Pious Pence's Indiana: State government's embrace of Christian music backfires big time and triggers battle of the bands.

 

Below: I superimposed the lettering from the Satanic Planet Facebook page (here) over the Indiana State Capital:

Facebook page

Click above to enlarge

By Hal Brown, not a member of a Satanic or any church.

I came across this story on Raw Story + (subscription) with the clever title using the phrase "Hell's Bells" here.

Excerpt:

INDIANAPOLIS — Members of The Satanic Temple won’t be sacrificing animals or drinking blood inside Indiana’s capitol building on Sept. 28.

They are, however, bringing a band.

And this particular band should be plenty to outrage multitudes of Hoosiers in this deep-red state.

Lucien Greaves, co-founder of The Satanic Temple, said this week he has permission from the state and hasn’t heard about any obstacles to the performance of his band Satanic Planet — whose logo for the “Let Us Burn” tour features an upside down cross.

His group was recognized by the Internal Revenue Service in 2019 as a religion, at least for tax purposes..

Raw Story noted that Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015. It gave extremely wide latitude for the practice of religion. 

Excerpt:

So the building where devout Christian and former Vice President Mike Pence served as governor will also now become the venue for Satanic Planet.

For those who don't subscribe to Raw Story + this news was also covered by Religious News Service (here)

This explains (as indicated in the subtitle) how Christian musician Sean Feucht brought his God and Country concert to the Indiana Statehouse, Hoosier members of the Satanic Temple demanded access for a concert of their own.

The Christian musician has initiated a lawsuit saying the Satanic Temple engaged in trademark infringement with their logo:

Excerpts: 

“Your use of the “Let Us Burn” and its corresponding logo is a violation and infringement of the Ministry’s duly registered trademarks, as “Let Us Burn” is a confusingly similar mark,” read the letter from Feucht’s lawyer.

If this ends up going to court I think it will be interesting to see whether the Satanic Temple can succeed in using both a religious liberty and a freedom of speech and expression defense. It could hinge on whether Greaves had exclusive rights to use the font for their lettering. He certainly can't have rights to a Christain cross in a circle.

I find this to be smart and cost effective marketing by Satanic Planet:

Music will be provided by Satanic Planet, the organization’s band. TST co-founder and spokesperson Lucien Greaves is the frontman for the band. Greaves said the event will bring the message of pluralism to counter Feucht’s self-proclaimed attempt to “hijack” state capitols.

“(Satanic Planet’s) purpose was to be a band like any other,” Greaves added, “However, after becoming aware of what Feucht was doing, we felt perfectly poised to assert” this message.

“We intend to play as many locations as Sean Feucht played, on the same terms that Feucht played them, to whatever extent our fundraising will allow,” Greaves said. They can’t sell tickets.

Whether or not you actually like their music (you can watch their many music videos here) you ought to appreciate their marketing ploy. For example, here's another article which building on the contrbversy stirred up by following the Christain musician's tour: