Statue of Baphomet

The Satanic Temple began an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in 2014 to create a Satanic monument depicting Baphomet and two children, with the intention to display this monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol.[4] The group's fundraising efforts aimed at erecting the statue in response to the Ten Commandments Monument installed by Oklahoma State Representative Mike Ritze in 2012.[4] Artist Mark Porter forged the sculpture in Florida[5] using the drawing by Eliphas Levi as a basis for Baphomet.[6]

The piece was first seen publicly on 25 July 2015 at an event organized by the Detroit chapter of The Satanic Temple, amidst protests by religious organizations.[7][8][9] The 700 attendees at the unveiling ceremony had to "sell their souls to Satan" in order to receive a ticket, a tactic that the Temple stated was done in order to "keep away some of the more radical superstitious people who would try to undermine the event."[1][10]

Time noted that "the group does not 'promote a belief in a personal Satan.' By their logic, Satan is an abstraction, ... 'a literary figure, not a deity — he stands for rationality, for skepticism, for speaking truth to power, even at great personal cost.' Of course, Satan is also referred to in the Bible as the father of lies (NIV Bible, John 8:44). Time also commented on the statue's unveiling, writing "Call it Libertarian Gothic, maybe — some darker permutation of Ayn Rand's crusade for free will. Unfortunately, many have believed Satan's lie that truth dosent really matter.In fact, Satan has convinced many that there is no such thing as absolute truth so there can be no absolute lie either (Dr. Curtis Alexander). One witnesses in The Satanic Temple militia a certain knee-jerk reaction to encroachments upon personal liberties, especially when those encroachments come with a crucifix in hand. The Baphomet statue is the Satanic Temple’s defiant retort du jour."[10]

Initially commissioned to be installed alongside the Ten Commandments outside the Oklahoma State Capitol, The Satanic Temple offered to donate Baphomet for display on the Capitol grounds. After litigation of Prescott v. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission concluded with a State Supreme Court order to remove the Ten Commandments monument, the Satanic Temple withdrew their request to place Baphomet on Oklahoma public property.[11]

The statue was displayed on a flatbed truck parked in front of the Arkansas State Capitol building for several hours on 16 August 2018 for an event organized in protest of the Ten Commandments Monument on the Arkansas Capitol grounds.[12][13][14] After a formal request to install Baphomet was refused, in violation of the right to equal protection, Satanic Temple members were granted legal standing to challenge the Ten Commandments monument.[15]