Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued over the weekend that a Satanist holiday display should be banned from the Florida state Capitol where a Christian nativity had been erected because they did not practice a "legitimate religion."
Last week, the Satanic Temple won the right to place a display of an angel burning in hell alongside other holiday displays in the Florida Capitol building after officials initially rejected it, saying the Satanic message was "grossly offensive during the holiday season.”
"I'm assuming that there aren't a ton of Satanists in Tallahassee," Carlson told Bible Based Church Pastor Darrick McGhee on Saturday. "I'm assuming there really aren't any at all, and this is purely an attempt to stick a finger in the eye of Christians in Florida."
"So the rationale here is that Satanism is legitimate religion," the Fox News host complained.
McGhee explained that the Satanic Temple had met the guidelines set by Florida’s Department of Management Services.
"They must be pretty stupid guidelines," Carlson quipped, later adding that Satanist should have chosen any of the "51 other weeks in the year."
"Just to be totally clear, you would not have an objection if a Jewish group or a Muslim group or a Baha'i group or something legitimate other religion wanted a display in the state capitol, would you?" Carlson wondered.
"No objection whatsoever," McGhee agreed.
"I mean, this is just an inability to draw reasonable distinctions between reality and what is a pretty offensive prank," Carlson concluded.
