The Satanic Temple doesn't get a lot of positive press these days.

"We get death threats all the time," Doug Mesner, who co-founded the Temple in 2012, told me over the phone Friday morning. But this week, the Temple, which has more than 40,000 registered members, became the focus of an unusual outpouring of public praise from across the country. On Wednesday, the Temple's local Minneapolis branch posted the following message on its Facebook page and website:

"If there is anyone in the Minneapolis area who is Muslim and afraid to leave their home out of fear for some kind of backlash, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would be glad to escort you where you need to go without advertising our presence–just big dudes walking you where you need to be."

The statement quickly became national news. People shared it like crazy on social media. Some hated it, others misunderstood it, but more than anything, people praised it. Preconceived notions about the name of the organization aside, it seemed like an honest gesture. Still, I wanted to be sure nothing sinister was going on here. So, I called up Mesner, whose phone number, it should be noted, includes three sixes in a row.

"The sentiment came from a sincere place of empathetic compassion," Mesner said. "They [the Minneapolis chapter] were concerned about the wellbeing of people in their community." Mesner comes across as a calm and thoughtful guy. He considers himself a left-leaning Libertarian. "We want to stand by any demonized out-group and use our resources to help. If Muslim Americans, who aren't certainly invested in any violent behavior, are being treated poorly, we have nothing but empathy and support for them."

And while the members of that chapter meant every word of that post, Mesner has since couched the offer because, well, he said his organization should leave policing to the police. "I just don't want to be offering a service that we can't follow through on," he said.

So, the Satanic Temple likely won't be acting as vigilantes for public safety in your neighborhood, but the gesture to Muslims has already started a conversation. And this, Mesner told me, is really the intention of The Satanic Temple: to inspire dialogue about religious freedom.

No, they don't actually worship Satan. The Satanic Temple is an openly atheistic religion that Mesner says does not advocate for any supernatural belief. Really, the "Satanic" term is only there because they have the right to use it, as does any other religion. They're the same people who tried to put the satanic statue in Oklahoma next to the statue of the Ten Commandments. When that failed, they put it up in Detroit.

"These are very difficult topics for people to get into," Mesner said. "We really need to uphold the values that give us religious freedom." Calling the Paris attacks "horrific acts of religious extremism," Mesner said events like this make it more important than ever to keep the conversation about religious freedom open. "I really do feel that any time something like this happens it does scream out for discussion."

Unfortunately, the wake of the Paris attacks has seen incidents of Islamophobia, specifically from a number of leading Republican presidential hopefuls. On Friday, as I spoke with Mesner, Donald Trump told a reporter that he would "certainly implement" a mandatory database to track Muslims in the United States. Trump and others who hope to one day run this country favor stripping the rights from 12 million non-violent Muslims in the U.S. to appease unfounded national fears.

"Unfortunately, lack of nuance and the prospect of a one-solution cure to all of the world's ills are all too popular with a significant portion of the American voting public," Mesner noted. "Clearly, 'Muslim' is not synonymous with 'terrorist.' We can disagree with one another, we can even mock each other's beliefs, but hopefully we can ultimately engage in a productive dialogue that addresses our differences. Preemptive violence, restrictions, or prejudice based on irrational assumptions is every bit of the problem and never a solution." And there you have it, straight from the Satanist's mouth.

Matt Miller Culture Editor Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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