Orthodox Christian confesses to vandalizing Satanic statue in Concord, NH
"It is unChristian to not destroy idolatrous statues," wrote Joshua Cummings
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For a couple of weeks in December, a Baphomet statue was vandalized outside the New Hampshire Capitol. The Satanic Temple had erected the display in response to a Nativity scene, and their version had Baphomet holding an apple and flowers, with a plaque of the Seven Fundamental Tenets at the bottom.
Hours after that statue was unveiled, it was ripped apart and damaged. So some local artists got together and fixed it up:
They called it "Un-Concord" Baphomet. But that one didn’t last long either. It, too, was destroyed. The Concord police have since said they may investigate the incident as a hate crime, but as of this writing, no formal charges have been announced.
But here’s a thought: When someone confesses to the crime, maybe start looking at him…?
Last week, a Christian zealot named Joshua Cummings announced that he damaged the statue at least once and that the police had already arrested him.
He said he wasn’t charged with any crimes yet, but he acted in the name of his faith (which is an offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church).
Going public:
I live in Concord, New Hampshire. It was I who destroyed the Satan statue in front of the State House. Other people have destroyed it on several occasions. It has basically become open season on the stupid thing at this point, but I (have lost count but) did at least five times bash it on the head with my medieval mace in the middle of the night, and I was finally apprehended by police for it a few nights ago. I wasn't arrested, only asked some basic questions and read my Miranda Rights; and I don't think charges will be pressed, and if they are I'm sure I can cover the lawfare with some kind of crowdfunding. It'd probably quickly go viral the same way the news articles have.
What I said to the cops is the same thing I'd say before the press: that the presence of the statue hurts everyone in the city and even the whole state— that the spiritual principality is a higher order reality than the legal municipality. The cops were surprised by my answers and didn't really know how to respond.
Online, some Protestants and Catholics in the comment sections of the widespread news articles have even defended the statue, saying that the 1st Amendment protects its being in front of the State House. I maintain my stance that we ought to have anti-blasphemy laws, and that it is unChristian to not destroy idolatrous statues, a fact witnessed to by the countless saints who did not hesitate to topple monuments to falsehood.
I know the Satanic Temple wants to catch me on a “hate crime” charge. On the night I was apprehended, the officer, after spending a few minutes at his vehicle, came up to me and said “So you did this because you hate the Satanic Temple?” Paraphrasing, I responded “I don't hate anyone. The Satanic Temple are a bunch of idiots, but I pray they repent. I hate Satan.”
Again, I maintain that Satan is not who the Satanic Temple says he is— he is who he is— he has no humility and no love, and hates everyone, seeking their destruction. The “Seven Tenets” of Satanism (which the Temple regularly cites as the reason for making their cause attractive) have nothing to do with the actual agenda of Satan. God forbid the members of the Satanic Temple die in their delusion and realize their eternal disappointment: Satan doesn't like you as much as you liked him!
I don't think anything will come of this legally, but if anything does I will be happy to state my case, and I pray it can provide a confession for Orthodoxy, which has the fullness of theology to explain why it is perfectly Christian to destroy an idol in front of the very State House. What does it say about us as a people if we allow such a filthy and hideous image to appear before God in our most basic societal representation?
It was impossible that I would not do everything in my power to destroy that horrific statue standing in the very city in which I live, this city that I so dearly love, and I am grateful to God for giving me the gumption to do it. I regard it as one of the greatest things I've ever done, dust that it is. My conscience is clear, and should I be charged unfairly, then the crisis of conscience shall move laterally to my interlocutors. I may stand trial tomorrow, but we will all stand trial before the only Righteous Judge. Please pray for me, I'm not sure what is about to happen, but I maintain: Glory be to God for all things.
Sounds to me like he’s openly admitting to a religiously motivated hate crime.
To be clear, The Satanic Temple doesn’t worship Satan. When Cummings makes a direct connection between the two, he’s just revealing his utter ignorance. Furthermore, the idea that destroying other’s property because you personally find it blasphemous would create chaos if it was accepted as justification for a crime. Just because he doesn’t like the statue doesn’t give him the right to vandalize it. Obviously. That’s never an acceptable alibi.
