The legs of the black Baphomet statue outside the State House still stood, but its head was on the ground, robes crumpled and the panel of Seven Fundamental Tenets shattered.

On Tuesday morning, Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, was picking up the pieces of the vandalized goat-headed figure, three days after it was first unveiled on Main Street in Concord. 

The base was heavy to move and passersby had left a Santa hat, a cross and a Christmas ornament on the statue. Read thought the statute would have lasted longer than three days before she was returning the remnants to leaders from The Satanic Temple in New Hampshire and Vermont. It’s up to them if the downtown statute will be replaced, she said. 

“Nobody would have batted an eye two months ago at a mannequin in a goat mask when it was Halloween. Nobody would have been upset,” she said. “Two months later it's the most offensive thing imaginable.. they just have an emotional reaction and their only response is destroy.”

Mayor Byron Champlin doesn’t condone the damage – “vandalism is never an appropriate response to this” – but he wishes the statute wasn’t up in the first place. 

At Concord City Council on Monday night, Champlin expressed his disappointment that city staff and council members supported a permit for the display, in his closing remarks. 

“My preference was to deny the permit and accept the risk of the threatened lawsuit,” he said at the meeting. “I oppose the permit because I believe the request was made not in the interest of promoting religious equity but in order to drive an anti-religious agenda.” 

The Satanic Temple, a religious organization based in Salem, Massachusetts, unveiled the statue on Saturday, removing a black tarp to reveal the goat-headed Baphomet, with bright yellow eyes, that held a bouquet of lilacs and an apple – representing free inquiry, the pursuit of knowledge, goodwill and camaraderie, according to a press release from the group. 

Read first contacted the temple about a display a few months ago. For years, the Knights of Columbus Concord Council, a Catholic organization, has set up a creche outside the State House, depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. 

To her, The Satanic Temple display provides religious variety, upholding a core tenet of the First Amendment that the government cannot establish a religion. 

“One of our most sacred things as a country is our First Amendment and the idea that we do not have establishment of religion,” she said. “On public grounds, if you’re representing one religion, you have to represent all.” 

Champlin doesn’t see it as a measure of religious plurality, though. 

“By definition, this is not a religion,” he said. “This is a very calculated political effort and I don’t think that it should be shrouded in the illusion that it’s some story of religious statement.” 

To him, the display is an antagonistic political stunt that was promoted by an out-of-town organization. 

“We have room in our society for atheists and for secularists and for Christians and for flat-earthers. That’s what our democracy and our First Amendment is about,” he said. “ I just don't like what I view as a pretty cold political calculation on the part of this group, and I’m also very upset with the fact that this whole thing was prompted by somebody who's not even from Concord.” 

Yet to avoid potential litigation, the city approved a permit for the display, according to a statement sent out during the unveiling on Saturday. 

Champlin would not comment on the conversations that transpired to approve the permit. But going forward he would like to establish a city committee to review policies on unattended displays, with a hope to have a defined policy in place ahead of next December. 

“This is not the end of the conversation, this is just the beginning,” he said. 

To him, the dispute is further emblematic of some of the challenges that come with hosting the state capitol in Concord. To his understanding, the state was first approached about the display, which is on Main Street outside the State House, but “deflected this to Concord.” 

“We’re basically dealing with someone else’s problem and I find that very unpalatable,” he said. 

This is not the first time that public displays have come to a head between the city and state in the last few years. In May 2023, a historical marker honoring Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a leader of the Communist Party, was installed in Concord and quickly drew criticism from political leaders. 

While Gov. Chris Sununu called for its removal, the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and City of Concord sparred back and forth over who approved the marker to be placed. The council responded with a letter stating that the sign was under state, not local discretion. 

In this case, the city leaders were forced to weigh the consequences of a lawsuit in reviewing the permit application for the display. 

To Champlin, though The Satanic Temple display and the Gurley Flynn marker hold a parallel: an example of the state downshifting responsibilities to the municipal level.

“In most instances, it costs us and our property taxpayers money,” he said. “In this instance, it has cost us the enjoyment of the holiday season and the peacefulness that season usually brings to us. ”