The destruction of a satanic display at the Iowa state capitol is being prosecuted as a hate crime following outcry from state and national leaders over a figure depicting the horned deity, Baphomet. 

A former congressional candidate from Mississippi, Michael Cassidy, is being charged by Iowa prosecutors with third-degree criminal mischief, a felony, after he knocked over and vandalized the demon altar last month, according to the Des Moines Register. The Satanic Temple of Iowa was given permission to erect the altar due to state rules permitting religious displays in the capitol building during the holidays.

Republican lawmakers were quick to condemn the Satanic display in what appeared to be a test of their religiosity. “Absolutely objectionable” is how Governor Reynolds described the demon Baphomet figure, which featured a bejeweled goat head alongside prayer candles. In a December statement, Ms. Reynolds urged people to pray over the Capitol, arguing that “the best response to objectionable speech is more speech.”

Governor DeSantis has pledged to support Mr. Cassidy’s legal defense. After Mr. Cassidy was initially charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, the governor defended him, asserting in a post on X that “Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government.” 

Non-theistic religious organizations often invoke Satanic imagery to protest laws on the basis of their religious freedom. The co-founder of the Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, outlined his ambitions in a CNN interview last month. “People might hate us and people might want to exclude us,” he said, “but that simply opens the door to more sectarian battles, and it certainly won’t stop there.”