The fact that he considers his crime “one of the greatest things” he’s ever done says more about his faith than the people he wants to hurt.
On New Year’s Eve, Cummings posted a video further explaining himself. He said the police had confiscated some of the items he used to vandalize the statue but he was still a free man.
In the video, Cummings said he “had to destroy that statue” to prevent Satanists from thinking this was acceptable:
… I had to destroy that statue because if I don’t—if we’re gonna lay down and just take that… They show back up next year with a beautiful marble statue of Satan? We can’t let it happen! There has to be… If all of these false spiritual presences, these demonic things, are about to crop up, it’s time for Christians to really get serious.
He also said he was appalled by Christians who were standing up for the Satanists’ First Amendment rights and that he doesn’t harbor the same hatred toward other religions (because “at least they’re religions” and “have ancient precedent”).
He hoped that if he ends up in court, his trial will be televised because he wants to “eviscerate The Satanic Temple.” (Wishful thinking. It will not be televised because it was just petty vandalism by a religious zealot. Real life isn’t an episode of Law & Order, and this guy just has main character syndrome.)
The final seconds of the video show footage of the statue being destroyed (taken by a supporter of The Satanic Temple). Cummings doesn’t say it’s him in the video, but he prefaces it by saying he wanted to end his video “on a light note.”
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One final point: Cummings insists the police are “on my side” in part because Concord Mayor Byron Champlin told the media he wouldn’t have approved The Satanic Temple’s request in the first place, preferring instead to “deny the permit and accept the risk of the threatened lawsuit.” This is a perfect example of why elected officials, regardless of their personal beliefs, must openly defend the First Amendment and religious freedom for all, even if that means defending a group that may be unpopular. When conservative politicians say certain groups are not welcome in the community, despite the law saying otherwise, it allows religious zealots like Cummings to think their actions will be forgiven.
Cummings did not respond to my requests for comment.
For what it’s worth, his confession is no different from what another Christian zealot said last year after he destroyed a Baphomet statue inside the Iowa State Capitol. The lawyer for Michael Cassidy, a former Republican candidate for Congress, said his client vandalized that statue because he was motivated by his Christian faith to “peacefully protest a display that is a direct affront to God.” (Cassidy later accepted a plea deal to avoid more serious charges and possible jail time.)
The confession also brings to mind Michael Tate Reed, who, in 2017, drove his car into a Ten Commandments monument outside the Arkansas State Capitol because he felt it didn’t belong there. He did the same thing to an identical monument in Oklahoma in 2014, though that time, he said he was listening to the voice of Satan.
Reed was acquitted after doctors said he was mentally unfit to stand trial. As one report put it, “Reed reported he first began communicating with God when he was 16 years old, but doctors couldn't tell if those were hallucinations or just an expression of his Christian faith.” Either way, both times, he was acting on his religious delusions.
As far as Cummings’ confession goes, Minister Orpheus Gaur, the Co-Director of the Satanic Representation Campaign, told me The Satanic Temple “is unable to verify this confession or which incidents of vandalism they perpetrated.” That’s because there were so many incidents of vandalism by the time the display was taken down that it’s hard to imagine Cummings was the only person trying to destroy it.
In total, we documented twelve incidents of vandalism by at least 4 individuals, which were either reported by TST’s SRC and local contacts to the Concord Police Department or shared with SRC by the police when they responded on the scene. These acts of destruction affected not only the original display but also two backup installations created by a local artist collective. The Concord Police Department has ongoing investigations into these incidents, and while SRC cannot comment on specifics, we are hopeful that justice will be served.
This is why Fascism is growing in the US…no consequences for breaking the law. Vandalism and free speech violations allowed for the nuttiest christians only.
𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖-𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 𝑖𝑑𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑒𝑠, 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑑.
It is also unchristian to disobey the established laws prohibiting vandalism and destruction of property. These "countless saints" who toppled monuments did so long before there was a First Amendment protecting religious beliefs and practices that are not Christian. Cummings is truly ignorant of what the First Amendment protects. He seems to believe, as so many other conservative Christians, that religious freedom is only for Christians.