Hi! I fail to see the best or worst of something.
Can’t say I agree. The Satanists I met. They revered Lucifer as a more righteous god. I don’t think the words Satanism or Atheism should ever be put in the same sentence because of Christians. It’s toxic because it confuses the wrong people and causes conflict. Did anyone not learn anything from the Satanic panic? It’s where a bunch of people got persecuted for Satanism when it had nothing to do with their beliefs. Like the West Memphis 3. Damian Echols was a pagan white witch who was wrongfully accused and convicted of a crime seen as Satanist to Christians. It’s bad enough that Christians get the 2 definitions confused because of Satanic Atheists. Those people are inviting witch hunts.
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To further add. Because of Satanic Atheists, I can’t tell Christians I’m an Atheist anymore because they’re like “oh, you’re a devil worshiper.” Just no. I have to tell them instead that I’m a non believer of all gods, demons, and don’t practice religion. For those who don’t know or understand, I live in the Bible belt. Try explaining this to a Christian and see how far you get. I don’t want them thinking I’m a devil worshiper out of fear for my life.
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I’m not fond of the idea of having a Christian lynch mob murder me over shit I don’t believe in or wrongfully convicted of a crime just because one Atheist group decided it would be funny to call themselves Satanists to troll them & poke the bear. Sorry not sorry. I understand that there are Non theist Satanists, but I don’t agree with putting the 2 words together just because of how nasty Christians can get.
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scary stuff 
Thing is. The Satanic Panic never went away. There’s 2 things you don’t talk about in Missouri or Arkansas. The KKK or Satanism. If you do, you’re inviting trouble and harassment. Christians already lop us Atheists in with the Satanists. It doesn’t matter, the 2 definitions just mean Satanism to them. I figured we would have learned from that with the Theists who come on here and still can’t comprehend what Atheism is. Throwing Satanism in front of it just validates to them that Atheism is Satanism. Who ever thought it was funny was causing problems for Atheists like me who don’t want Atheism any where near Satanism just because of the shit that went down in the 80’s and 90’s because of the panic and chaos that Satanism causes with Christians. Freedom of Religion isn’t going to be around forever. Satanic Atheists obviously didn’t pay attention to the Salem Witch Trials, The West Memphis 3, or anyone who was wrongfully convicted because they thought you worshiped Lucifer as your god, when you were just teasing them. Who’s teasing who now? Not funny when a joke ruins your life. Let Atheism be Atheism. Let Satanism stay in it’s own lane. Play it safe.
It’s definitely on its way out in the U.S.!
Anything not of God is said to be “of the devil” and I in lumping so much into that category they get very sloppy and sensationalist around it. “Of the devil” becomes “devil worship” becomes “satanism”. It is just one way to dehumanize their opponents – just demonize them, lol.
I grant you, not living in the Bible Belt, this just is a non-issue … but IN that part of the country, yes, you can and should fear for your personal safety.
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I would argue that both Christianity and Satanism are utter bollocks.
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I feel like Satanic Atheism is a load of bs.Like playing both sides of the fence. Like if I were to identify as a Christian Atheist so I can pretend to be somebody I’m not & benefit from a Christian lifestyle & have my cake & eat it too. Sorry, not how life works. You’re either one or the other. You can’t be both. One is a bs lie that Atheists are spreading causing Christians to believe that Atheism is another form of Satanism even though they swear & claim they’re not. Their actions are showing differently. It’s effecting other atheists negatively.
Agreed, I can’t take someone seriously who genuinely holds both positions.
Sure, for ‘shithousing’ reasons, why not?! Just for a bit of fun, in order to tease.
But if its taken seriously, then it genuinely makes no sense.
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I think Satanic Atheism is a problem. If those people think I’m exaggerating, fine. Look at what Arkansas did to innocent people during the 80s & 90’s. They persecuted innocent people over it accusing them of Satanic rituals and pinned crimes on random people because of how they dressed or if they practiced witch craft or were an Atheist.
