TOLEDO — The Satanic Temple of Iowa is coming back to Toledo, Iowa to share a core Satanic religious text.

On Sunday, Sept. 14 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., the group will return to the Tama County Courthouse building and once again read John Milton’s 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost from start to finish.

The Satanic Temple’s Iowa congregation follows The 7 Tenets of TST, focused on empathy, compassion, reason, science, bodily autonomy, and correcting mistakes when we make them.

Last year, as they were reading, Tama County Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hilmer worked to try to prevent the group from returning. Even though he claimed that Tama County are “all God fearin’ people,” he had to admit that “unfortunately, the First Amendment dictates what we can do and can’t do.”

As the Board of Supervisors decided to implement new requirements for events at the courthouse building (namely, event insurance and a $100 deposit), Hilmer expressed regret. In his words: “It’s sad because it affects the good people.”

TST Iowa was fully prepared to jump over this extremely tiny bureaucratic hurdle, but in a development that no one could have predicted, the Tama County Courthouse has assured the group that they have agreed to host the event with no paperwork needed and no extra hurdles to jump through.

“We would like to thank the Tama County Courthouse for upholding our rights to freedom of assembly, speech, and religion, which are granted to us by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” TST Iowa Media Liaison Mortimer Adramelech said. “We would also like to thank Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who annually signs a proclamation encouraging all Iowans to read the Bible from start to finish at each of the 99 County Courthouse buildings. We are happy to once again accept her invitation to share our religious text Paradise Lost with the good people of Iowa — an epic poem that has been heavily influential to modern interpretations of Satan in literature, modern culture, and the religion of Satanism.”

“We are hopeful that this event will encourage Iowans to engage in respectful dialog about religious liberty, plurality, and the importance of diverse perspectives,” Adramelech added.