Members of the Satanic Temple made a failed attempt to counter a Planned Parenthood protest this weekend by presenting a bizarre street theater that was riddled with incoherent messages.

According to an op-ed appearing on LifeSiteNews, Dr. Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro Life Society and a Women of Grace® board member, was participating in the third nationwide Planned Parenthood protest this weekend which drew nearly 10,000 people into the streets to picket 228 abortion clinics across the country.

Dr. Miller was part of a protest taking place outside a clinic on Cass Avenue in Detroit when members of the Satanic Temple pulled up in a black van.

“ . . . [A] menagerie of hideously-costumes actors tumbled out,” Dr. Miller explains. “They assembled themselves in an open parking space on the street . . . . Many of the Satanist performers wore full baby-face rubber masks and were naked except for Pampers diapering. They flung talcum powder into the air, from baby bottles they squirted formula at each other and on themselves—flailing about on the pavement with baby cries and whimpers. Others were dressed in mock religious garb—very poorly conceived. For example it appeared that one demonstrator attempted to look like a nun as she wore something that simulated a long black veil and a white habit. Another Satanist wore a black suit and silver cross, perhaps hoping to look like a priest. The fake nun whipped the babies, other babies whipped themselves, the priest figure knelt on the ground and acted as if praying, sometimes shoving a pacifier into one of the wailing baby’s mouth. Then someone else brushed the bodies of the babies with gold paint. The specta cle lasted about 10 minutes.”

If they were trying to convey a message, it was totally lost on the observers because of their convoluted messaging.

“ . . . [I]f this was a message in support of abortion and aimed to deride the pro-life cause, the message was essentially incoherent,” Dr. Miller said. “One of the concerns of this group is that respect for the right to life of the unborn is religiously-based ideology illegitimately imposed upon those who don’t agree with it. But if that’s the concern they wished to express, the message never got though. If a nun is whipping babies this seems to communicate that it is the Church and those who believe in God who persecute the unborn which does not comport with the actual facts.”

She was also confused by the theater which depicted babies crying, wailing and suffering pain which actually conveyed sympathy for the plight of unborn children which is contrary to what Satanists believe.

Dr. Miller reached out to one of the Satanists to inquire about the meaning of the theater. The woman explained that they were objecting to the pro-life fetish with fetuses and how we exalt the fetus over the woman and her right to self-determination. This confrontation can be seen at the end of the YouTube video below.

Prior to arriving at the Detroit site, the satanists also tried to stage their act at a protest outside a clinic in Ferndale, Michigan. However, they encountered a Eucharistic procession and the recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet which derailed their plans.

“The Satanists endured 10 minutes of the Eucharistic Presence, brought by Fr. Roman, while we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy,” explained Barb Yagley, one of the pro-life organizers. “Their street theatre was delayed until the Eucharistic procession ended at Planned Parenthood at 9:43am. The public in Ferndale did not get to see this stunt. The whole troupe left after about 5 minutes of their theatre as we prayed the sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.”

For the Temple, it wasn’t a very good day.

“The Satanists’ lack of coherency may actually itself stem from their allegiance to the Father of Lies,” Dr. Miller writes. “Symbols and images are things of the earth that express an objective meaning, indeed they are created by God who imbued them with an order, truth and beauty—but in the hands of the enemies of God they become convoluted, twisted and distorted—those symbols of communication lose their sense. . . . [W]hen imagery is placed into the hands of those opposed to God’s order, chaos ensues, as if the Satanists simply are unable to apply symbolic imagery to the service of communication. In the end, it’s all convoluted. All that’s left is the hideous shock value—and not much else.”

The fact that The Satanic Temple feels the need to counter pro-life demonstrations is proof is a testimony to the effectives of the pro-life cause, Dr. Miller says.

“They recognize our efforts as a threat to legalized abortion and the abortion industry, and this is what motivates the obvious elaborate effort that goes into their street theater—however poorly conceived.”

The mere fact that Satanists are on the same side as Planned Parenthood speaks volumes regarding the evil and injustice of abortion.

“Satan is a murderer and a liar. Planned Parenthood clinics are his temples where his demonic rituals take place. The fact that Satanists ally themselves with Planned Parenthood should at least be an embarrassment to this organization—and if they really understood what it meant—members of Planned Parenthood would get out now! Pray that they do.”