Satanists claim success in returning demonic spirits to HOTA arts precinct
A group of Satanists say their weekend visit to HOTA was successful and “demonic spirits” have returned to the Gold Coast arts precinct. WATCH THE VIDEO
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A satanist group say their weekend visit to HOTA was successful and “demonic spirits” have returned to the Gold Coast arts precinct.
An “eclectic mix” about 20 people attended a ceremony at the Green Bridge on Saturday, including doctors, security guards and artists after the group was earlier not allowed to visit Evandale’s new prayer room.
It was the end of a week-long saga in which the Noosa Temple of Satan organised a Coast visit after Mayor Tom Tate’s spiritual adviser Sue Baynes had earlier warned there was a “demonic stronghold” at HOTA after a spiritual battle where she talked about displacing “the powers of darkness”.
The Satanist group originally booked the prayer room, however upon further enquiries, council later insisted they could no longer take the appointment due to safety concerns.
Noosa Temple of Satan lawyer Trevor Bell told the Bulletin: “It was raining intermittently so like a bunch of trolls we were under the bridge, which was kind of appropriate.”
He said spiritual leader Robin Bristow, known as Brother Samael Demo-Gorgon, performed a ceremony “welcoming back the demonic spirits” to the HOTA precinct.
“We are happy to let you know that that was successful,” Mr Bell told the Bulletin.
“And that the HOTA precinct is now a multicultural and multi-spiritual precinct once again. The crowd was chanting “the spirit of Satan compels us”.
“We feel that did the trick. It was such a good mix of people there.”
Mr Bell told the crowd: “Mayor Tate doesn’t have to like us but he has to pretend to like us. Because when you are in a public position like he is, you have to be seen to be treating people fairly and equally.
“So it’s about perception of fairness by our public office holders and that’s why someone in his position shouldn’t be denigrating a group of people because of members of that group feel that they will be potentially discriminated against.
“It all sounds a bit of fun but that is the serious side of this.”
Mr Tate has told the Bulletin the appointment of Ms Baynes was as a councillor Adviser and not spiritual Adviser and her role was to “bring the many faith-based groups in our city together” to partner on critical social issues like homelessness, addiction and domestic violence.
‘Welcome back demonic spirits’: Satanists speak out. April 22.
Satanists say they want to meet with Mayor Tom Tate to open up Evandale’s prayer room to the public as their supporters “welcome back the demonic spirits” to HOTA.
Lawyer Trevor Bell, speaking on behalf of the Noosa Temple of Satan which has 10,000 Facebook followers, expects a small turnoutat a ceremony at the Green Bridge outside the arts precinct on Saturday.
He said the planned “welcome back the demonic spirits” would not drive out Christian, Muslim and Jewish spirits.
“By the time we finish it will be a multi-faith, multi-religious experience at HOTA,” Mr Bell said.
Asked if he would like to talk to Mr Tate, Mr Bell replied: “Yes, but I would be very surprised if he would want to talk to me. I don’t think he has much time for me or Satanists in general.”
Mr Bell said hospitals and universities had prayer rooms that were multi-faith.
“With this particular example (the mayor’s spiritual adviser) Sue Baynes is overtly pro-Christian and has come out as anti-Satanic. That is not the sort of person who should be in charge of what should be a multi-faith prayer room and experience.
“They weren’t really about a prayer room. This was a Christian prayer room. That’s what’s been exposed by this.”
Mr Bell visited Evandale on Friday about 1pm after the group had its earlier booking for 10.30am cancelled for security reasons. Police and security were in the precinct.
The group is furious about the snub because the Mayor, only three weeks ago, said the old storage room at the Evandale Chambers was “open to any member of the public or any group through normal booking protocols”.
The group maintains Ms Baynes, in an earlier telephone call, indicated the venue was available.
Mayor Tate was not at council, after visiting Burleigh Heads at 10.30am to talk about an “investment action program” with a Coast company at which he learned to pour cocktails.
