The Veterans Memorial Park in Belle Plaine, Minn., includes a walkway with rows of American flags on either side, a UH-1 Huey helicopter and a granite monument with the engraved names of residents who died in the Indian War of 1862, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Arriving soon in the 1-acre park will be an unlikely monument from an even more unlikely source: a black steel cube with a golden inverted pentagram on each side and an empty soldier's helmet on the top, sponsored by the Satanic Temple.
It will be the first monument sponsored by the temple to be erected on public grounds, the group said.
Belle Plaine, a city of about 6,900 people about 45 miles southwest of Minneapolis, might be an unexpected spot for such a precedent, which was set off by months of debate over whether a different monument crossed church-state boundaries when it was added to the park.
That monument, sponsored by the Belle Plaine Vets Club, was a black metal silhouette of a soldier with a rifle kneeling before a 2-foot cross.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation objected to the display, arguing that the religious emblem violated the establishment clause of the Constitution. It said in a statement that the memorial "sent a message that the government cares only about the death of Christian soldiers and was disdainful of the sacrifices made by non-Christian and nonreligious soldiers."
The memorial was removed in January, but city officials were pressured by the community to restore it, leading to the creation of a "limited public forum" area at the park to accommodate it and others, Mike Votca, the city administrator, said. So far, only the Vets Club and the Satanic Temple have applied to erect monuments.
"Once one religious viewpoint has imposed itself on public grounds to the exclusion of others, we have nothing but the ethical and constitutional high ground," the temple's co-founder, Lucien Greaves, said.
This was not the first time the group has tried to install a statue or monument on public grounds. In 2015, the temple pushed to erect an 8½-foot-tall bronze statue of Baphomet, which depicts Satan as a goat-headed figure with horns, hooves, wings and a beard, at the Oklahoma Capitol. The group retreated from that effort after the Oklahoma Supreme Court outlawed a Ten Commandments display from appearing at the Capitol, ruling that it was a religious symbol.
The group is pushing to erect a similar statue on the grounds of the Arkansas state Capitol after lawmakers approved the installation of a Ten Commandments monument.
A metal worker in Massachusetts who specializes in art is crafting the Belle Plaine monument, which was designed by Chris Andres of New Mexico. Greaves said the temple is considering the best ways to protect it against vandalism and hopes to have it erected in a few months.
The temple will be responsible for insuring, installing and maintaining the monument, Votca said. As of Monday, the group had raised just over $5,700 toward a goal of $19,500, according to a fundraising website.
Votca and Greaves said there had been little controversy about the city approving the monument, with both describing the process as "respectful."
The temple, which is based in Salem, Mass., defines its mission, in part, to reject tyrannical authority and to advocate "practical common sense and justice."
Despite the temple's name, its members do not promote a belief in Satan. Greaves described their viewpoint as "atheistic."
He noted that it was often veterans who have stood up to defend the group's right to practice its beliefs. He said some people view the group's efforts in Belle Plaine as "fun pranksterism" but that the work has a serious purpose.
"We wouldn't be doing this if it didn't mean something to us," he said. "The more we do these types of things, the less shocking this will be as time goes by."
Diane M. Goulson, who is the part-time pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Belle Plaine, a congregation of 32, said that when she saw the memorial of the kneeling soldier, she questioned the need to include the cross.
"I just knew this was going to happen," she said, referring to the Satanic Temple's monument. "I understand the purpose of the separation of church and state. When they open the door to having a cross on public land, they open the door for other things to happen."
Goulson said she did not object to the temple's monument, adding that most visitors would see it as nonthreatening.
"I would think for most people, they would go 'Huh. I wonder what that is?'" she said.
SundayMonday on 05/14/2017