PHX Reporter

On the same day the Ariz. Senate Government Committee passed a bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), to prohibit satanic displays on public property, the Assistant Democrat Leader welcomed a group of Arizona satanists to the State Capitol.

“Today, members, we are graced with the presence of ministers and members of the Satanic Temple of Arizona,” said State Sen. Juan Mendez (D-Tempe) in remarks on the Senate floor today. “They are here today to confront the arbitrary, tyrannical authority of religious persecution that's scheduled for government committee later on today. 

“They're at the Capitol today to fight for the rights of their more than 12,000 members of their denomination,” said Mendez. “The temple practices non theistic satanism divorced from superstition without any belief in gods or devils.” 

Mendez was referring to Senate Bill 1279, which says that “Satanic memorials, statues, altars or displays or any other method of representing or honoring Satan may not be displayed on public property in this state.”

The Senate Government Committee passed the bill today on a Republican party-line vote of 5-1.

Mendez, the Assistant Minority Leader, represents Arizona State Senate District 8, and previously represented District 26 in the Ariz. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. His career includes working as a customer service associate for Fry’s Electronics, as a “community voice mail manager” for Community Voice Mail, and as a substitute teacher in Tempe Union High School District.

During a 2013 invocation in the Arizona House of Representatives, Mendez “acknowledged he is an atheist” and urged “legislators to look at each other” and “rather than bow their heads, and ‘celebrate our shared humanness.’” 

Bolick is one of ten cosponsors, all Republican, of SB 1279.

Bolick has represented Arizona’s 2nd State Senate District since August 2023, when she was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Advisors to fill the seat vacated by retiring State Sen. Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix).

She previously represented District 20 in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2019 to 2023, and formerly represented  Bolick also served on the Arizona State Board of Education’s Academic Standards Development Committee and was appointed to Arizona’s Early Childhood Education and Health Board by former Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.)

Bolick attended Syracuse University and received a master’s degree from American University. 

A native of Pittsburgh, Penn., Bolick lives in Phoenix with her husband.