The Mayor was pouring a “ruthless Ruth” as he toured the Mr Consistent cocktail supplying business.
“It’s so, so sweet and just beautiful to look at – day or night,” he said.
At 11.30am, the Mayor left for Robina for a Streets of Remembrance launch to honour World War I services personnel and their families.
A council insider said that the media opportunities were booked some time ago.
Cops circle as Satanists plan to reclaim ‘demonic stronghold’
Earlier: Mayor Tom Tate so far has escaped a confrontation with angry Satanists outside City Hall on Friday morning.
As exclusively revealed by the Bulletin, the Noosa Temple of Satanists had a booking for 10.30am only for it to be cancelled for “security reasons”.
The Noosa group is furious about the snub because the Mayor, only three weeks ago, said the old storage room at the Evandale Chambers was “open to any member of the public or any group through normal booking protocols”.
The group maintains the Mayor’s spiritual adviser Sue Baynes had in a telephone call indicated the venue was available.
But a “media opportunity” update emailed out by the mayor’s staff showed he had two engagements south of Evandale on Friday.
He was to be at Burleigh Heads at 10.30am to talk about an “investment action program” with a Coast company.
At 11.30am the Mayor was headed to Robina for a “Streets of Remembrance” launch to honour World War 1 services personnel and their families.
A council insider told the Bulletin: “The media opportunities were booked some time ago.”
Council security staffers were prepared for visit by Satanists about 10.30am and three police officers were spotted circling the precinct.
But the Bulletin understands the group now intends to hold a media conference outside Evandale about 1pm.
Spiritual adviser responsible for booking Satanist group
Earlier: Mayor Tom Tate’s spiritual adviser was involved in the booking for a Satanists group at the city hall prayer room, it can be revealed.
Council sources along with leaders of Noosa’s Temple of Satan group have outlined the role of council’s spiritual adviser, Pastor Sue Baynes, in the saga before Councillor Tate stepped in to cancel the group’s visit.
The Noosa Satanists have been urging members to arrive at council about 10.30am on Friday. But a council spokesperson on Thursday confirmed their booking was cancelled “for security reasons”.
The booking scandal which has shocked council staffers has forced other changes where the prayer room, on the ground floor opposite the council chambers at Evandale, can only now be used by councillors and city employees.
A council source told the Bulletin: “The room is sitting in abeyance. No-one can book it from the outside. It’s not a public facility (like a library).
“It was (before this incident) Sue Baynes’ personal booking room.”
The Noosa Satanic group is furious about the snub because it says the Mayor, only three weeks ago, trumpeted the new use of the old storage room at chamber which was “open to any member of the public and any group through the normal booking protocols”. Trevor Bell, the group’s lawyer, confirmed he requested the booking via the council’s website and was told by Ms Baynes that the venue was available.
Emails obtained by the Bulletin show Mr Bell first contacted council on Wednesday, April 6 at 4.36pm to ask about booking the room. He received a phone call the following day to confirm the booking and said he was told all he had to do was nominate an organisation and supply the names of attendees for security reasons.
But when his subsequent email on Tuesday, April 19 revealed that the organisation requesting the booking was The Noosa Temple of Satan “all Hell broke loose in Mr Tate’s office”.
In a Wednesday afternoon email, a mayoral staffer wrote: “I regret to advise that council will not be able to facilitate access to the Prayer Room on Friday.”
Advice was taken from council’s security services and “other unsolicited approaches have now been made for access to the room such that it will become unmanageable”.
“It has been decided that general public access will not be granted, consistent with the approach taken to all internal council rooms and facilities at our administration centres,” the mayoral staffer wrote.
“This applies to all groups and religions regardless of their particular beliefs or affiliations and should in no way be construed as any personal decision about you, your colleagues or any group you are involved with or represent.
“Please accept my thanks for your interest and you have my best wishes moving forward.”
Council did not respond to Bulletin questions on whether Ms Baynes was involved in the booking, but in a statement repeated: “Council will not be able to facilitate access to the Prayer Room on Friday.
