Chelsea Clinton Says She Does Not Worship Satan, Is a Methodist, After Church of Satan Tweets
Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton has denied online accusations that she worships Satan after she wished the Church of Satan a Happy New Year, affirming that she is a Methodist.
"Oh goodness gracious. We can be civil, cheerful, respectful to & friends with people who don't share our religious beliefs. Sometimes, we even marry them. I'm a Methodist & my husband is Jewish, thank you for asking," Clinton wrote in a Twitter message on Wednesday.
The tweet was in response to a now-deleted post by user Rhonda Kazmierski, who wrote earlier in the day: "At least @ChelseaClinton is open about worshiping #Satan. #ChurchOfSatan If only @HillaryClinton could be as honest."
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Clinton raised eyebrows when she exchanged a couple of tweets with The Church of Satan account earlier, wishing the organization a "Happy New Year."
The Church of Satan on Wednesday responded to the controversy by stating in a tweet that like Clinton, its members also do not worship Satan, despite the name.
"Like we stated before, if someone is polite to us, we respond in kind. We've been very courteous with folks on the other side of the political spectrum who approached us the same. That this is shocking news is fascinating in and of itself," the Church of Satan wrote.
In another post criticizing the stir that has been raised by Clinton's initial happy New Year tweet, it added: "We are atheists. It says much about the current state of discourse when people being nice to each other causes so much ignorant outrage."
Clinton stirred controversy in another incident back in August, when she claimed that churches do not have statues of the devil, but was corrected by users online.
"The story of Lucifer-who rebelled against God is part of many Christians' traditions. I've never been in a church with a Lucifer statue," Clinton said in a tweet at the time, in context of the debate over whether confederate statues and monuments should be removed in America.
A number of the responses she received to her claim pointed out that there are indeed many churches, especially Catholic cathedrals, that do have depictions of Lucifer.
"Wait most of the cathedrals in New York have at least one depiction of Lucifer. Just saying your brilliant though," wrote Wesly Alvarez, an artist and art educator living in Miami, Florida. "Riverside Cathedral and St. John the Devine come to mind specifically. He was a bid deal in neogothic movement apparently. #artgeek," he added.
Clinton responded to Alvarez's tweet with the message: "Thank you Wesly for the correction, I had missed them clearly & will look when next in each. Still, do any church statues celebrate Lucifer?"
Back in February 2016, Clinton, who campaigned for her mother during the latter's presidential candidacy run, revealed that she left the Baptist church at a young age and joined the Methodist Church because she supports abortion rights.
Clinton, who supports the pro-choice movement and Planned Parenthood, said at the time: "I was raised in a Methodist church and I left the Baptist church before my dad did, because I didn't know why they were talking to me about abortion when I was 6 in Sunday school — that's a true story."
