Killing Texans
by J. Douglas Johnson
In February of last year, The Dallas Observer reported that the Satanic Temple of Texas had filed a First Amendment religious liberty lawsuit to defend its right to perform child sacrifices as religious ritual. The reason this otherwise shocking news may not have crossed your transom is that the Satanists only perform this ritual during abortion procedures.
A spokesman for the Satanic Temple reports that, during the ritual, the mother looks into a mirror and recites the Temple's third tenet: "One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone," followed by its fifth: "Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs." And then, once the doctor has killed the child, the mother affirms her deed by saying, "By my body, my blood. By my will, it is done."
If you dare to share this story in mixed company, be sure to leave out the part about abortion. Just say that Satanists perform child sacrifices in Texas. Wait until your interlocutors are giving you that "Where did you hear that nonsense?!" look before you let them know the ritual is only performed during abortion procedures.
At that point, I suspect they will say something like, "Oh, c'mon, you implied that—it's not like, you know, anyone is literally sacrificing a child!"
But like the demons who knew exactly who Jesus was when they saw him and said so, the Satanists know a child sacrifice when they see one.
J. Douglas Johnson is the executive editor of Touchstone and the executive director of the Fellowship of St. James.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor