Just a few days after Netflix’s “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” remake, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” aired, the show garnered criticism from none other than the Satanic Temple itself. Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the temple, said the show’s use of the goat-headed deity Baphomet, which appears several times as a statue of the “Dark Lord” inside Sabrina’s school in the show, is a violation of the Satanic Temple’s copyrighted design of the statue and depiction of the deity.

Greaves said his concern focuses mainly on how the Satanic Temple could be associated with evil characters from the show, stating that the Satanic Temple “holds to the basic principle that undue suffering is bad,” rather than promoting evil. 

The suit against Netflix has been filed in United States District Court in Manhattan, asking for $50 million for each alleged infraction: copyright infringement, trademark violation and unjustness to the business’ reputation. The temple also asks for an injunction against further distribution of the show with any imagery of the statue included.

The statue was designed approximately five years ago and is an interpretation of a design from occultist Eliphas Levi from the mid-19th century. The temple has co-opted the design and used it for its own representation of faith, making some changes to the design that it argues has only been reproduced in the “Sabrina” version of the statue. Greaves said he is distressed to see the statue be taken over by the plot of a TV show, as it took over a year to create and cost nearly $100,000.

“It makes you feel that all the work you’ve done can be totally eclipsed by this mega-giant media company,” Greaves said to The New York Times.

The Satanic Temple’s lawyer, Bruce Lederman, said to The New York Times that the temple is also concerned that, when the temple attempts to use the statue in other protests, people may instead associate it with “Sabrina,” rather than the temple.

The Satanic Temple has filed multiple high-profile lawsuits in years past, including against the state of Oklahoma for erecting a 10 Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol in 2015. The temple had, during the term which the 10 Commandments stood on state capitol grounds, placed their Baphomet statue, called “Baphomet with Children,” in close proximity to the monument. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled the 10 Commandments monument could not stay on state lands.

The Satanic Temple, contrary to its common perception, is not a Satan-worshipping religion, but rather are more akin to an atheist organization with shared core principles, as well as being active in the political sphere.  “We do not promote a belief in a personal Satan,” reads the temple’s webpage. “To embrace the name of Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions.”

The Satanic Temple has also recently begun the “Protect Children Project,” a program that advocates against corporal punishment in public schools. The program allows students to sign up and affirm their religious faith does not allow for physical punishment and then communicates that information to the administration of that school, effectively preventing the administration from allowing further corporal punishment of students.

Image from @LucienGreaves via Twitter