"If we only defend liberty for the people we like, we never really believe in liberty at all." — Benjamin Franklin (paraphrased)
There’s a scene in one of the Bosch books, the detective’s standing over a body, another one dumped and forgotten. You can feel the weight in the room. And then he says it.
“Everybody counts. Or nobody does.”
It’s simple.
Not clean.
Not sentimental.
Just true.
I’ve thought about that line a lot lately, especially after reading what happened in Iowa. I have to admit that this was a hard column to write.
Because, once again, America’s talking about religious liberty. Only this time, it’s not about a nativity scene being taken down. Or a school prayer being silenced.
It’s about a goat-headed statue and a group that most people don’t understand or want to.
The Satanic Temple asked to host a holiday display and event inside the Iowa State Capitol. Just like Christian groups have done for years, they’d done it before, back in 2023. Their display was torn down and destroyed. The state called it a hate crime.
But now, in 2025, they’re being told “no.” Not because of paperwork issues. Not because of security. But because the governor’s office thinks it might be “disturbing” for children.
So they’re banned.
And I can’t help but ask:
How fragile do we think liberty is?
The Wrong People Asking the Right Question
Let’s get this out of the way.
As a lifelong Catholic, I truly don’t like any Satanic Temple.
I don’t want their Baphomet statue next to my Christmas tree.
I think it’s abhorrent. Maybe deliberately provocative.
I wouldn’t take my grandsons to see it.
But that doesn’t matter.
The question here isn’t whether I like them; it’s whether the Constitution still applies when people we dislike ask to use it.
If it doesn’t, then it never meant much to begin with.
The Temple isn’t burning down churches.
They aren’t screaming in people’s faces.
They applied to use a public space.
The same space everyone else uses.
And Iowa said no.
Let’s be honest: if it had been a Methodist group or a Jewish organization, this wouldn’t have happened.
Which means the rules aren’t being enforced equally.
That’s what discrimination looks like. It doesn’t always show up in jackboots.
Sometimes, it wears a suit, smiles politely, and says, “We’re just worried about the children.”
The S-word in the Room
Satan.
There it is.
The word that makes everyone squirm.
It’s a branding nightmare.
But the members of the Satanic Temple don’t believe in Satan. Not literally. They’re nontheistic.
What they believe in is resistance, symbolic defiance against authoritarianism, especially religious authority propped up by the government.
You can laugh at that.
You can find it childish, blasphemous, or edgy for the sake of it.
But that doesn’t make it illegal. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean they get a different rulebook.
The law doesn’t say you only have rights if you pray to the right god. Or if your display makes parents comfortable.
It says you have rights, period. Especially when the majority hates what you stand for.
That’s what the founders built.
That’s what they wrote down, in ink and blood, so no future governor could pretend that the Bill of Rights was optional.
When the Gate Closes on You
Here’s what worries me, and tell me if you've heard this before.
The same arguments being used to shut down the Satanic Temple, “too disturbing,” “not appropriate,” and “offensive to children,” are the same ones that will be used one day to shut you down.
Do you believe marriage is between a man and a woman? That could be labeled disturbing.
Do you read the Bible in public? Someone might find that offensive.
You wear a crucifix, pray in a school lunchroom, or talk about creation? One day, that’ll be the excuse. “Not appropriate for children.”
We’re building the tools of censorship. And we’re handing them to people who think tolerance ends when their feelings get hurt.
Today, it’s Baphomet. Tomorrow, it’s Bethlehem.
If you’re cheering this, you're building your own cell.
The Capitol Isn’t a Church
The Iowa State Capitol doesn’t belong to the governor. Or the majority. It belongs to us, all of us.
If Christians can set up a nativity scene, then other groups can set up something, too, even if it’s ridiculous, even if it’s grotesque. Even if you think it’s morally bankrupt.
That’s the price of liberty.
It’s uncomfortable.
It forces us to live alongside people we don’t understand.
And when it works, it’s beautiful. Because it means the state can’t turn on you the moment you step out of line.
But if it only works for some people, at some times, under some circumstances, then it’s not liberty.
It’s preference.
And preference, enforced by law, is tyranny in slow motion.
This Isn’t Complicated
Let them put up their damn statue.
If it bothers you, look away.
Or pray harder.
Or put up a bigger, better display of your own.
Don’t ask the state to silence them for you.
Because that’s not liberty, that’s cowardice.
And deep down, I think we know that. We just don’t want to admit the uncomfortable truth:
We’re the ones failing the test.
Not them.
Final Word
I don’t write this because I care about the Satanic Temple.
I write it because I care about the country.
If we’ve reached the point where we need to be protected from symbols, where vague fears and PR excuses can shut down free expression, then we’ve stopped being the country we pretend to be.
The Constitution was never about safety.
It was about risk. Risking offense. Risking speech. Risking freedom.
Everybody counts.
Or nobody does.
