At the same time the Secular Coalition for Arizona is demanding that Governor Doug Ducey remove an Easter Facebook post that celebrated his Christian faith, the group is touting the Satanic Temple’s official recognition from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a tax-exempt church.
Why does AZ Gov @dougducy use an official FB account to send explicit religious messages? It’s inappropriate to endorse a particular religion, or religion over non-religion, according to AZ and Federal Constitutions. Read Secular AZ’s response here: https://t.co/GSoPmToFUD pic.twitter.com/zmI1L9YvXI
— Secular Coalition for Arizona (@SecularAZ) April 24, 2019
The Secular Coalition’s attorney and board member, Dianne Post, demanded that Ducey recognize all religions if he wants to send a religious message.
“If you are going to recognize Christians, you have to recognize Wiccans and the Satanic Temple too. Under the Arizona Constitution, you cannot treat the non-religious differently, so you’ll have to recognize them as well, I suppose on Darwin Day? The best course for government is to stay out of it completely and leave it to the personal realm,” wrote Post. “Elected officials should not use their government position and government property to promote their religious views.”
The group requested a written response from the Governor’s office. Instead Ducey tweeted his response:
We won’t be removing this post. Ever. Nor will we be removing our posts for Christmas, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Palm Sunday, Passover or any other religious holiday. We support the First Amendment, and are happy to provide copies of the Constitution to anyone who hasn’t read it. https://t.co/UzZpLAzzuW
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) April 25, 2019
Lucien Greaves, co-founder The Satanic Temple, issued a statement explaining why the group sought out tax-exempt status:
In light of theocratic assaults upon the Separation of Church and State in the legislative effort to establish a codified place of privilege for one religious viewpoint, we feel that accepting religious tax exemption — rather than renouncing in protest — can help us to better assert our claims to equal access and exemption while laying to rest any suspicion that we don’t meet the qualifications of a true religious organization. Satanism is here to stay.
While the secularist want Satanism to stay, the group seems intent in making Christianity go away.