(MENAFN) A failed Republican Congressional candidate from Mississippi is facing charges of criminal mischief for vandalizing a statue of the pagan deity Baphomet at the Iowa State Capitol. Advocates for Satanism argue that their symbols are protected under the US Constitution.

Michael Cassidy from Lauderdale, Mississippi, was arrested on Thursday on charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief. The Iowa Department of Public Safety reported that he beheaded and toppled the goat-headed effigy. If convicted, Cassidy could face a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of USD2,560.

The statue, adorned in a crimson robe and surrounded by prayer candles, depicted a figure with a man's body and a horned goat's head holding a wicker pentacle. Baphomet, commonly linked to occultism and Satanism, was part of a display erected by the Satanic Temple, a registered religious group taking advantage of state regulations permitting various religions to present their symbols at the capitol during the Christmas period.

“I saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged,” Cassidy informed a news outlet. “The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan, but none of the founders would have considered government sanction of Satanic altars inside Capitol buildings as protected by the First Amendment.”

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