Satanist charged with desecrating grave of Westboro pastor's mom

The owner of a cemetery where Satanists allegedly desecrated the grave of the mother of Westboro Baptist Church's founder said he has filed formal charges and expects police to arrest the officiating dark priest.

"There is a warrant for the arrest for the leader of that group that has been issued," William Arlinghaus, owner of the Magnolia Cemetery in Meridian, Mississippi, told WTOK-TV.

Lucian Greaves, the founder of New York's Satanic Temple, officiated two "Pink Masses" July 14 over the grave of controversial pastor Fred Phelp's mother, Catherine Idalette Johnson. Two pairs of same-sex couples kissed over Johnson's gravestone as Greaves wore an "ostentatious" set of horns and mumbled ominous incantations.

Westboro Baptist is a Kansas-based anti-homosexual church with a reputation for protesting at the funerals of dead soldiers with oversized signs that read "God Hates Fags."

In an interview with Philly.com Wednesday, Greaves said the idea to perform a ceremony came to him after Westboro threatened to protest at the funerals of the Boston Marathon bombing victims. The Satanists planned to meet the protesters in Boston. Westboro failed to show up, however, but said they were there "in spirit."

Greaves said a ritual to turn the ghost of Phelp's mother into a lesbian was an appropriate way to meet the Westboro Baptists "in spirit."

Surprisingly, Greaves said he doesn't believe in life after death.

"But I do believe that -  because of Phelp's beliefs - now he's obligated to believe his mother is gay in the afterlife," he said.

Greaves said nine satanic church members from New York and other states descended on Mississippi for the ceremony.  He insists that no physical damage was done.

"Desecration, by all the legal definitions I've read, usually involves digging up the grave," he said. "But we left it as we found it."

The charges have sparked a huge amount of interest in the Satanic Temple. The news of the gravesite ceremony was very slow to get out at first," he said. "But now it's really gaining momentum. They're threatening to arrest me. What it has done is rally support behind us. It keeps snowballing."

Finding the site wasn't difficult. He did his research, Googled it, and saw there didn't appear to be a fence surrounding it.  A cemetery map led him from there.

Following the ceremonies, Greaves and the other participants celebrated by going for a drink.

"We went to a bar and the bartender asked what we were up to," Greaves said. "As the rest of the folks tried to think up cover stories, I told him the truth.

"The bartender took a moment's pause and he laughed out loud, slapped me on the back and told me he didn't believe a single word I told him.

"That's the guy I wonder about right now."

The Mississippi operation wasn't the first time the Satanic Temple has made national headlines.

Last year, they rallied in Tallahassee in support of Gov. Rick Scott as he signed a bill allowing "inspirational messages" in Florida public schools.  The law made it possible for students to pray.

"A lot of people complained that this was advancing a Christian agenda," Greaves said. "We didn't see that way at all because the law applies to all religions. We said he was taking a bold stand by creating an environment where children could now safely learn about Satanism in the classroom."

Greaves said he was "disappointed" that Mississippi authorities had decided to prosecute him for desecration of a grave. The bright side, he said, was that police initially threatened to charge him with trespassing, indecent exposure and criminal mischief.

"They looked and saw the charges didn't quite fit, then they started rethinking it," Greaves said.

Greaves does have one regret.

"We certainly didn't want to frighten the good people of Meridian, Mississippi. They were nice and polite," he said. "I'm sorry if we caused them any consternation about roving Satanist hordes. But I just want them to know they, the roving hordes, weren't there -- and they never were.

"The reality of these things is far more mundane than what's implied," he said.

He's not kidding.

He hopes interest in the Mississippi escapade might help the Satanic Temple raise enough money for its next project: Sponsoring a short stretch of the road to perdition through the New York Department of Transportation's Adopt-a-Highway program.