March 29, 2025 | Topeka, Kansas — A planned demonstration by the Kansas City-area Satanic Grotto escalated into violence and arrests after members attempted to hold a Black Mass inside the Kansas Statehouse, defying state orders to remain outdoors.
Led by group president Michael Stewart, approximately 30 members rallied outside the Capitol to protest perceived religious favoritism toward Christians in public spaces. However, Stewart entered the building around 11:30 a.m., where he began reciting text from a document in the rotunda. A physical altercation erupted when bystander Jonathan Schroeder attempted to grab Stewart’s papers, prompting Stewart to throw punches. Capitol Police arrested Stewart and three others involved in the scuffle. usnews.com / osvnews.com
The Satanic Grotto had initially been permitted to gather outside the Statehouse but was barred from conducting rituals indoors. Gov. Laura Kelly emphasized that the Black Mass—a ceremony mocking Catholic liturgy—could proceed only outdoors, though Stewart insisted on moving it inside as an “act of rebellion” to challenge religious exclusion.
Outside the Capitol, Catholic counter-protesters held prayers and condemned the event. “We are here to defend the Gospel,” said demonstrator Cansas Boyd, framing the confrontation as a spiritual battle. wibw.com
Catholics’ peaceful counter-protests—rooted in prayer and reverence—stand as a testament to the enduring strength of faith in resisting secular hostility. This incident should galvanize communities and lawmakers to defend public morality, reject the weaponization of “tolerance” against truth, and reaffirm society’s duty to uphold natural law above all. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, natural law is “nothing else than the rational creature’s participation of the eternal law” (Summa Theologiae I-II, Q. 91, Art. 2), and any human law that deflects from it “is no longer a law but a perversion of law” (Summa Theologiae I-II, Q. 95, Art. 2)
Some try to reduce this debate to an expression of “religious freedom.” However, we must remember that true freedom consists of freedom from the slavery of sin. True freedom is the freedom to do good; there is no freedom to do evil. Like a strong drug, vice and depravity that destroy the lives of individuals. Thus, the Catholic Church stands as the greatest defender of freedom, helping her members reject evil in every form, including Satanism. For the same reason, Satanism represents the greatest anti-freedom movement in existence. It deceives people by promoting every kind of depravity and vice, having no right to corrupt souls and lead them on the path to perdition.
Sources linked inline; updated as of March 29, 2025.