Former US Republican candidate charged for beheading Satanic statue

Michael Cassidy said that his Christian faith compelled him to destroy the “blasphemous” effigy

A failed Republican Congressional candidate from Mississippi has been charged with criminal mischief for destroying a statue of the pagan idol Baphomet in the Iowa State Capitol. Satanists argue that their symbols are protected by the US Constitution. 

Michael Cassidy of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was arrested on Thursday and charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief after he beheaded and toppled the goat-headed effigy, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said on Friday. He faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $2,560 fine if convicted.

Clad in a crimson robe and surrounded by prayer candles, the statue depicted a figure with a man’s body and a horned goat’s head holding a wicker pentacle. Baphomet is commonly associated with occultism and Satanism, and the display was erected by the Satanic Temple, a registered religious group that took advantage of state rules allowing different religions to display their symbols in the capitol over the Christmas period.