Why The Hell Does Satan Need a Tree Anyway?
A false witness will perish,
but a careful listener will testify successfully.
Proverbs 21:28
Well, you have probably seen by now that we have gotten some press. Everyone seems to be talking about a rather modest tree adorned with red lights at a museum in a small metropolitan in Wisconsin. Love it, hate it, don’t get in, anyway you look at it most people seem to be asking the same question. “Why do Satanists want to have a Christmas tree anyway?” As is normally the case hardline Christians will be quick to tell anyone who will listen that we would want to do this specifically to offend them, be hateful, worship the ultimate evil, and corrupt the youth. All these accusations are entirely false. It’s outside the scope of this blog post to dissect them in detail but I’m sure there will be time for that in the future, for now I’ll just give some short rebuttals. 1. I, and most Satanists, really don’t care much about what Christians do as long as their beliefs are not forced on others or harm anyone else in the process, we also don’t really concern ourselves with what most Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, etc do. We do what we do for our own benefit and your religion should serve you in the same way. 2. Most Satanist are not hateful, in fact most Satanic sects follow a message of tolerance and acceptance but…I guess just read the quote at the top. 3. Most Satanic sects, including The Satanic Temple of Wisconsin, do not believe in an actual figure of Satan, or any supernatural beings for that matter. We draw inspiration from literary depictions of Satan as a tragic hero standing up to the underdog against arbitrary authority. 4. We DO NOT attempt to corrupt children; The Satanic Temple Wisconsin does not allow membership to individuals under 18 years old and we are opposed to proselytization. Myself and other members of our congregation who also happen be parents tend to be open to our children about our affiliations and beliefs but any story about Satanists targeting or harming children is false, I could point a few fingers at some organizations that do have a history of that sort of behavior but that’s really not why were here today. The Satanic Temple is actually actively involved in protecting children with the aptly named Protect the Children campaign that seeks to combat corporal punishment.
With all that out of the way let’s move on to the topic at hand. Why would we, The Satanic Temple of Wisconsin, a group of self-identified Satanists want to decorate a tree in a public forum. Well, there’s several reasons but I’ve picked six (how on brand is that). In this post I will do my best to expand on them and hopefully we can all be good listeners and testify successfully in the future.
Christians are not the only group that has have holidays around the end of December: I feel like this should maybe go without saying but I guess I have too. Several cultures have had holidays around this time dating back to the earliest days of recorded history (believe it or not The Bible was not the first book). Interestingly, December 25th happens to fall near the winter solstice every year (the solstice is December 21st this year). Throughout history celebrations have taken place on or near the solstice including but not limited to Shabe Yalda, We Tripantu, Hanukkah, Yalda, Yule, Midwinter Day, Makar Sankranti, Koliada, Saturnalia, and Sol Invictus. Many Pagan and Satanic sects celebrate some version of Midwinter, Yule, Saturnalia, or Sol Invictus. We at The Satanic Temple of Wisconsin like to focus on Sol Invictus. Sol Invictus translated from Latin means “The Unconquered Sun”, and it has been celebrated on December 25th since the Mid 4th century. It is widely believed in many circles that December 25th was chosen as the date of Jesus’ birth in an attempt to coopt this celebration, in fact many scholars believe Jesus would have actually been born in mid-April. Interestingly, there is not one mention of December anywhere in The Bible. In modern context The Satanic Temple celebrates Sol Invictus as a celebration of being unconquered by superstition and consistent in the pursuit and sharing of knowledge. Locally we like to celebrate by participating in a book exchange with members of our congregation from around the state.
The ”Christmas Tree” is also not exclusively Christian: Sorry to blow your mind again but the Christmas tree is also not mentioned in The Bible, nor is Christmas for that matter, and trust me, I’ve read every single mind-numbing page of that book. Again, going back to ancient history, people thought there was something special about vegetation that stayed green all year. Egyptians, Romans (remember them from Sol Invictus), Druids, Vikings and other ancient peoples utilized various types of evergreen plants to celebrate their respective solstice holidays. Eventually this practice moved to the Christian tradition as well, but again, that’s not where it started.
Christmas as celebrated in The United States of America is a secular holiday: If the idea of Satanists celebrating a holiday around the same time an in similar ways as you celebrate Christmas offends you, you should also take issue with Santa Clause, reindeer, elves, etc. Not to keep bringing up the issue but none of those characters come from The Bible. In fact, most of them were created in an attempt to secularize the holiday and move it further away from religion. Furthermore, if our decorations on the tree are offensive why is it not offensive for a business to convert a tree into an advertisement? I guess I’m just lost here as to what the line is on acceptable holiday display décor. Is it that all trees should be “traditional” Christmas faire? Or everything up to Satan is ok? Or everything that you agree with is ok but if you don’t like it then it needs to be censored? Do you see where I’m going here? But I digress, my point is that nowhere in the advertisements for this event or any other holiday tree display that we took part in (surprise! This wasn’t the first) was it ever explicitly stated that these were “Christian” events, they all stated that everyone was welcome. Well, we’re part of everyone so why are we suddenly not welcome? We weren’t the only “non-Christian” tree at other displays and we are not the only one in Green Bay.
