Jamie Smith – who describes herself as a 40-something “attorney and mother who cares about civil rights” – wrote for HuffPost Personal that last week’s death of the 87-year-old liberal judge drove her to join the Satanic Temple, not out of grief but out of fear.

“I fear that American citizens are inching closer to living in a theocracy or dictatorship and that the checks meant to prevent this from happening are close to eroding beyond repair,” Smith wrote. “Our democracy has become so fragile that the loss of one of the last guardians of common sense and decency in government less than two months before a pivotal election has put our civil and reproductive rights in danger like never before.”

And, so, I have turned to Satanism.

The phrase “Satanic Temple” quickly began to trend on Thursday, with Twitter promoting Smith’s piece as “a conversation starter.” 

Conservatives pointed to Smith’s article as proof that liberals are insane Satan-worshipers, and that the upcoming election is “a battle of good versus evil.”

Liberals, on the other hand, argued that the Satanic Temple doesn’t actually worship Satan but is an "excellent group" intended to be secular mockery of Christians and consists of atheists fighting for freedom from religion.