Satanic caroling, Krampus costumes and activities for children could soon fill Iowa’s Capitol rotunda after a federal judge ordered state officials to allow a Satanic Temple holiday gathering.
The ruling opens another front in a spiritual battle over what receives a place of honor in America’s public square.
Chief U.S. District Judge Stephanie M. Rose granted a preliminary injunction allowing The Satanic Temple’s Iowa chapter to hold its celebration while its lawsuit proceeds. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office plans to appeal, The Christian Post reported.
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services rejected the group’s event applications in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The Satanic Temple sued in August with support from the ACLU of Iowa, alleging unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
The Satanic Temple describes itself as a nontheistic religious organization.
Rose ruled that officials could apply ordinary event conditions and security screening but could not exclude the gathering because of objections to Krampus, a horned figure in European folklore associated with punishing misbehaving children.
“What the Department may not do is exclude the event because Director Campbell understands Krampus to be a figure who harms children and takes them to hell,” Rose wrote, according to The Christian Post.
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The planned gathering includes satanic caroling, coloring for children, ornament-making and Krampus costumes.
ACLU of Iowa staff attorney Shefali Aurora defended the group’s access in a statement, saying government cannot “favor one religion over another, or discriminate against religious groups because they don’t agree with them.”
The confrontation follows a bitter dispute over a Baphomet statue erected alongside Nativity displays at the Capitol in December 2023.
Michael Cassidy, a Navy veteran, traveled from Mississippi and toppled the statue. He later accepted a plea agreement in May 2024 after facing criminal charges.
Cassidy rejected the argument that protecting religious liberty requires accepting public tributes to Satan.
“The people who wrote our Constitution would be shocked to think of defending Satan as consistent with their beliefs when they wrote the laws that govern our nation,” Cassidy told The Christian Post.
“People start overcomplicating the truth, which is that God is great and should be honored, and the devil is evil and should not be honored,” he added.
Scripture’s accounts of idolatrous high places expose the danger of giving rival worship a foothold. A satanic celebration inside a state Capitol brings that warning into the heart of America.
The response must begin with prayer. Ephesians 6 directs us to stand firmly against the devil’s schemes with truth, righteousness, faith and the Word of God. America’s Christian foundations call for more than nostalgia. They call for all of us to stand firm, proclaim Jesus and pray for those entrusted with governing the nation.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
