Fox News Flash top headlines for May 19
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
The Satanic Temple (TST) is planning to send car decals praising the devil to Haven, Kansas, after the small town's city council made headlines for reversing a ban on placing "In God We Trust" on its police cruisers following a local uproar.
The TST's decal text includes, "Valor, Pride, Integrity, Hail Satan," "Protect, Serve, Hail Satan," "One Nation, Hail Satan," as well as "Duty, Honor, Community, Hail Satan."
TST spokesperson Lucien Greaves confirmed to Fox News that his organization would be sending the designs over to the city. Haven Mayor Adam Wright told Fox News he had not been notified by any source regarding the satanic decals.
Templates of the TST's decals were first posted to Twitter by author and atheist activist Hemant Mehta, who was retweeted by TST's official Twitter account.
TST offered Fox News more of their proposed designs, including a prototype of a police badge that features children gazing up adoringly at Baphomet, an androgynous goat-headed demon first drawn by a 19th-century occultist. The image, which mirrors a similar controversial statue that has featured in protests at multiple state Capitols, has become a recurring motif in TST's involvement in the culture wars.
SATANIC TEMPLE REQUESTS BOSTON CITY HALL FLY FLAG CELEBRATING ‘SATANIC APPRECIATION WEEK’
A prototype police badge that TST is sending to Haven, Kansas, that depicts children looking up at an androgynous, goat-headed demon. (Randy Faust - @DarkArtRandy)
TST's involvement comes after the town of approximately 1,200 people drew national attention when its city council voted unanimously on May 2 to remove "In God We Trust" decals from the city's police cars.
The city attorney said the decision emerged from a desire to maintain a separation between church and state, according to local KWCH. The original motion was introduced by council member Sandra Williams, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
KANSAS TOWN REVERSES DECISION REMOVING ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ FROM POLICE CARS AFTER UPROAR
On May 16, the city council voted 3-2 to reverse its decision after backlash from the local community.
Haven City Hall in downtown Haven, Kansas. (Google Maps)
Haven Police Chief Stephen Schaffer told Fox News Digital that he felt "personally attacked" by the city council's previous decision and how they went about it, but that he and his three-man force would submit to the city council's authority regardless of what they decided.
Williams advised Schaffer that the city council did not want the police department to be a forum for discussing God, according to the Salina Post. Schaffer said to Fox News he was told a citizen had complained.
Noting how "In God We Trust" is the national motto, he said he thought nothing of it when one of his officers approached him last year, asking to place the phrase on one of the cruisers.
‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ SIGN GETS LOUD SUPPORT AMID OUTSIDERS' OPPOSITION
Schaffer said another point of contention was that he posted Psalm 46:1 on the department's Facebook page, which reads, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The Scripture quote, he explained, was in response to a local 12,000-acre brush fire in March that killed one person and destroyed 35 homes, 92 outbuildings and 110 vehicles.
Haven Police Chief Stephen Schaffer (Stephen Schaffer)
Family members of one of his officers lost three homes in the conflagration, Schaffer said.
"Somebody took offense to that, as well," he said, adding that he removed it from the department's page and also took down "He Is Risen" and "Happy Easter" after it proved controversial.
"Figured there wouldn't be a problem with that either, but I guess there was," Schaffer said.
Schaffer said "hundreds" in the community have reached out to him to express their support, but he remains reluctant to wade into controversy again.
Proverbs 28:1 engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Haven Police Department)
"I tell people all the time that they're in my thoughts, they're in my prayers, and I'll continue to pray for them, for healing and peace, or whatever the case may be," he said.
"I just probably won't include Scripture on there anymore," he added.
Austin Borden, one of the council members who changed his vote, told Fox News he was taken aback by the attention to the story, and that his original intention was "to keep the vehicles as they have always been for decades, which was to remain neutral and inclusive to all without giving any opportunity of offending any citizen regardless of their beliefs."
Borden emphasized he is pro-Christian.
