© Joseph Prezioso / AFPFILE PHOTO: A Baphomet statue in the conversion room at the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts.
The Satanic Temple (TST), a US-based advocacy group operating as a religious organization, has offered to have its "priests" testify on behalf of trans TST members that gender affirmation procedures are part of the core tenets of Satanism.
The offer, announced on social media on Wednesday and known as the Expert Witness Service, is "specifically tailored to TST's trans members who face infringement of their bodily autonomy by government authorities at a local, state or federal level," according to the message.
Trans rights have become a hot-button political issue in the US, with conservative politicians pushing for strict limitations in some areas. In April, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that seeks to ban transgender women and girls from competing in female school sports. Liberal opponents call such policies transphobic.
The temple claims to have over 700,000 members worldwide and lists full personal control of one's body as one of its seven tenets. The organization promotes individual liberty, secularism, and reason.
One of TST's recent campaigns targeted a monument featuring the Ten Commandments that was installed on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol in 2012. The group sought to place alongside it a statue of the demon Baphomet, one of the symbols it uses in its rituals.
It withdrew its request after Oklahoma's Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the original monument violated the state's constitution, which prohibits state support of any religion. TST has been involved in similar protests and legal action against a Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas.
Reader Comments
The separation of religion and state is the foundation of secularism. It ensures religious groups don't interfere in affairs of state, and the state doesn't interfere in religious affairs.
Now where does transitioning stand ? I see it in individual liberties, which fall under state regulations IMO.
If TST wants to die on that hill, they should expect that argument coming up. And when a clitoridectomy appears less harmful than what they're claim as "religious freedom" then they're fighting a losing battle, because LGB people likely won't accept clitoridectomies becoming legal.
Of course it is, look; [Link]
The Talmud says there are at least 8 genders. Make of that what you will…
That would be a good service to humanity.
When you are in the prison you can tell the other prisoners held in captivity what you did, and then you can take your roll amongst the prison community. You can be there, a fine upstanding member, imprisoned because you had the audacity to metaphorically tell a trans nimwit to take their ideas in no uncertain terms and shove those ideas up their misbegotten ideology forsaken pathetically and haplessly causing so much suffering for so many just because you got your feelings hurt - so pathetic it is over the top flux, and that will be the downfall of the trans ideology tried to turn all their anger into harm upon others including children. Ain't nothing complicated about it.
The real performers, of satanic magic are not known nor will their names ever be known or disclosed.
This is just fluff for the population.
The real stuff will never be realized. With some exception, a glimpse into, Eyes Shut prduced by ,,,Kubrick.