The Satanic Temple has Become more Than a Troll

I always wished one or two traditional and long-standing world faiths would step forward and challenge the frequent endorsement of Christianity. I've asked some if they would like to do so. Those I have talked with say, no, they have enough trouble navigating the prejudices of U.S. society to stick their heads out in this way. When a group came up with the Satanic Temple I wondered if the court system would treat them as a legitimate religion or laugh them off. I'm sure laughing them off was the first temptation. If the criteria for a "legitimate religion," however, is not very high. Apparently, the Satanic Temple is qualifying, or at least making progress. 

On the Satanic Temple's website it says merely it is a "religious organization." It does not go on to say it believes in some invisible being but says it believes certain things. One of the things is believes is that a woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy. The belief, then, is opposite of the belief one fertilized cell in a human being. Can both beliefs have equal standing? For myself, of course, they have equal standing. Courts located in a country with a culture of Christianity may have to struggle. Ultimately, however, they will have to acknowledge that what's good for the goose is good for the gander. 

It was a curious turn of events a while back when the right to discriminate became based on "sincerely held beliefs." How would we have ever rid our country of slavery if this had been the law back then. It was a sincerely held belief that the white man was to dominate the inferior black man, to rape and kill was a based on a sincerely held belief. If the right to abortion is based on a sincerely held belief than it is a right too. 

The sincerely held belief in the righteousness of slavery and segregation eventually ran into a brick wall. That wall was "U.S., the land of equal opportunity." That same wall still exists but it exists for both men and women. It will turn away abortion prohibition.