Jamiesfeast – The head of Arizona’s ultra-right Freedom Caucus has, ironically, backed a bill that clearly violates the freedom of religion.
A Republican from Queen Creek named Sen. Jake Hoffman wants to ban Satanic symbols from being displayed on public land in Arizona. He claims that since Satanism is not a legitimate religion, the First Amendment does not protect it.
The bill Hoffman is supporting in the Senate is called the RESPECT Act, which stands for “Reject Escalating Satanism by Preserving Essential Core Traditions.”
Hemant Mehta, author of The Friendly Atheist, told the Arizona Mirror, “It’s so obviously against the Constitution.” The First Amendment of the Constitution is being broken in every way.
Since Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is ready and willing to veto this bill, Mehta thinks Hoffman is just sending a message to his fans and not really thinking that it will become law.
The statement made by Mehta was called “so hypocritical.” You can see how little Republicans like Hoffman care about freedom by looking at this. Some people he agrees with should not be free, but he wants freedom for himself. “That’s not plausible.”
It got very heated in the Senate Government Committee meeting on Wednesday when people spoke out against the bill. Hoffman, who chairs the committee, kept cutting people off as they spoke.
People in the crowd were making faces and gestures at him and the other lawmakers on the committee, so he spoke over them to correct them on what he said was their wrong understanding of it. People in the public would not be able to say anything negative about Hoffman’s claims without being told that they were breaking the law by questioning the motives of a lawmaker. This includes accusing a member of the Satanic Temple of lying in her statement.
Sen. Juan Mendez of Tempe, the only Democrat in the committee, voted against the bill, but the bill still passed with a vote of 5-1. The Democrats’ two other committee members were not there.
Though Hoffman, a Christian, said the bill’s goals were “extremely clear,” he didn’t say what “essential core traditions” he wanted to protect and said the bill didn’t violate the First Amendment rights of any faith group.
According to Hoffman, Satan is the opposite of religion. “Satan is the extreme opposite of religion.”
It would be disrespectful to put up a shrine or altar to Satan on public land, he said.
Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesman for The Satanic Temple, said the bill was embarrassing and showed Hoffman’s “clear ignorance of the law.” He told the mirror so.
It’s not just Satanists who should be worried about the plan, he said. It might have a significant impact on other people’s rights if it passes and the courts uphold it.
In response to Mendez’s question, Hoffman disputed that the real reason he wrote the bill was because Satanism was offensive to Christians.
Many people, including numerous members of the Arizona chapter of The Satanic Temple, criticized Hoffman for endorsing a bill that blatantly violates both the U.S. and Arizona constitutions.
Hoffman said that Satanism isn’t a religion, but Minister Oliver Spires told Hoffman that The Satanic Temple is a religion, just like any other tax-exempt church that runs as a charity, because the IRS has given The Satanic Temple that status.
Spires said, “This bill would clearly limit our religion.”
I voted for the bill to move forward, and Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, said that it doesn’t violate the First Amendment because religious displays aren’t allowed on public land anyway. However, the bill only applies to displays that honor Satan and not any other religious figures. Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution says that Congress cannot give one church more power than any other.
Micah Mangione told the lawmakers that he doesn’t think Hoffman’s bill has a clear goal, but that he thinks it’s an attempt to set a precedent that governments could go after Paganism or Islam in the future and ban displays of those religions on public land.
“Is it important that religious beliefs are different from your own Christian beliefs?” Bauer asked Mangione.
Hoffman called the claim that Satanism is a faith “ludicrous.” He also said that Satan is “officially the enemy of God,” which “literally everyone” agrees with.
Hoffman said, “That’s not a disputeable point.”
People from the Satanic Temple didn’t agree with him and tried to argue with him right away.
There is no real Satan, according to the Satanic Temple. The Temple says it is nontheistic and follows beliefs like promoting kindness and empathy, fighting injustice, and doing good things. Because of Christian displays like nativity scenes in state capitols, the church has put up displays honoring Satan in those same buildings. The church also works for abortion rights.
Republican Joshua Gray, a liberal leader in his community, said that the bill was an insult to the very idea of religious freedom. He said that he fought for everyone’s freedom of religion during two combat tours in the Marines.
When asked if the Constitution protects Abrahamic religions more or better than other religions, Gray said, “I fought for everyone’s freedom.”
According to him, it wasn’t a matter of opinion that this bill was against the Constitution.
Fountain Hills Town Council member Allen Skillicorn was the only person in the audience to speak in favor of the bill. Skillicorn, who frequently attends legislative committee meetings to voice his opinions on bills, claimed that Satanic shows are not exempt from the protection of freedom of religion because Satanists do not believe in Satan.
People on the committee didn’t answer Mendez’s question about why he was the only one there who wanted to protect the U.S. Constitution.
According to Mendez, Arizona is no longer safe for any faith that the sponsor sees as a threat to Christianity.
Toward the end of his speech, Hoffman said he didn’t think it was fair that someone could be jailed for breaking down a Satanic display in Iowa but not for having a “gay sex organization” in a U.S. Senate building.
Hoffman was talking about the arrest of a man from Mississippi for ruining a Satanic Temple display in the Capitol building in Iowa. He was also talking about a leaked video that seemed to have nothing to do with the arrest but showed men having sex in a listening room in the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. A few days ago, Capitol Police said they would not press charges because they had found no proof of a crime.
Speaking out against this bill, Mehta said he hopes more people from both parties, even Christians, call out.
Mehta stated, “It is not the responsibility of the government to punish a Republican senator and his friends because they don’t like religious groups.
Along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, only 19 people and groups officially registered in support of the bill. On the other hand, 287 people and groups technically registered against it.