Satan Temple’s goat-headed statue unveiled July 24, 2015 in Detroit

DETROIT — A controversial monument to be unveiled Saturday downtown is an event that Michigan Christians have tried to shut down, according to a news release.

The Satanic Temple will reveal the 1-ton, bronze, goat-headed idol called Baphomet after 9 p.m. ET to those who have bought $25 to $75 tickets. The location of the unveiling is secret — the original venue canceled the booking — and will be sent to ticket-holders via email Saturday, officials said in the release.

The fête, which the group calls the largest Satanic ceremony in history, will kick off its legal efforts to secure placement of the monument next to a Ten Commandments monument on public grounds in Arkansas or Oklahoma.

The statue is backed by an inverted pentagram and flanked by statues of two young children gazing up at the creature, which has horns, hooves, wings and a beard. It cost more than $100,000 and had been planned for a spot at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City until Oklahoma’s Supreme Court banned religious displays, including a monument of the Ten Commandments, on Capitol grounds.

Oklahoma court: Ten Commandments monument must come down

“It was always our intention to take this wherever it was relevant, wherever it was necessary, and wherever that dialogue needed to take place,” said Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the group, which is less about Satan worship and more about highlighting what it perceives to be improper religious influence on governments.

A Ten Commandments monument is planned outside Arkansas’ Statehouse in Little Rock.

 (Photo: The Satanic Temple via AP)

The statue was to be unveiled at Bert’s Marketplace in Detroit’s Eastern Market district, but Bert Dearing said he returned a $3,000 rental fee when he learned about the group that booked the place.

“It would be great if we had a large turnout” for the 10 a.m. Saturday Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church in response to the statue, the Detroit Mass Mob posted on its Facebook page Friday. Other churches in the Mother of Divine Mercy parish, three historic churches near downtown, also plan Masses specifically because of the unveiling.

Baphomet, subject of the statue that the temple plans to unveil, was the idol that the Knights Templar were accused of secretly worshiping in chapter houses across Europe and the Holy Land before the order was disbanded in 1312. Back in the Templars’ day, Baphomet was said to be a disembodied head but has been represented as a goat-headed figure since the 1800s.

The Satanic Temple, different from the Church of Satan founded in the 1960s, views Satan not as an evil figure, but one who dared question authority. The temple also advocates for the separation of church and state.

Baphomet is meant to symbolize plurality and religious liberty, Greaves has said.

Jex Blackmore, Satanic Temple Detroit chapter founder, has said the group doesn’t worship Satan but does promote individuality, compassion and views that differ from Christian and conservative beliefs. Its chapter has more than 200 registered members.

Dueling Satanic groups feud over Tea Party politics

New York City-based sculptor Mark Porter, who worked on the statue for five months in a Florida near Daytona Beach, Fla., said he initially found the task creepy.

“I started thinking about it: Why don’t I like it?” Porter said. “And then after looking at that every day for a year, it’s just whatever. It could be Mickey Mouse.”

The unveiling will be a musical celebration that includes Detroit’s Wolf Eyes band and Boston-based punk act Sadist. The ticket website promises “a night of chaos, noise and debauchery at the unveiling, a hedonistic celebration introducing the controversial Baphomet monument accompanied by provocative performances and installations.”

• My question is, when there was racial turbulence in Virginia a few weeks ago, various church figures voiced their opinions publicly a stated that there would be no tolerance for hatred in their prospective cities. Their speeches can be found of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and newspapers nationwide. WHERE WERE THE CHURCHES when this statue was erected? Why wasn’t a nationwide church effort made to stand against this kingdom of darkness? Where were the demonstrations and speeches from the affluent Christian “big wigs” in this country? Where is the power and boldness in the so-called body of Christ? Church, you have failed again!

Children as Young as 11 Could Start Irreversible Hormone Treatment to Change Gender After Court Ruling

By LEAH MARIEANN KLETT ( news@gospelherald.com ) Sep 06, 2017 

TGender Identity Development Service (GIDS) found that 1,986 children under the age of 18 have been accepted for specialist treatment in the past year. Getty Images

Children as young as 11 could be permitted to start irreversible hormone treatment to change their biological sex without the permission of a court under an upcoming landmark family court case in Sydney.

The Daily Mail reports that five Family Court judges will sit on the case to be heard by the Full Court later this year – the first time they have done so in 12 years.

The case was brought by the father of a 16-year-old who was born female but identified as male from nine-years-old, according to the Daily Telegraph. The child, “Kelvin”, reportedly changed schools to start as a male, used a chest binder and attended the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex and Questioning “campout” on the Central Coast in 2014.

The court has already decided that Kelvin is “competent” and fully understands what is ­involved in starting hormone treatment; however, his father has launched the appeal to ask the court to step out of the process all together. Should the judges rule in favor of the family, children wishing to undergo hormone therapy will only need the permission of a parent and a medical professional.

Currently, for access stage one treatment known as puberty blockers, children are no longer required to go to court, as the process was recently deemed fully reversible. The second stage of treatment – irreversible gender-affirming hormones, is what will be contested.

A June report from the Daily Telegraph said that an analysis of Family Court judgments from the start of this year show 10 children have been granted legal approval to start “stage two” treatment to allow for physical changes.

Recently, the court ruled in favor of 17-year-old “Ashton” to undergo treatment to fulfill his wishes of becoming a boy after the family spoke of “Ashton’s” distress at having female attributes.

Data released earlier this year by the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) shows 1,986 children under the age of 18 have been accepted for specialist treatment in the past year. That’s up from just 94 in 2009-10, with 37 young children under the age of five referred since then.

Western Sydney University professor John Whitehall, who has more than 50 years’ experience treating children, called the rise in transitioning “an infectious trend” and called for an age limit of at least 18 before children who claim they have gender dysphoria are permitted to undergo treatment.

Professor Whitehall said it was “unreasonable” to expect children to understand the gravity of the decisions they were making at such a young age.

“It is unreasonable to expect juveniles to have a complete picture of where they want to be in later life, especially kids that haven’t even yet reached puberty. This is an infectious trend, a dangerous fad and I think it’s nonsense. The courts should stop messing with our kids until they are at least 18 because once you change, that’s it.”

He urged a “watchful waiting” approac­h instead, arguing that a vast majority of children who question their gender will revert to their biological sex by puberty.

“I think it’s a dangerous fad; a dangerous behavioral fashion trend fuelled by the ideologues and fuelled by the media,” he said, adding he was concerned that programs such as Safe Schools, which promotes “gender fluidity”, were causing extra pressure.

“Even making that so-called social transition has consequences,” he said. “It nails the child to the cross. It’s very difficult to come back from that.