A group of Satanists have revealed the huge statue of a goat-headed, winged demon during a first amendment rally at the Arkansas state capitol.
The statue was constructed in protest to the presence of a monument bearing the Christian religion's Ten Commandments, which the group says needs to be removed or joined by Baphomet, the Associated Press reports.
"If you're going to have one religious monument up then it should be open to others, and if you don't agree with that then let's just not have any at all," Satanic Arkansas cofounder Ivy Forrester said.
The first amendment to the US constitution says Congress can't pass any laws "respecting an establishment of religion", among other things.
But local laws say any monument needs to be sponsored by legislators, and they're unlikely to agree to Baphomet sitting outside the capitol permanently.
"It will be a very cold day in hell before an offensive statue will be forced upon us to be permanently erected on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol," said republican Senator Jason Rapert, who sponsored the installation of the Ten Commandments monument.
The Ten Commandments monument was installed in 2017 before being destroyed by a man running it over with his car less than 24 hours later.
It has since been rebuilt.
Newshub.