“Having taken advice from Council’s security services and noting that other unsolicited approaches have now been made for access to the room such that it will become unmanageable, it has been decided that general public access will not be granted, consistent with the approach taken to all internal Council rooms and facilities at our administration centres.
“This applies to all groups and religions regardless of their particular beliefs or affiliations and should in no way be construed as any personal decision about you, your colleagues or any group you are involved with or represent.”
Mr Bell told the Bulletin: “Christians don’t like sharing power and privilege. They are so used to dominating our society that they forget there are other religions who might be entitled to the same privileges.
“When a religion like Satanism threatens to enjoy the same privileges, they would rather remove the privilege than share it.”
“We knew that if we applied to use it, the council would probably shut it down and that is what has happened”.
Ms Baynes supports the fundamentalist Christian ideology Seven Mountain Mandate and claims she advised the Mayor there was a “demonic stronghold” at the arts centre and aimed to displace the “powers of darkness” at HOTA.
The Satanists plan a ceremony at the Home Of The Arts on Saturday at 2pm.
“We will conduct a small ceremonial protest and welcome back the demonic spirits that Ms Baynes claims to have driven away,” Mr Bell said.
“Our Spiritual Leader, Brother Samael Demo-Gorgon has been practising his incantations.”
Three questions facing Tom Tate on his 7M religion stance
Earlier: Tom Tate is under renewed pressure to divulge more about the ratepayer-paid Pastor appointed to his staff as a “council adviser” and if he supports her controversial fundamentalist beliefs.
The Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) wrote to the Gold Coast Mayor last week to ask if he supported the Seven Mountain Mandate she espoused and to outline his position on the separation of church and state. It also questioned if her appointment was appropriate.
Pastor Sue Baynes is an advocate of the evangelical Christian movement, dubbed 7M, which aims to influence the seven public spheres of family, education, government, media, arts or entertainment, church and business.
RSA president Meredith Doig urged the Mayor to address whether he supported 7M.
Mr Tate is yet to respond to the letter but has told the Bulletin the debate about state and religion was “irrelevant”, he had employed a “councillor adviser” and his religious beliefs were “personal”.
In her letter to Mayor Tate, Dr Doig said ratepayers deserved to know whether he supported the 7M ideology. She also rejected Mayor Tate’s suggestion in recent media reports that Pastor Baynes’ views were a “private” matter.
“We reject the assertion the views of the spiritual adviser are a private matter, given the claims made by Pastor Baynes in relation to you and the Seven Mountain Mandate, and given she is being paid by the ratepayers of the Gold Coast to fulfil this role,” Dr Doig wrote.
“We agree with the overwhelming opinion of Gold Coast ratepayers that such an appointment, paid for by ratepayers, is inappropriate and a breach of the norm that supports keeping the functions of religion and the state separate.
“We share the concerns of Gold Coast ratepayers about the fundamentalist Christian ideology espoused by the spiritual adviser, Pastor Sue Baynes.
“We are also concerned you have not publicly answered the central question of whether you support the Seven Mountains Mandate ideology – a claim made by Pastor Baynes.
Mr Tate told the Bulletin: “The debate regarding church and state is entirely irrelevant as I have not engaged a spiritual adviser. I cannot make that any clearer.
“I have engaged, on a casual basis, a councillor adviser allowed under state legislation. Two other councillors in this council have engaged councillor advisers – on full-time contracts. Those appointments are also approved under state legislation.
“The officer I have engaged works with all faith-based groups in the city to see how we can better partner on serious social issues such as addiction, homelessness and family and domestic violence. That is the work this officer is undertaking and it should be applauded.
“My views on various religious beliefs are entirely irrelevant as I will always make decisions based on what is in the best interest of the majority of residents. I have done that through my 10 years as Mayor and nothing will ever change that.’’
Satanist group plans to “invite back the powers of darkness”.
