and despicable Satanic worship ritual has been approved to take place on the grounds of the Kansas state Capitol, ‘The People’s House.’ Moving it from the living room to the front porch changes nothing,” Weber said.
“Where is the condemnation of this provocative expression of hatred and anti-Catholic bigotry?” he said.
These people are more upset by Satanists performing their own rituals than they ever get when Catholic priests are found to sexually abuse children. That’s how out of whack their priorities are.
Then they went nuclear.
On Friday, Archbishop Joseph Naumann filed a lawsuit insisting that the Satanists had stolen consecrated wafers for use in their Black Mass. Naumann based this on Reddit posts made by Satanic Grotto president Michael Stewart.
In a 44-page complaint filed Friday in Leavenworth County District Court, Kansas City, Kansas, Archbishop Joseph Naumann alleged that members of the Satanic Grotto, including Stewart and the Grotto’s vice president, stole consecrated hosts to use during the black mass. The allegation was based on phone conversations and posts on Reddit linked to Stewart’s username, “xsimon666x.”
There was no evidence a consecrated wafer had been stolen… nor would it be theft if someone received Communion, never swallowed it, and later gave it to the Satanists. It would also be ridiculously easy to just get wafers from a grocery store, pretend they’re consecrated (or say magic words over them to give off the same effect), then use those in the ritual. It’s all pretend, anyway. The idea that someone “stole” a consecrated wafer that Catholic leaders routinely give away for free is absurd.
In the actual complaint—which no media outlet is linking to, for some reason, but I’ve included here without the appendices that include personal information—there’s a screenshot of the supposed smoking gun:
“Weve [sic] already secured a consecrated host…” he said. But again, there’s no evidence Stewart (or anyone else) walked into a Catholic church and stole property that wasn’t theirs. (Though I would also argue that accepting Communion when you’re not Catholic doesn’t qualify as theft.)
Then the complaint included a screenshot where Stewart said he was planning to “destroy a Bible and tear Christ off a crucifix before smashing [the consecrated wafer].” (The highlighted screenshot below is my own.)
Is that distasteful? Maybe. But it sure as hell isn’t criminal. Symbolic acts, however “blasphemous,” are not illegal and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. If this was his Bible and his crucifix and his wafer, he has every right to do whatever he wants with them. Just like it’s legal to burn an American flag that you own, it’s legal to destroy a Bible.
So what’s this lawsuit all about, given that there’s no evidence of anything illegal taking place?
Naumann wrote at the end that he’s asking the Court to issue an “order requiring that any and all Consecrated Hosts and any amount of Consecrated Wine in the possession, custody, or control of Defendants be recovered so that Archbishop Naumann may claim immediate possession thereof.”
It’s seriously that ridiculous. He’s demanding the return of an item that the Church gives away for free, despite having no proof it was ever taken from him in the first place.
Then, complicating matters a bit, on Saturday, St. Patrick Catholic Church in Wichita was vandalized. The Kansas Catholic Conference claimed that a “Satanic website was scrawled on a wall,” though they didn’t include a picture of that graffiti or mention what the URL was. They added, however, that “This is the same type of group that will be holding a Satanic [worship] ritual on the grounds of the Kansas State Capitol on March 28.”
Why are they the “same type of group”? Saying that is as lazy as equating peaceful Muslims with Islamic extremists. Just because these two groups claim to be Satanic doesn’t mean they’re identical in any meaningful way.
The Catholic reaction was over-the-top and full of ignorance… and ultimately wrong. (More on that in a bit.)
But they’re not alone. Kansas lawmakers are making similar kinds of mistakes.
For example, dozens of legislators have just sponsored House Resolution 6016, which says the Black Mass will be a “despicable, blasphemous and offensive sacrilege to not only Catholics but all people of goodwill, and it runs contrary to the spiritual heritage of this state and nation.”
That “spiritual heritage,” they say, is one that claims “The United States of America is one nation under God.” That is, of course, a lie.
The resolution also, laughably, condemns the “implicit use of stolen property.” It’s implicit because there’s no explicit evidence any crime has been committed.
