“Taking Equality Too Far”

Abstract

Abstract This chapter considers two areas where The Satanic Temple has attempted to participate in institutions that nominally promote religious pluralism and tolerance: a 2014 black mass hosted through a cultural studies club at Harvard University and attempts to lead prayer invocations before city councils, following the 2014 Supreme Court decision Greece v. Galloway, which ruled that sectarian prayers may be offered provided no religion is excluded. In both cases, tremendous efforts were made to block The Satanic Temple from participating in these institutions. Several city councils passed new laws restricting prayer invocations rather than let The Satanic Temple participate. The Satanic Temple’s opponents did not frame their response as intolerance; rather, they claimed that The Satanic Temple is engaged in hate speech and must be censored. Analysis examines these responses and considers whether these institutions practice the values of tolerance and religious pluralism as they purport to.