Boston's SatanCon expected to be largest ever gathering of Satanists

Hundreds of Satanists will converge in Boston's Copley Square at the end of April for the second annual SatanCon. But they aren't coming to worship the devil.

With over 800 registered attendees, organizers say they're expecting it to be the largest ever gathering of Satanists, accompanied by protests of conservative and Christian groups from across the country.

The event has been widely covered in conservative media, including Fox News. Online protesters like televangelist John Ramirez say the Satanic Temple, the organization hosting the convention, exists "so demons and spirits can work in the atmosphere ... to really bring destruction to the people."

Dex Desjardins, an ordained minister of Satan and spokesman for the Satantic Temple, said the church is often misunderstood.

"The thing is we're not theistic. We don't have beliefs in a literal theistic Satan," Desjardins said. "And I always like to point out to people that Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on the name of Satan."

The Satanic Temple, which is based in Salem, instead focuses on core values of compassion, intellectualism and personal freedoms.

But, "the idea that we're just a free speech political activist group is wrong. We are not just that," Desjardins said. "If we do any sort of activism, it's in a very narrow band, basically aimed at protecting our equal rights under the First Amendment to religious liberty and to have equitable representation in the public square."

The group says it chose Boston because of an ongoing lawsuit against the city. The Satanic Temple sued the city council after it declined to allow a member to deliver an invocation at a meeting.

"They can hand-select which religious figures get to come and present invocations," Desjardins said. "So if they only want to have Catholic invocations done, that is something they have given themselves the authority to do. We think that's highly discriminatory."

The suit is one of many the Satanic Temple has filed over religious freedom. It also sometimes places Satanic symbolism where government-sanctioned Christian monuments are erected. In 2018, it placed its three-ton statue of Baphomet, a winged, goatlike figure, in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the state had put up a monument of the Ten Commandments on capitol grounds.

He said SatanCon, like any other convention, is aimed at gathering the organization's members together.

"The thing is we're not theistic. We don't have beliefs in a literal theistic Satan."

Dex Desjardins

"It's a chance for our community to build friendships, to learn from each other," Desjardins said. "It's a chance for people who have known each other online — in some cases, for close to a decade — to actually get to meet and spend time together."

The convention, which has been sold out for over a month, features over a dozen presentations covering topics from what it's like to be a BIPOC Satanist to practicing Satanism in Appalachia. Its after-hours events include a Satanic Ball, a drag show and a concert from the band Satanic Planet, of which the temple's cofounder Lucian Greaves is a member.

Most of the events are being held at the Marriott in Copley Square. Desjardins said it was one of the only hotels in the area willing to work with the temple.

"It's very hard to find collaborators for anything we do sometimes because of the name, or superstition, or religious beliefs," he said. "Other people that might otherwise work with us are afraid. They're afraid of bomb threats. They're afraid of physical attacks. They're afraid of negative reviews."

The fear isn't unwarranted. Temple manager Melissa Gurr said they receive death threats daily. And last year an arsonist set fire to the group's Salem headquarters. The Chelsea man, who wore a T-shirt printed with the word "GOD" to the crime scene and left a bible, later called his actions a hate crime.

“We always just assume we're in danger," Desjardins said. "I've just assumed for years now that I'll be just walking along and someone's going to come and shoot me in the chest.”

But Desjardins said the danger is worth it to stand up for what he believes in.

"We know that there are movements in this country right now that are trying to take away voting rights. They're trying to restrict the kinds of relationships you can have, what you can read at school, what you can say as a teacher, and you have to push back. And it's risky. It's always risky to fight for civil rights."

Desjardins said the group supports people's right to protest, so long as they do so peacefully.

"That's their First Amendment right, just like we have the right to be here and hold our convention," he said.