The Satanic Temple said it will challenge a recent Supreme Court ruling requiring the burial or cremation of fetal remains, alleging that it violates the group’s religious liberty.
The temple, which does not actually believe in the existence of Satan but vehemently supports the separation of church and state, said the court’s recent order upholding an Indiana law goes against the group’s religious freedom.
“One of the Satanic Temple’s fundamental tenets is the inviolability of one’s body,” the Satanic Temple said in a statement. “Members … believe that nonviable fetal tissue is part of the woman who carries it.”
Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves said in the statement that its members would be exempt from the Indiana law, which was signed by Vice President Mike Pence in 2016 when he was governor of the state.
The Satanic Temple declares its members exempt from Indiana law regarding fetal remains pic.twitter.com/nPDvl1W6xv
— The Satanic Temple (@satanic_temple_) May 29, 2019
“This law clearly places an undue burden on the religious practices of the Satanic Temple by interfering with burial rites,” said Greaves. “To be clear, members of the Satanic Temple will not be made to pay for these punitive, superfluous and insulting burials. We claim exemption on religious-liberty grounds, and we will almost certainly prevail in the courts if we are forced to fight.”
The Satanic Temple is known for its controversial public exhibitions, such as last year when a satanic statue was displayed alongside a nativity scene and a menorah in the Illinois capitol building around the holidays.