Religion is about community: Now that I can get off my historical context soap box let’s talk about what brings people to a religion. And yes, we are a religion. No, a religion doesn’t require a deity. Check the IRS tax code if you don’t believe me. So again, what brings people to a religion? There’s lots of reasons and I won’t try to speak to all of them but for a lot of people it’s that they are looking for a community where they can interact with like minded people. That’s one of the most cited reasons we get when we ask someone why they want to join our organization. So, what is community? By definition it is a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. Here at The Satanic Temple of Wisconsin we try to cultivate that feeling of community by inviting member to participate in group activities. Some are private and for the benefit of members only and some are public. This one happened to be in the public eye. We’ve done plenty of other things in the public eye which for one reason or another just didn’t get the attention this one did. These public events include highway clean ups, picnics, meetings in restaurants, libraries, parks, etc and even other holiday displays (I told you this wasn’t our first). Another thing that can make a group a religion is having shared beliefs and values. We have this as well in the Satanic Temple’s seven tenets. See the link on the top of this website for more information.
We live here too: In situations like this one of the things we hear most often is that people don’t mind us doing something like this, but people don’t understand why we can’t do it somewhere else. Well, this might be a little bit of a hard pill to swallow but Satanists are all around you. We live in major cities and small rural areas and yes, we do have several members who live in Green Bay. But besides that, there are self-identified Satanists working in every occupation you can think of. Off the top of my head, I know Satanists who work as lawyers, doctors, bankers, small business owners, retail workers, chefs, accountants, skilled trades workers, nurses, salespeople, military service members, etc. In this most recent case, some people have claimed that our display is at a children’s museum, this is a slight embellishment. Although The National Railroad Museum does have some events that target children, but they also have events targeted at adults. But assuming this was an event targeted at children there is a simple reason why Satanists would want to participate and that is that many of us are parents. Although we do not admit people under 18 to join our congregation, many Satanic parents do want to have their values represented in public places that are allowing other belief systems to be represented. I guess the real question that could be asked is if you think it’s wrong for Satanist to express their views in a situation that may or may not involve children why would you be ok with anyone expressing their religious views in such a situation? My point is we are all over, we are part of society like anyone else and we want to be acknowledged and take part in society like any other group. Besides that, nothing that we are doing is in anyway nefarious so there’s no reason why us Satanists should be bullied into practicing in the shadows.
Our display is not an attack on Christianity: Nothing about who we are, what we do, or our chosen symbolism is explicitly an attack on Christianity. Some of our symbols may be offensive to you personally but that does not mean that our intention was to offend you. To demonstrate this point from a different perspective let me give an example: I have been a member of the military for over 15 years, I have been an atheist much longer. I have always found it offensive when someone at the USO tries to hand me a Bible or a St Michael coin. I’ve already stated that I’ve read The Bible cover to cover and once was enough, I don’t need any more, and honestly if I hit a USO I’m probably just looking to charge my phone or get out of the crowd for a little bit, I’ve been traveling and working and the last thing I need is someone assuming that my military ID also identifies me as someone who shares their beliefs. I normally just smile and move on with my day then unceremoniously deposit the objects in a trash can as I move to my next gate. I assume that most of the people I encounter in these situations are well meaning and not intentionally trying to ruin my day. The Satanic Temple of Wisconsin believes in religious plurality, and that all religious should get equal treatment. We actually defend the Christians right to practice their religion, just not to impose its doctrines and teachings on others. My point here is that just because something offends you does not mean that it’s the intention of the other party. You could just as easily move on from a Satanic holiday display and go enjoy one that is more aesthetically pleasing to you, we’re not here to ruin your day but to brighten our own and hopefully someone else too.
In closing, we’re here, just like any other group. We have holidays, just like any other group. We have no reason to act in secrecy. Finally, before I leave you today, I want to thank our hosts at The National Railroad Museum for taking the time to understand who we are and what we stand for before passing judgement. I also want to thank them for standing by us through all the controversy. If you want to thank them, you can do so by making a donation at https://nationalrrmuseum.org/donate/
Enjoy your day and Hail Satan!
By Dudley Bradstreet
Minister of Satan
