The Satanic Temple
History
History
Cofounders Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jarry met in 2012, and the Satanic Temple was active by January 2013. In an interview with The New York Times, Malcolm Jarry stated that the idea of starting a Satanic faith-based organization was first conceived to meet "all the Bush administration's criteria for receiving funds, but was repugnant to them". Jarry was referring to former president George W. Bush's formation of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
History
According to scholar Joseph Laycock, Jarry was inspired to organize a rally of Satanists (hiring actors to play Satanists) after actions by Governor Rick Scott of Florida to promote religion. In March 2012, Scott had signed a bill that passed the Florida state legislature allowing public school students to read inspirational messages at assemblies and sporting events—a way to circumvent a Supreme Court's ruling against mandatory prayer in school. In January 2013, Jarry's pretend Satanists rallied to praise Scott for his new law which would allow satanic students "to share their love of Satan" in public schools. After this event, the Westboro Baptist Church came to Boston, where Jarry and Greaves lived, to picket the funerals of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Jarry and Greaves decided to retaliate by going to Meridan, Mississippi, to perform a "pink mass" over the grave of the mother of the Westboro's founder, Fred Phelps Sr. During the July 2013 "pink mass", gay couples made out over the grave and the Temple announced that this ritual would turn Phelps' mother gay in the afterlife. The positive publicity the event received reportedly made the Satanic Temple nationally known.
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