A group known as the Satanic Temple have unveiled a 9 foot tall, one ton weighing bronze statue of Baphomet, a monument to Satan, in Detroit.

The statue is of a winged Baphomet with a human body and a goat’s head, with statues of a boy and a girl standing in poses of adoration on either side.

The Satanic Temple initially planned to do the unveiling in public, but after receiving threats from some Christians, had to carry out the ceremony clandestinely.

Precautions included keeping the location of the unveiling of its 9-foot-tall monument secret until the last moment, when it emailed the information to ticket holders.

And in one last precaution, which shows the group’s great sense of humour, participants had to sign a contract saying that they are giving their souls away to Satan. This was intended to weed out undercover Christians who planned to disrupt the ceremony, reports The Raw Story.

“I agree that by signing this document under any name, given or adopted, actual or pseudonymous, I am hereby avowing my soul to Satan (aka Abbadon,aka Lucifer, aka Beelzebub, aka The Antichrist),” the contract read.

“I do so knowing that He (aka The Fallen One, aka The Father of Lies) or any of His representatives may choose to collect my eternal soul at any time, with or without notice. I understand that my signature or mark representing any name, real or made up, upon these papers constitutes a lasting and eternal contract, and that there will be no further negotiations on the matter of my eternal soul.”

The Satanic Temple unveiled the one-ton statue at an industrial building near the Detroit River just before 11:30 p.m. local time as supporters cheered, “Hail Satan.”, reports Reuters

The statue of Baphomet was initially intended to be erected at the Oklahoma Capitol, as a counter to the Ten Commandments monument erected there. America’s constitution calls for separation of Church and State, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently ruled the location of the Ten Commandments monument as unconstitutional.

Many Christian groups in Detroit have protested the unveiling. “This unveiling will not happen in the City of Detroit on my watch,” Bishop Corletta Vaughn of the Holy Ghost Cathedral in Detroit told the Free Press at Saturday’s protest.

Another pastor, Reverend Dave Bullock, a pastor at Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church in Highland Park, Michigan, said “The last thing we need in Detroit is having a welcome home party for evil,”

What most people are missing is that the group is mainly a satirical one. The initial statue was to test the religious freedom laws, that if the state is not supposed to endorse any one religion, why does Christianity’s Ten Commandments have a place of honour at State Capitol’s?

So if a monument to one religion would be allowed, they feel one to Satan should also be allowed.