Earlier: A Temple of Satan group from Noosa has booked Mayor Tom Tate’s prayer room at council for a weekend of “holy events” to “invite back the powers of darkness”.
A council source told the Bulletin: “There was a booking made. It has been confirmed but the situation is being reviewed.”
The booking is for 10.30am on Friday.
Supporters earlier announced they would assist Gold Coast Satanists in reclaiming their “demonic stronghold” over the Home of the Arts after comments from Mayor Tom Tate’s spiritual adviser Sue Baynes.
The Bulletin last month revealed his employment of a spiritual adviser and creation of a prayer room inside City Hall was dividing councillors and staff. Some said they had been blindsided.
Ms Baynes claims she told Mr Tate there was a “demonic stronghold” at the arts centre and after a “spiritual battle” she boasted about displacing “the powers of darkness” that had inhabited HOTA.
A Noosa Temple of Satan Facebook post says: “Dear Heathens – we bring you great news.
“Brother Trevor, our advocatus diaboli, has secured the Gold Coast Council’s new prayer room for 10.30am this coming Friday 22 April.
“He will be leading us in a short prayer, seeking Satan’s presence at our Green Bridge ritual the following day. If you can be in attendance please DM (direct mail) us.
“Those in attendance shall receive a special blessing from our Lord. The appropriate dress code shall apply.”
The group’s lawyer Trevor Bell said he submitted an enquiry via the council website on Wednesday, April 6 at 4.36pm asking to book the “prayer room” for April 22.
He did not identify himself as representing the Temple in the online submission.
He said a woman called him directly the next day to confirm.
“On Thursday (last week) she said the room was available for booking and that would be fine,” she said.
“She said she would need the name that the booking would be under and also for security reasons she would need the names of the people attending so she could issue a security pass.
“She indicated she would meet us at reception and escort us to the prayer room.
“I didn’t indicate (on the phone) it was the Noosa Temple of Satan.
“I subsequently emailed on Tuesday morning to say the booking would be under (Temple of Satan) and gave her the names of two adults and two children in addition to myself who would attend.
“That’s where we’re standing. She needed the details, I provided the details.
“I think I’ve got a booking and definitely she said the room was available so there’s no reason why we should be able to attend.”
The group’s leaders said the prayer room visit would start a weekend of “holy events of restoring our demonic stronghold and inviting back the powers of darkness”.
Members have been told “tea and scones” will be served after their meeting.
But leaders later added: “We will be planning an orgy of drinking and dancing at a Gold Coast nightclub after our Saturday ritual. May Satan richly bless you.”
In the lead-up to the gathering the spiritual leader of the Noosa Satanists, Brother Samael Demo-Gorgon, Robin Bristow, said he was appalled an employee of a secular government body would discriminate against Satanists.
“As Satanists, we venerate demons in much the same way that Christians venerate the Holy Spirit,” Mr Bristow said.
Mr Tate insisted no booking had ever been made by the Temple of Satan group.
He said council’s prayer room was not open to bookings from the general public and limited only to councillors and council staff.
Cr Tate has previously said the prayer room is open to the public.
“There is no booking. They’re based on the Sunshine Coast and if they have successfully kept people in the dark up there, that’s where they should stay,” he said.
“They have made their decision to go to hell, that’s their democratic right and enjoy your journey.
“We wouldn’t accept a booking from that kind of group because we have done a security assessment and bookings are only available for councillors and staff for security reasons.”
Cr Tate said he did find the controversy surrounding his spiritual adviser to be “astonishing”.
“It’s astonishing to me when you’re doing good in the essence of people praying for each other, quiet time and staff have internal problems and have someone to talk to,” he said.
“For people to say there’s something wrong here on a two-day a week mayoral appointment, I find it interesting that there is so much concern.
“Where is the controversy? There are 3800 employees, there are multiple council advisers yet this one attracts controversy.”
Originally published as Satanists claim success in returning demonic spirits to HOTA arts precinct
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