A satanic priest, who is also a registered sex offender, will be at Lawton Public Library signing, what he calls, the handbook to worshiping the devil.
Adam Daniels, the author of the book, "Ahrimani Enlightenment," will sign books and answer questions on October 27 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.
We posted news of this event on Facebook, and it didn't take long before people expressed their outrage that a satanic reading and book signing will happen where children are frequent visitors, but not everyone was against it.
"I don't want my kids exposed to either one. The fact that he is a sex offender should keep him out legally. And as for me and my family, we do not buy books written by satanic authors, and do not support them coming to our community. This is exactly what our kids don't need," Mary Miller posted on Facebook in regard to the event.
“I mean, freedom of religion, right? Everyone is allowed to have their beliefs. You start banning one, well it's only fair you ban all. Not one person is above the next despite your beliefs," Jessica O’Neal said via Facebook post.
Daniels is well aware of the controversy, but what may surprise you is what he says he expects to get from his visit to Lawton.
"Create a tolerance and to educate people, so that when they walk away they know we are not who they say we are," Daniels said.
Daniels grew up a Christian and says that being rejected from other religions is what led him to devil worship. He says he is focused on teaching others to release their inner beast with what he calls his “how-to guide to worship the devil.”
"Religion built around the natural human animal that allows it to express its needs, wants and desires without a religious dogma," Daniels said.
"To hear they are having someone like that here, I’m not happy about it,” Megan Butler said, mother of three and library patron.
Butler, who is among the majority we heard from, doesn't want Daniels here. Onreka Johnson was particularly upset over the decision to use the library for the signing event.
"When you’re exposing your ideas to young children and it’s not something that they should be exposed to at this time, because they are still learning and absorbing things,” Johnson, a library patron, said
Assistant City Manager Jim Russell says the City of Lawton cannot discriminate against any patron or author under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
"Yeah, it would be against the First Amendment right. If you’re going to let one, you have to let all. And if they're going to start doing censorship, they are going to censor my book, then they definitely better be censoring the Bible because the Bible has a lot worse stuff than mine," Daniels said.
Daniels wanted to make clear that his sex offender status stems from an encounter he had with a 27-year-old woman when he was working at a prison. The library will make sure one of their workers is with Daniels at all times during the signing, and they insist the event will be safe.
