Colo. Satanist Wants Theft of 'Vote for Satan' Sign Declared a Hate Crime
Luigi Bellavite, a member of the Church of Satan in Colorado, thinks police have wrongfully charged suspected perpetrators with theft after his "Vote for Satan" sign was stolen from outside his home.
Bellavite's sign was hanging next to an American flag in his yard before it was taken in an act that the Satanist considers a hate crime. Although local police responded to the theft at Bellavite's Mountain View home, the man explained why he felt another charge should have been filed.
"If it was the Star of David, absolutely it would be a hate crime," he said in a KMGH-TV news report. "There are such double standards that some religions and some ideas are protected and others are not. That's why I'm (talking to the media)."
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However, some of Bellavite's neighbors also spoke to the media about some of the decorations in the yard belonging to him and his wife Angie, who also belongs to the Church of Satan. Although the couple lost their "Vote for Satan" sign, their yard still features an inverted cross, fake spiders and skulls and mannequins who are dressed up as witches and devils.
The display has made some neighbors weary of the Bellavites, including Kathy Vallejos, who told KMGH that she crosses the street instead of walking directly past their yard.
"It depends on the kind of feeling that you have in you," Vallejos said.
While Bellevite said he doesn't care about the cost of the sign, he does believe that damaging his property was a hateful act.
"It only cost $20," he said. "I don't care about that. I care about somebody coming with a knife, on my front porch, and deliberately damaging what's mine."
Luigi Bellavite, a member of the Church of Satan in Colorado, thinks police have wrongfully charged suspected perpetrators with theft after his "Vote for Satan" sign was stolen from outside his home.
"I worry about them," the neighbor said. "And I worry about us as neighbors."
Despite the name, the Church of Satan, founded in the 1960s, refutes any belief in the devil or supernatural entities; its ethos is carnal self-indulgence.
