Satanic Temple’s Baphomet Display Outside New Hampshire State House Destroyed

A statue of the pagan deity Baphomet erected by the Satanic Temple (TST) at the New Hampshire State House has been destroyed in an apparent vandalism. 

State Rep. Ellen Read, a Democrat from Newmarket, said the statue, which was placed near a Nativity scene, was toppled soon after it was unveiled on Saturday, Boston.com reported. Pictures show only the legs standing, with the head and torso toppled, and a tablet listing TST’s seven tenets cracked, with text missing. 

Police said they are still investigating and believe someone vandalized the statue between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon. 

The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple received a permit to place their monument after Read encouraged them to join the scene to represent our “pluralistic society.” The state lawmaker is reportedly not officially involved with TST and did not design the display, but she did sign up as a member online. 

“I’ve just been a long time supporter of TST in terms of their beliefs and the work that they do,” Read said. “I’m local, so I helped with the permitting process, and I was there for the unveiling.”

Read said the display was cleaned up and removed on Tuesday after the incident. She insisted there was “nothing inherently offensive” about the Satanic display.

“There were accusations that it meant to denigrate Christians, but there was nothing about it that was denigrating Christians,” Read said. “If you don’t want to allow it for all religions, then you don’t have to allow religious displays.”

The city for its part, said it approved the permit “to avoid litigation.”

Concord Mayor Byron Champlin was critical of the display, saying at a city meeting that he did not believe it was in good faith. 

“I oppose the permit because I believe the request was made not in the interest of promoting religious equity but in order to drive an anti-religious political agenda and because I don’t respond well to legal extortion, threat of litigation,” Champlin said. 

Champlin said he would like to appoint a committee to evaluate how the city should handle unattended displays going forward, according to the report.