VA supervisor removes anti-Satan sign from desk following complaint: report (original) (raw)

An honorably discharged Air Force veteran who adheres 'to many non-theist teachings (including satanist)' alleged that the prominently placed anti-Satan sign on the supervisor's desk escalated a previously hostile situation at the undisclosed VA facility.

An honorably discharged Air Force veteran who adheres "to many non-theist teachings (including satanist)" alleged that the prominently placed anti-Satan sign on the supervisor's desk escalated a previously hostile situation at the undisclosed VA facility. | Military Religious Freedom Foundation

A supervisor at a Veterans Benefits Administration facility reportedly removed a "not today, Satan, not today" sign from her desk following a complaint from a nonprofit civil rights organization.

An email from the unnamed client to MRFF described the display as a "grotesque Christian supremacist sign."

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Claiming he or she was already in "a hostile situation with my immediate supervisor for previous non-religious reasons," the client said they noticed the anti-Satan display on the supervisor's desk "was positioned in such a way that it was physically directed at anyone sitting in the guest chair across from her desk."

The client noted that they informed the facility's management that the sign had "caught the attention of Mikey Weinstein and the MRFF, who has a long history of winning against religious discrimination in our military and VA facilities."

Attorney Michael Weinstein and the MRFF have made headlines for litigation that takes aim at religious displays on military grounds. They have recently successfully moved to have Bibles taken off POW/MIA tables at VA facilities, including most recently in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Weinstein told The Christian Post that even before he attended a meeting with his client, the supervisor, and a union representative, the "Not Today Satan" sign was removed from the desk. He claimed the sign "was a noxious example of trying to express a particular religious view in a situation where it simply was not warranted."

Weinstein said his client "was already having significant problems with his or her immediate supervisor, and this didn't help any."

CP asked Weinstein to respond to the argument raised by people such as U.S. Navy veteran Michael Cassidy, who toppled a satanic display in the Iowa state Capitol last month.

Cassidy told CP in an interview that those who attempt to defend satanism on constitutional grounds are "overcomplicating" the situation, and that devil worship should not be afforded the same protections as other beliefs.

Those who make such arguments "probably don't really understand the full nature of satanism," Weinstein said. "It's not sacrificing children at midnight with knives." He added that he has had satanist clients, but that the vast majority of them have been Christians.

Weinstein acknowledged that most people consider Satan to be evil, but said, "Remember, in our perspective, we don't look at it as to what is good and bad. We look at what is legal and what's not legal."

"There are thousands of different gods," he said. "Our republic is meant to be a secular democratic republic; that's how we do it in this country. We don't look at whether Satan is bad, or Jesus is bad, or Vishnu is bad, or Buddha or Yahweh. We look at the time, place, and manner of an expression of a faith or non-faith tradition."

"We live in a very polarized country," he continued. "Let's not overcomplicate that, either. We seem to be in a digital country: MAGA or non-MAGA. We know which side Christian nationalism is focused on. And in this instance, the immediate offending supervisor took it off his or her desk after being notified, after complaints came in, from the higher ranking supervisor."

"I ask people all the time [to] remember, we're not a Christian nation, we're not a Jewish nation, we're not an Islamic nation," he added. "We're a secular democratic republic. And that's why we have a separation of church and state. It's all time, place, and manner."

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com