THURSDAY, JUL 2, 2015
She was confused by different constitutions being different things despite having “a lot of similar words”
SCOTT ERIC KAUFMAN
Megyn Kelly, Lucien Greaves (Fox News)
On “The Kelly File” Wednesday night, host Megyn Kelly spoke to the Satanic Temple’s Lucien Greaves about the decision not to erect a statue of Baphomet at the Oklahoma state capitol now that the state Supreme Court ordered the removal of a Ten Commandments monument.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s argument that the monument was “historical in nature” was
shot down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled that the Ten Commandments were “obviously religious in nature and are an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths.”
The Satanic Temple had planned on placing a statue of Baphomet next to the monument in order, as Greaves told The Washington Post, to “complement and contrast the 10 Commandments, reaffirming that we live in a nation that respects plurality, a nation that refuses to allow a single viewpoint to co-opt the power and authority of government institutions.”
However, “[g]iven the Court’s ruling, The Satanic Temple no longer has any interest in pursuing placement of the Baphomet monument on Oklahoma’s capitol grounds.”
Megyn Kelly was clearly baffled by the reasonableness of the Temple’s decision — as well as by its existence, not to mention everything else about it — when she spoke to Lucien Greaves last night.
“So, is it like ‘Lucien’ as in ‘Lucifer’?” she began. “Is that why you’re called that?”
“Sure, as you like,” Greaves replied.
“No, as you like,” Kelly said. “Is that your birth name?”
“No, it’s not,” replied Greaves — whose birth name, Doug Mesner, is easily discovered via Google, as is the fact that he co-founded the Satanic Temple.
But Kelly didn’t know that either, asking him what drew him to the organization. When he informed her that he co-founded it, she simply asked him, “Why?”
Greaves said that it is “an embodiment of my deeply held beliefs” and that there “needed to be a counterbalance to the dominant religious privilege today.”
“What are the deeply held beliefs that drew you to the Satanic Temple?” Kelly asked, the seconds-earlier conversation about his co-founding it apparently already forgotten.
“We have seven tenets, you can look them up online,” Greaves replied. “But essentially, we view Satan as a a symbolic embodiment of rebellion against tyranny.”
“So,” Kelly said, “now you’re happy because you got the Ten Commandments taken down — but are you still pushing to have the goat with the horns put on the state capitol grounds?”
“No,” he replied, “the whole point of the statue was to complement the monument and reaffirm that we live in a pluralistic nation that respects diversity and religious liberty.”
Kelly attempted to get Greaves to acknowledge the validity of Attorney General Pruitt’s argument that the Ten Commandments have “historical meaning,” but he parried, saying that he would do so only if she acknowledged that Baphomet had a similar significance. “The image [of Baphomet] goes back to the 19th Century,” he said, “so it’s at least as old as Mormonism.”
She attempted to trip him up again later, noting that the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a monument at the Texas state capitol was constitutional because “a reasonable observer, mindful of history, purpose, and context, would not conclude that this passive monument conveyed the message that the State endorsed religion.”
“That’s different,” Greaves said, “because this case was about the Oklahoma state constitution.”
“It’s not that different,” Kelly asserted.
“It’s entirely different,” he replied. “Texas is a moot point. You’re talking about two different constitutions.”
“I know, I’ve looked at them both,” Kelly replied before resorting to all she had left — a bald argument from authority. “You know, I practiced law for a decade,” she said, “so I read them and saw a lot of similar words.”
They believe that “God speaks to them,” that laws should be taken from religion, that homosexuality is a sin, that women shouldn’t have control over their own bodies and that all other religions besides theirs are wrong. Oh, I’m talking about Islamic radicals, not conservative Christians. Though I could see how someone might confuse the two. They do have striking similarities. Kind of ironic, isn’t it?
digger666 
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