Anyway, while Kansas voters have to deal with their right-wing representatives and a Democratic governor who accedes to their demands, and while some poor judge has to deal with that waste-of-time lawsuit, the Satanists are planning to respond to the backlash in an even bigger way.
They recently announced they will resist the protests by counter-protesting the Catholics who plan to show up at their event, then enter the Capitol anyway because they believe they have every right to that space.
The Facebook event page makes clear “We are committing a peaceful act of civil disobedience, this is an illegal act, we are thumbing our noses at the highest authority in our state. You do so at your own risk.”
A separate post criticized Gov. Kelly for caving to religious extremists before adding: “You will have to have us arrested to stop us from practicing our free speech and religious rights. Shame on you, Gov. Kelly.”
In this case, an arrest is very likely because the Satanists would be defying the governor’s orders. But it’s also arguably an example of what the late Rep. John Lewis called “good trouble.”
Meanwhile, planning for the Black Mass has continued without delay and a schedule has now been released. It includes a denunciation of “the Word” and “Christ” and desecration of the Eucharist. (Okay, the spelling needs some work.)
All of this has angered Ty Masterson, the Republican Senate President, who asked Attorney General Kris Kobach for his opinion on ways to basically prevent the Satanists from holding their event.
Kobach’s response? If the Satanists obtained the wafer through theft or deception, and because they plan to destroy the supposedly stolen property during their event, at least two possible crimes may be committed… so they’ll be on the lookout for those.
At the end of that video, you can hear lawmakers suggest that the Kansas Highway Patrol could stop the Black Mass… which is an appalling conversation to have. It’s batshit insane for government officials to even suggest that law enforcement should shut down a peaceful event and protest.
That meeting also revealed that there would be new rules for who can access meeting space in the Capitol. The Kansas Reflector notes that the rules have since been modified to say that gatherings cannot occur if someone “has stated explicitly that the meeting or gathering will involve a violation of law.”
But again, the only violation is one that exists in the minds of the religious. These people have no idea where Stewart’s consecrated wafer came from, so they’re jumping to the conclusion that he must have stolen it from a church. And because he plans on smashing it, they’re accusing him of destroying stolen property.
In other words, even if the new rules are designed to keep the Satanists out, it’s not clear that they actually would later this month because there’s no evidence for any of this—just a bunch of Republicans taking their mythology way too far. They want to prevent a group’s exercise of free speech by making up crimes in their heads, then accusing members of violating those laws, despite having no evidence whatsoever.
Speaking with a reporter on Tuesday, Stewart denied stealing anything.
In an interview Tuesday, Stewart denied the allegations and added that no one asked what consecration means to him.
“I find it very entertaining that he is convinced that I have Jesus trapped in a cracker and he would take it to court,” Stewart said.
It really is that comical.
It also turns out the truth is even funnier. And I know that because Stewart and I spoke last night about everything that’s happening. I had a chance to ask him all the questions that have been raised over the past couple of weeks and he was forthcoming in answering all of them.
The Catholic Archbishop’s lawsuit hinges on the idea that Stewart stole a consecrated communion wafer from some unnamed church at some unnamed time. Kobach’s argument that the Satanists may be breaking two separate laws if they go through with the Black Mass is based on the idea that they are destroying stolen property.
Turns out the wafers didn’t come from a church at all.
They were purchased on Amazon earlier this month.
The “consecration”? It’s nothing more than whatever Stewart decided to say after he opened the bag. (When he said on Reddit that he had “already secured a consecrated host,” he wasn’t technically lying. He just wasn’t using the Catholic definition of “consecrated.”)
That little bit of evidence should be very interesting when Stewart appears in court later this morning in response to Neumann’s lawsuit. Neumann, by the way, never bothered asking Stewart where he got the wafers from. If he had, he would have been told the truth. “We’ve been trying to say that for days now,” Stewart told me.
Stewart was adamant that neither he nor anyone in his group’s Wichita chapter had anything to do with the vandalism. (He joked: “Everyone’s in their 30s and 40s and doesn’t have the time to vandalize a church.”)
