That got me interested in it, I wanted to learn more about it.
I ordered a copy of the Satanic Bible written by Anton LaVey.I’ve read like half this book so far. It has actual morals where christianity doesn’t. It’s atheistic, It’s about individualism, not the worship of Satan. It’s about treating yourself as the King/Queen that you are. It’s about materialism and personal gratification. It gives you motivation to achieve your goals.
How ironic, that what christianity would consider an enemy, is a religion that motivates you. Satanism uses Satan as a symbol of rebellion against christianity. There’s ton of symbolism and psychodrama in Satanism. They do mention rituals but it’s not about sacrificing babies or drinking blood. They are all symbolic, a form of therapy for yourself.
I haven’t gotten deep into the ritual chapters of the book but I’m pretty excited to do so, this book has been a blast to read so far.
What do you think about Satanism? You think Christianity is simply afraid because of a religion name and a 3 digit number that has nothing to do with Satanism?
I’m a Nontheistic luciferian and as far as Satanism specific to this sect you’re just barely scratching the surface. At this point I would say they are now quite involved in active protest against the church something i don’t necessarily agree with. But it works and it’s a good practice and moral compass to a reality stripped of falsehood.
Well yes practicing LaVey satanism is quite a political movement against the Christian church as there are “rituals” you do that directly call out Christian bias and clean you of those thoughts and behaviors. LaVay satanists have performed these rituals in front of churches as a Sign of protest.
@Matthew, Challenging what an organization considers illegal, ill-advised, detrimental, or exclusionary doesn’t make it “a political movement.” If that were the case, then even, say, the phone company would be a political movement as they too engage in challenges via political channels.
I could be wrong but i think the days of satanic panic and people being afraid of satanism and marilyn manson ended in the early 2000s.
At least in a lot of the world, people wont be thinking this person is going to corrupt the children and do evil things, itll be more like i bet this person spends a lot of time on reddit arguing about religion. Combined with any other negetive atheist stereotype you can imagine.
Just from looking at those satanic statements it seems theres a lot of gratification and indulgence talk.
Those things are ok because you dont want to live your life full of abstainence and miss out on pleasure, but you dont want to be sat online all day eating cake either.
If it feels good do it, as a philosophy is ok for a day or a few hours but i think it takes its toll.
The moral panic known as the “satanic panic” got underway in 1980, largely due to the publication of the book Michelle Remembers, which was written by a shrink who invented the now-discredited “recovered memory therapy” which was then used by himself and others in some 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of alleged satanic rituals being performed primarily in child daycare settings throughout the 1980s and 90s.
You’re correct that it receded into the woodwork by the turn of the century but it hasn’t entirely died out. The NY Times revisited the whole phenomenon just 4 years ago and it’s a cautionary tale for a lot of what has happened in recent years under superficially different guises, such as the basement-less pizza parlor in Washington DC which supposedly had a basement in which Democrats were sexually abusing children.
Here’s a link to the article (doesn’t appear to be behind a firewall). Read it and weep if you want more background.
I’ve considered myself to be a non-theistic Satanist as much as I am an Atheist. I display my contempt for christianity on a daily basis, whether it’s on a concert shirt, the windows of my truck, or the inverted crucifix that I occasionally wear around my neck. And I’m a member of TST as well.
Satanic imagery is used to mock and/or humiliate their beliefs, and it’s very effective, they can’t stand the fact that someone would dare to defy their imaginary friend in the sky. I really don’t care what other people think.
Satanism is another form of atheism IMO, and if believers don’t like it, tough shit.
Yes i fear i misspoke here as you’re right that they don’t frame themselves as strictly political, it would be safer to say they simply do things that strongly oppose Christianity.
I would say it has a lot to do with the name and practices like you stated my earlier remarks I retract. As a luciferian our views hold differences but some similarities this is a video that explains this by MorgueOfficial
In theory, yes. In practice … I think it tends to produce more heat than light.
