Devil is in the details: The Satanic Temple congregates in Baltimore

Bridget Byrne, The Baltimore Sun on May 3, 2026

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BALTIMORE — “Hail Satan!” Roughly 400 members of The Satanic Temple chanted in unison at the Satanic Revival in Mobtown Ballroom on Saturday.

Surprisingly, it turns out that The Satanic Temple does not believe Satan is real. Founded in 2012, the organization does not believe in the existence of the supernatural and instead embraces Satan as a symbol of rebellion against what it considers arbitrary authority.

Over the two-day event, attendees, mostly clad in a gothlike aesthetic, enjoyed live music and listened to speeches from temple leaders. A line stretched around the block before the doors opened Saturday.

“(The Satanic Revival) is a gathering to share knowledge, share what we’ve been working on, highlight different achievements and victories. And then also just to be in community with everyone and have fun,” the event’s lead organizer, Eliphaz Costus, said.

According to the temple’s official website, its core beliefs emphasize reason, empathy and a commitment to knowledge, encouraging people to act with compassion and respect. They stress bodily autonomy, aligning beliefs with scientific understanding and taking responsibility for mistakes.

The Satanic Temple is a recognized religious organization that often engages in legal and political advocacy, including campaigns focused on reproductive rights, religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In Oklahoma, its legal challenge led to the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordering the Ten Commandments monument removed, finding it unconstitutional.

Their efforts to protest the Bladensburg Peace Cross, a 40-foot-tall cross on public land, inspired Costus to join the temple.

Costus, a Baltimore native, helps organize The Protect Children Project, which offers support for children experiencing mental or physical abuse in school through the use of solitary confinement, restraints or corporal punishment.

Satanic Good Works, one of the temple’s campaigns, raised more than $34,000 in donations for food banks last year when SNAP benefits were in jeopardy. This week’s event coincides with The Satanic Temple’s second annual blood drive.

“We chose the name the Satanic Temple for a reason, and it is meaningful to us,” said Nicole Ballard, who leads Satanic Good Works. “I would really encourage people — and this probably goes for all religions — to take a couple minutes and learn a little bit about it before you jump to some weird conclusion.”

“Our first tenet of having empathy and compassion for all living creatures in accordance with reason … what that means to me is helping your community, helping people in need, if you have the capability to do that, seeing where the need is and enacting projects that will have a positive effect on that,” Ballard said.

Still, The Satanic Temple regularly clashes with other religious groups. An online petition from The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, a group that opposes what it describes as attacks on traditional religious values, lobbied the venue to cancel the event. The petition had 23,110 signatures as of Saturday.

“No words can describe how evil this is. Satan has no place in the public square,” the petition states.

The petition’s organizers could not be reached for comment. There were some protesters on Friday, according to Costus, but on Saturday, there were no signs of any demonstrators.

“They were across the street and doing their thing, and that’s fine. We support people’s right to express themselves, even if it’s in opposition to us,” Costus said.

The original plan was to host the revival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., but temple leaders worried about security after the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September 2025, Costus said.

With hired security in place, Costus and Ballard said the group felt safe in Baltimore. Inside, speakers addressed a cheering crowd on a variety of topics, including experiences being transgender, journeys to find sobriety and advocating for women’s reproductive rights.

“Everybody can show up just however they want, as themselves … we’re all really, in my experience, really friendly, warm, supportive people,” Costus said.

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