Kansas satanists plan ‘therapeutic blasphemy’ to defy governor

TOPEKA — All hail civil disobedience.

Gov. Laura Kelly intervened Wednesday in satanists’ plans to conduct a black mass on March 28 at the Statehouse by declaring they would not be allowed inside.

The satanists plan to defy her undivine wisdom.

“We will be showing up on the 28th,” said Michael Stewart, founder and president of the Satanic Grotto, which organized the event. “We will be entering the building and attempting to perform the mass, and if Capitol Police want to stop us, they will need to arrest us.”

The Satanic Grotto’s plans to conduct a black mass in the Statehouse rotunda stimulated considerable attention online — and outrage from the Catholic Church.

In cheeky social media posts, Stewart describes satanists as “the scariest thing in the dark.”

But in an interview, he said he was planning a safe event, with nothing to be afraid of. His said his group has about three dozen members, primarily from Kansas City and Wichita, and is nonviolent.

“The black mass is a satanic version of the Catholic mass, meant to reflect our own pain and anger of us being subjected to religion that we never gave consent to,” Stewart said. “It was imposed upon us. So the ritual is sort of — you can think of it as therapeutic blasphemy.”

The group describes itself on its website as an independent and nondenominational church whose members are feminist, LBGTQ+ allies, and anti-racist — “Nazi Satanists can f*** off.”

The Satanic Grotto’s event listing on Facebook shows 26 plan to attend and 116 are interested in the event.

Chuck Weber, of Kansas Catholic Conference, said in a March 6 statement that such an “explicit demonstration of anti-Catholic bigotry will be an insult to not only Catholics, but all people of good will.”

“The Catholic Bishops of Kansas ask that first and foremost, we pray for the conversion of those taking part in this event, as well as each person’s own conversion of heart during this scared Season of Lent,” Weber said in the statement.

The governor entered the arena Wednesday, when she issued a statement declaring her concerns about the event. She said there are “more constructive ways to protest and express disagreements without insulting or denigrating sacred religious symbols.”

She acknowledged the right to freedom of speech and expression — “regardless of how offensive or distasteful I might find the content to be” — and that she has limited authority to respond to the planned event.

“That said, it is important to keep the Statehouse open and accessible to the public while ensuring all necessary health and safety regulations are enforced,” Kelly said in her statement. “Therefore, all events planned for March 28 will be moved outdoors to the grounds surrounding the Statehouse. Again, no protests will be allowed inside the Statehouse on March 28.”

Stewart said the governor’s office didn’t call him before issuing the public statement.

“This is a Democrat governor bowing to religious and Republican pressure,” Stewart said. “There was enough outrage that she had to do something, but she’s so chicken to actually stand up for anything, the best she could do was try to shuffle us outside and make it look like she has done something to save her own hide instead of standing up for religious and free speech.”