The leader of a small group of self-described Satanists and three other people were arrested after the Satanic group's efforts to conduct a “black mass“ at the Kansas Statehouse led to physical violence and chaos between Christians and Satanists in the building.
Around 30 members of the Kansas City-area Satanic Grotto, led by its president, Michael Stewart, rallied outside the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka, Kansas, for the separation of church and state. The group also protested what the group described as the state’s favoritism toward Christians for allowing them to conduct events inside the statehouse.
The state’s Democratic governor, Laura Kelly, temporarily banned protests inside the statehouse, at least for March 28th, weeks after the Satanist group scheduled its indoor ceremony.
The Satanic Grotto’s rally outside the Kansas Statehouse attracted hundreds of Christian counterprotesters because of the Grotto’s Satanic imagery and its indoor ceremony, which included denouncing Jesus Christ. About a hundred Christians stood against the yellow tape marking the Satanic Grotto’s area.
The Satanists and the Christians then yelled at each other, with the Christians also singing and calling on the Grotto members to accept Jesus. Several hundred more Christians rallied on the other side of the Grotto’s area, but farther away.
Kelly issued her order last March after Roman Catholic organizations urged her to ban any Satanic Grotto events. The state’s Catholic Bishops called what the group planned “a despicable act of anti-Catholic bigotry,“ mocking the Catholic mass. Both members of the state legislature also approved measures to condemn it.
“The Bible says Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, so when we dedicate a state to Satan, we’re dedicating it to death,“ Jeremiah Hicks, a pastor in Kansas City, said.
Satanic Grotto members hold a variety of beliefs. Some are atheists, some use the group to protest the harm they experienced as church members, while others see Satan as a symbol of independence.
Amy Dorsey, a friend of Stewart’s, said she joined the rallies with the Satanic Grotto to support free speech and religious freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Amendment, in part because Christian groups are allowed to meet regularly inside the Kansas Statehouse for prayer or worship meetings.
Stewart said his group scheduled his Black Mass for March 28th because they thought the Kansas State Legislature would be in session, although state lawmakers had already adjourned late on the night of March 27th for their annual spring break. Stewart said the Satanic Grotto might return next year.
A video shot by the KSNT-TV showed that when Stewart tried to conduct his group’s ceremony in the statehouse’s first-floor rotunda, a young man tried to snatch Stewart’s script from his hands, and Stewart punched him. Several Kansas Highway Patrol officers then wrestled Stewart to the ground and handcuffed him. They led him through the hallways on the ground floor before and into a room as he yelled, “Hail, Satan!“
Stewart’s wife, Maenad Bee, told reporters, "He’s only exercising his First Amendment rights.”
Two other members of the Satanic Grotto were also arrested for unlawful assembly, according to the Kansas State Highway Patrol, which provides security to the statehouse. The young man who snatched Stewart’s script was identified as 21-year-old Marcus Schroeder, who came to counterprotest along with other members of a Kansas City-area church. He was arrested for disorderly conduct, with his bond set at $1,000.
