An Orthodox Christian man claims to have destroyed the demonic statue erected by Satanists outside the New Hampshire State House in Concord last month.
In a Facebook post on Christmas Day, Concord resident Joshua Cummings stated, “I live in Concord, New Hampshire. It was I who destroyed the Satan statue in front of the State House.”
On December 7, The Satanic Temple installed satanic displays, including a statue of the demon Baphomet, near Nativity scenes at the New Hampshire State House.
The statue depicted a black-clad Baphomet, holding a bouquet of purple lilacs symbolizing New Hampshire's state flower, and was adorned with a purple stole featuring an inverted pentagram, the goat's head of the TST logo, and two inverted crosses.
Cummings readily admitted that he participated in the vandalism of the statue. “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) 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,” he wrote.
He explained that police questioned him and read him his Miranda rights without arresting him, and he defended his actions by appealing to a higher authority.
“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,” he added.
When an officer asked if he destroyed the statue because he hates The Satanic Temple, Cummings replied, “I don't hate anyone. The Satanic Temple are a bunch of idiots, but I pray they repent. I hate Satan.”
He pushed back against Christians defending the satanic statues on First Amendment grounds, advocating for anti-blasphemy laws and asserting, “It is unChristian not to destroy idolatrous statues, a fact witnessed to by the countless saints who did not hesitate to topple monuments to falsehood.” He also questioned, “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?”
Cummings concluded by expressing that if he does face legal repercussions for his actions, he hopes it will serve as “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.” He regarded his actions as “one of the greatest things I've ever done, dust as it is.”
Cummings’ actions mirror those of U.S. Navy veteran Michael Cassidy, who traveled from Mississippi to Des Moines last year to topple a Baphomet statue placed by The Satanic Temple near a Nativity scene in the Iowa Capitol.
Cassidy was set to stand trial on June 3 for a hate crime but pleaded guilty in May to a third-degree criminal mischief charge in exchange for having the felony charge dropped.
