In a press release issued on January 15, The Satanic Temple demanded an apology from Fox News guest Bernard McGuirk who had said Satanists should be executed right next to their monument in Oklahoma City.

“They should be able to put the statue up, and then they should be shot right next to it, and then we take it down,” said McGuirk.

Lawyers for The Satanic Temple said that such incitement to violence is not only reckless but also criminal and it was highly irresponsible of Fox News to broadcast such a debate, and in turn, advocate the murder of American citizens based on their religious beliefs.

“Our client requests that the Fox News Network immediately issue The Satanic Temple an apology for broadcasting a call for the murder of its members, who simply desire to be treated equally with every other religion in this country. In addition, they would like to see a public reprimand of Bernard McGuirk,” they said.

During a business show on January 9, the invited panelists started discussing how the monument proposed by The Satanic Temple is anti-Christian and thus bound to promote evil. Lucien Graves, spokesperson of The Satanic Temple said that his organization has taken great offense to the way the panelists characterized it.

“Even the most basic and cursory perusal of our website could have served to correct these panelists. It is unconscionable that a news panel would express opinions without doing any research. Ours is a philosophy that is meant to enrich lives and encourage benevolence. It is reprehensible that a nationally televised commentator could call for our execution regarding any item of disagreement, much less based upon entirely imagined presumptions,” he said.