By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Governor Kim Reynolds says a display from the Satanic Temple of Iowa will stay in the Capitol in Des Moines this month, but she’s asking Iowans to join her in prayers focused on the nativity scene nearby.

The Satanic Temple display features a statue with a ram’s head surrounded by electronic candles. The group got a permit to put up the display in December. A Republican lawmaker called on the governor to have it removed. Reynolds, in a written statement issues yesterday morning, said she finds the display “objectionable,” but the governor said “in a free society the best response to objectionable speech is more speech.”

Reynolds encouraged Iowans to join her today in “praying over the Capitol,” where a nativity scene is also on display. Reynolds said the nativity “represents the true reason for the season.”

Reynolds joined a large crowd in the Capitol for a midday prayer service. The crowd gathered around a Christmas tree and nativity scene that are in the center of the Capitol’s first floor rotunda.