The Satanic Temple’s next SatanCon is going to be held in Boston.
The Salem-based organization’s SatanCon 2023 will be in downtown Boston from April 28-30 with the theme being “Hexennacht.”
Hexennacht, also known as Witches Night, is a German holiday that occurs on April 30 and is similar to Halloween.
The Satanic Temple said the weekend will include talks about efforts to protect members’ reproductive rights, promote addiction recovery and build support for the group’s after-school club. There will also be vendors, entertainment and a keynote presentation by Lucien Greaves, cofounder of The Satanic Temple.
“A weekend of blasphemy and remembrance in Boston,” the website states.
The Satanic Temple, which opened its first official headquarters in Salem in 2016, and its members don’t view Satan as an evil figure, but as one who dared question authority. The group mostly advocates for the separation of church and state and is known for attempting to get its one-ton goat-headed idol statue put next to the 10 Commandments monument on public grounds.
The previous SatanCon was in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Satanic Temple had sued the city for now allowing the organization to deliver an invocation before its city council meetings, the website states.
“Even though the city had never rejected anyone else’s request, and both Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane and Councilmember Suzanne Klapp celebrated their efforts to prevent The Satanic Temple from delivering an invocation, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the city did not engage in unlawful discrimination,” the organization said. “The event will be dedicated to Mayor Lane and Councilmember Klapp.”
The schedule included events such as “Satanic Jeopardy!,” “the history of satan across cultures” and “abortion as a (religious) right.”
The Satanic Temple is also currently suing Boston after the city council declined to allow their group to deliver an invocation at the start of its meeting.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 after the Satanic Temple had asked to give the opening invocation on at least three times, WBUR reported. Instead, they were told the council doesn’t accept requests. But council policy allows each council member to invite a speaker to deliver the opening prayer before each meeting, the organization told WBUR.
The organization also recently applied to have one of its flags raised in Boston after a Christian flag was raised at Boston City Hall Plaza. A U.S. Supreme Court case had ruled Boston violated free speech rights when it refused to fly Camp Constitution flag.
Although the Christian flag was raised, the Satanic Temple’s request still has not been approved.
For more about SatanCon, click here.
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