The city of Concord, New Hampshire’s Nativity scene was joined by a neighbor this year- a demonic “Baphomet” statue erected by The Satanic Temple (TST). The display is part of TST’s efforts to include such symbols in public across the country. According to a post from the city’s official page, the TST’s mission is to “encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice and undertake noble pursuits.” The city framed the installation as a defense of First Amendment rights. “Under the First Amendment and to avoid litigation, the City needed to choose whether to ban all holiday displays installed by other groups, or otherwise, to allow it. After reviewing its legal options, the City ultimately decided to continue the policy of allowing unattended displays at City Plaza during this holiday season and to allow the statue.”

TST shared a live feed of the statue being installed. The horned Baphomet, a figure with a bull’s head and man’s body, bore lilacs, New Hampshire’s state flower, in one hand. In the other hand, it held an apple, representing the “forbidden fruit” Satan tempted Eve with in the book of Genesis. The statue also featured inverted pentagrams and a tablet with TST’s seven tenets. Orpheus Gaur, a minister of TST’s New Hampshire and Vermont congregation, designed the display and said the forbidden fruit represented “our quest for knowledge, defiance in the face of arbitrary authority and our commitment to self-determination.” TST founder Lucien Greaves shared a post of himself with the statue. “At the New Hampshire State House where tonight our NH congregation erected a holiday display among various other religious displays. Monuments will come and go, and this one may not last the night, but the spirit of pluralism and personal freedom will not be erased,” he wrote. There had already been attempts to topple the statue, according to reports when it was discovered knocked down on December 9. No one has been charged with the vandalism of the statue yet.

New Hampshire state Rep. Ellen Read (D) defended the installation. “Everything has the potential to offend, even the nearby Nativity scene. Not only is over a third of the state not religious, never mind Christian, but I can imagine those who have been judged, harmed, or abused by the Christian church feeling offended by the Nativity scene displayed on public grounds,” she said. She denounced any attempts to knock the statue over prior to its vandalism. TST has not announced whether it will reinstall the statue. The city stated it will review its policy of allowing religious displays on public grounds next year, which could mean both the nativity and the Baphomet might be ousted.