What fundamentalist Christians generally imagine Satanism to consist of has very little to do with The Satanic Temple or the Church of Satan and I guess this “Luciferian” business is yet another, similar variant. I have seen the Satanic Temple use this misunderstanding to deliberately provoke fear and loathing in fundamentalists, and it’s effective in certain contexts, such as, getting them to back down from putting a statue of Moses in the local county courthouse, because of their deeply held superstitions about a statue of Baphomet are so strong that they think it will open a portal to another dimension or something.
But there’s a corresponding danger, that Christians who have their fantasies about being engaged in a titanic struggle with the Forces of Evil™ reinforced, are then motivated to double down on their wet dream of creating a American theocracy to counter it. It’s a little like how it was, for awhile, unfashionable to be loud and proud about your various bigotries, and political liberals thought they had it on the ropes. When all that really happened was that it was driven underground to slow-boil its way through their brains, nursing deep resentments, feelings of persecution and control (mostly projected by themselves, but still, here we are).
IDK … I’m not 100% convinced direct / deliberate confrontation that isn’t absolutely necessary, is always a good idea.
But if that’s your thing, by all means, you do you. It takes all kinds of angles of approach to attack bad ideas. I can’t say it’s wrong or bad, per se. Sometimes maybe it’s less than strategic and wise, but … maybe I’m also a pantywaist about it and creating problems on my end, for all I know. I’ve always seen the Satanic Temple (the group I’m most familiar with) as a strategic ally, even if it approaching everything as a trolling opportunity isn’t something I’m personally comfortable with.
I’m just being who I am, the only atheist in the family surrounded by devout believers. This isn’t anything new, my family and I have agreed to disagree on the subject of religion after decades of arguing over it. I go about my business like everyone else, I’ve never confronted anyone. Why would I? Anyone who wants, or needs to know what my views of christianity are don’t need to do anything other than look at my person, or my truck’s windows.
I’ve been displaying my contempt for religion for 40+ years. I forgot to mention that I’m also heavily tattooed, with several occult, satanic, and anti-christian symbols and latin quotations, mixed in with a lot of Halloween imagery.
I also don’t agree with everything that The Satanic Temple does in terms of intentionally provoking fundamentalists, but it’s fun watching their reactions.
@MrDawn Satanism is an atheistic religion. Yes there are more forms of Satanism, including theistic Satanism but LaVey Satanism is atheistic. And that’s what i was referring to in this post. LaVey Satanists don’t worship Satan.
Another way to look at it is that Satanists by and large don’t believe in a “personal” devil in the same way that significant numbers of Christians don’t truly believe in a personal god. If you think life is personal and directed by supernatural beings then you will have very different views than if you think otherwise.
Non-theistic Satanism is basically a more extreme form of atheism. We don’t worship anyone or anything, what you see is what you get. Most Satanists are atheists, but not all atheists are Satanists.
Satan/Lucifer is used as a metaphor for anything/everything that’s in opposition to the christian faith’s belief systems. The pentagram and the inverted crucifix are symbols that are used to mock christianity specifically. They’re reminders that their opinions aren’t shared by everyone, and it lets those around me know that I stand in opposition to their mind control preachings that begin as soon as a child is old enough to understand and trust the adults who spoon feed them their bullshit fables and stories.
I’d rather think for myself than be told what I’m supposed to think and feel, and that this life, the one life that we know we have, isn’t just a practice one before our real life of eternity with our loved ones and god begins in heaven.
Despite coming from Christian fundamentalism, I tend to see the problem to have a more general scope – to me, religious faith, whether it’s Abrahamic or Hindu or Buddhist or Taoist or whatever, is a failed epistemology that leads to all sorts of michief in the world (though it doesn’t necessarily HAVE to in every in-duh-vidual case). So I don’t see myself in opposition to Christianity specifically so much as to magical / non-critical thinking generally. Which makes Satanism a little too narrow for my taste, although in practice, in the US, I can see where it could be a useful framing, especially if you like the role of active provocateur and want to concentrate on the primary manifestation of religiosity in the US. There’s certainly nothing wrong with it. Just not everyone’s cuppa.
