#TST started two new lawsuits in in the most recent year, but the #SatanicTemple lost eight existing cases and seem to have completely abandoned two others.
Yet again, the legal performance of The Satanic Temple was disappointing and incompetent at best, but just as likely the worse conclusion is true: it was a needless waste of much-needed resources by attention-seeking malefactors.
The Temple often utilizes overly credulous liberal media outlets to advertise itself off of the possibility that their litigation might one day prove effective. But in 2023, the bill came due on many of those promises, and the result was failure upon failure.
TST lost two major abortion-ban challenges ("Ann Doe I", "Indiana").
TST lost an invocation challenge ("Boston"). TST lost a cluster of fruitless appeals for misbehavior in Belle Plaine ("Minnesota city monument case").
TST lost its Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation or "SLAPP" targeting former members ("Queer Satanic") and had its SLAPP against Newsweek whittled down to a single libel claim.
A lawsuit against a billboard company ("Lamar II") concluded after the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars, apparently on the same terms as if the lawsuit hadn't been filed at all.
And two other lawsuits in Texas were seemingly abandoned with no further activity in more than a year ("Ann Doe II", "the Satanic Housewife").
Compare the below chart with the state of affairs in December 2022 to grasp at a glance just how badly 2023 went for The Satanic Temple in the most recent year.
The website for the polititian that destroyed the TST Religious Statue Display in Iowa said...
"Mandatory minimums for mob destruction of statues, infrastructure, and houses of worship - automatic 10 years in jail plus the cost of repair"
Those peaceful #Christians intentionally destroyed a #holiday display by #TheSatanicTemple in the #Iowa State Capitol. Just imagine how these same people would react if #Satanists had trashed a #Christmas display. It would be wall-to-wall emergency coverage on #FoxNews, and Y'all Qaeda would get in their trucks and gather under the town Christmas tree for public acts of outrage. The #FirstAmendment protects us all, not just Christians.
While we talk about #TheSatanicTemple a lot, there’s the obvious reasons (the #SatanicTemple is still suing us) and the less obvious reasons (#TST is actively dangerous).
But in a world with literal Nazis active and ascendant, it’s worth explaining for others why the latter is true and this attention is warranted.
To begin, while #Nazis and other #fascists are clearly a much greater threat in themselves, liberals and especially leftists are not regularly propping up fascist organizations.
With #TheSatanicTemple, many otherwise decent people are wasting resources and energy propping up TST to no discernible benefit — at least to anyone else beside the two men who literally own it.
Q.
Wait, why is The Satanic Temple (still) suing you?
A.
Because The Satanic Temple is an abusive religious organization owned by two thin-skinned men who use their organization’s collective wealth and resources to intimidate and punish critics.