It turns out he’s not just saying that. On Sunday morning—the day after the church was vandalized—the Wichita Police announced that a suspect was already in custody:
… Officers from our Field Community Response Teams were provided with critical intelligence and began searching for the suspect. At approximately 2:20 a.m. this morning, officers located and arrested the suspect in the 2800 block of N. Hillside without incident.
The suspect has been booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on charges of Burglary, Criminal Desecration, and Criminal Damage to Property. The case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney and federal prosecutors for formal charging considerations.
One media outlet listed the suspect’s name and added that he had just been released from prison a week earlier… and that he had been in prison before because vandalism is apparently his thing.
That suspect has no connection to the Satanic Grotto. Whatever URL he wrote on the wall may have been to try and get the police off the scent.
The Kansas Catholic Conference hasn’t issued any update alerting followers that the suspect is not connected to the Satanists planning the Black Mass even though it would be the responsible thing to do.
Actually, I take that back. This is how they followed up their Facebook post about the vandalism:
That’s it. “An update” that says the suspect was arrested… with no mention of how the previous post falsely implied a connection to the Black Mass.
One question kept nagging at me when I spoke to Stewart: All of this drama stems from his decision to hold a Black Mass, but that seemed to come out of nowhere. Why do this at all?
He explained to me that a large part of the inspiration came from, ironically, anti-abortion groups. He often saw them inside the Capitol, holding signs with pictures of bloody fetuses in order to exaggerate and demonize the procedure. They had a right to be in the Capitol, though, because they applied for a permit.
Stewart decided he wanted to do the same thing as a way of pushing back. Why not make some people as uncomfortable as the anti-abortion zealots made everyone else? The Black Mass was a perfect option since it was also something people would dislike. It was in-your-face. It was “blasphemous.” It invoked Satan. (And if you don’t like it, well, that’s how we feel when seeing those anti-abortion nuts.)
But this wasn’t only about annoying or shocking or offending people.
Stewart said the Black Mass was a very legitimate ritual for the people in his group. “It’s a way to work through our own traumas,” he told me. So tearing up pages from bibles that have been used to harm and subjugate them? That was cathartic.
The blasphemy, he added, was an important part of this because it showed those religious symbols had no power over them. Furthermore, the message that was scheduled to be delivered—the Satanic liturgy, if you will—would explain in detail how Christianity has let them down and hurt them.
Stewart elaborated on that yesterday in an opinion piece for the Kansas City Star:
Our event, the Black Mass, is a cathartic expression of sorrow, rage and healing. Our cries are for autonomy, not to impose our will on others. This is a perfect moment for it. At a time when a majority in this country think the founders intended this to be a Christian nation, when it is becoming unsafe to have alternative viewpoints, and separation of church and state has eroded. Now, more than ever, we should be challenging what is considered “normal” and protecting those that are different.
…
To the Archdiocese and our fine Kansas Legislature, we thank you. Your actions have highlighted the religious hypocrisy rampant in our state government, as well as the unconstitutional treatment of differing religions and beliefs.
If the Catholics can do this to Satanists now, what’s going to stop them from targeting Protestants or Baptists next?
We are nonviolent. We intend no harm. We value the grounds, building and every being inside it.
On March 28, we will enter the Kansas Capitol and perform the Black Mass according to our original permit. We acknowledge it violates the new permit, and there might be consequences. Nothing “bad” will happen and we will leave. Or at least that’s what I hope will happen.
When he put it all that way, I could only come to one conclusion: The way Kansas officials are destroying the First Amendment is far worse than anything these Satanists plan to do to a wafer.
Stewart will begin the event next Friday outside the Capitol. If Catholics are there, his group will stage a counter-protest. But at some point, he plans to walk inside the building to “say my prayers and thank Satan and dedicate that building to Satan.”
They could arrest him. After all, the governor has already said no events can take place inside the building that day.
But given everything happening in the country and the constant assault on the Constitution from the highest levels of government, Stewart asserted, “maybe some of us need to risk getting arrested right now.”
UPDATE (10:55a): I have just been informed that all charges against the Satanic Grotto, in the lawsuit filed by a Catholic leader, have been dismissed (without prejudice).