Non practicing Christians were even persecuted over this bullshit. What Arkansas did is a big wake up call that out rights to or from religion are on the line. That Satanic Atheists are playing with fire & one day we’re going to wake up in a jail cell when America becomes a Christian theocracy. I’m not kidding. This is getting worse.
The Christian promotions in public schools, abortion being banned, and the war on women’s rights are hints that it has begun. So, you decide if you want to be seen as a Satanist. To them they might think it doesn’t matter, but…kinda does when you’re doing it with a religion that out numbers us all & will ruin our lives.
I grew up in rural Arkansas, during the 80’s as an open atheist, and Dungeons and Dragons player. That is where I learned to “deal with” bullies myself, instead of relying on others; with methods that many now consider inappropriate (violence).
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vs.
And
vs.
- Obviously you do care or you wouldn’t be compelled to display your contempt.
- A display of contempt IS a confrontation.
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Geez, I’m not compelled to display my lack of beliefs in any god/gods, I’m simply being myself. One detail that I forgot to mention was my tastes when it comes to music, which is a huge part of who/what I am. I’ve been what most people would call a metal head for almost 50 years, since the mid to late 70’s.
As I’ve gotten older, my choices in music have become more extreme. I’d gone from listening to Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, RUSH, and Floyd to several of the metal bands from the 80’s. Bands like DIO, Motley Crue, Ratt, Quiet Riot, and Testament. I listened to all of the bands listed, plus several more through the 90’s until about 2000. Then I heard a record from a Swedish band by the name of OPETH, and I’ve been listening to Death/Black metal music ever since.
Bands like INQUISITION, WATAIN, BEHEMOTH, MARDUK, and PATRIARKH are playing either in the office or on my headphones for several hours a day. I’ve been to countless club shows and arena concerts in the past 45 years because of my love for this music, it’s my lifestyle. I’ve got longish hair(what’s left), a long goatee, I’m heavily tattooed, and I’ve worn a concert or heathen t-shirt everyday for the past 45 years. There’s no compulsion, this is what I am. If something about my appearance offends someone, then they don’t need to look at it.
A display of contempt for christianity is NOT a confrontation, it’s free speech. Unless you’re someone who thinks that WORDS are violence.
Doesn’t explain why you want to describe one self as a satanic atheist to annoy a mob of angry xtians who already censor atheists as it is. Satanism is Satanism to them even if it means nothing to me or you. Words have power. Satanism is a word that holds a very negative meaning to Christians. It’s like saying the N word to a black person.
This is a relevant question. IMO confrontation is confrontation regardless of the form, but Christians will often define simple disagreement as “confrontation” or “hatred”. I would say that simply being nonconformist (tats, metal music, etc) is not confrontation. Walking into a worship service and shouting HAIL SATAN would be confrontation.
My guess is that you aren’t that confrontational, you are simply a loud and proud nonconformist and mean no more harm than, say, a flamboyant drag queen would. You are just being you, and not beating around the bush about it.
As a cis-het white mail raised by conservatives, I have a lot of respect for that.
I’m going to play a game of cards this morning and one of our regulars drives around with a skeleton in the back seat of his car and is into horror films, boxing, and other forms of lowbrow, plus, he has a habit of, shall we say, spinning yarns … but he’s the kindest, most courteous and generous person you could meet, if only you can be arsed to look past what you might or might not consider a few rough edges or eccentricities – which we all have. And this is something that fundamentalists have great difficulty with – and they should consider why they do.
I used to think more this way but what ends up happening is you go around walking on eggshells trying not to annoy people who are thin-skinned controlling assholes to begin with. It’s like those who try to ingratiate or placate Trump – it doesn’t help, he enjoys debasing people too much for one thing.
That said, in your context (the Bible Belt) discretion is often the better part of valor. Life is hard enough without generating extra headwinds for yourself. So I get it.
The only real solution is to move someplace where there are more like minded people. I understand that can be hard for various reasons due to previous commitments, inertia, employment or whatever. But I’ve lived in conservative areas and in liberal areas and I’ll take the latter any day.
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“Satanic atheist” is a contraction in terms as satan is supposed to be supernatural and with god-like powers - in other words, an evil god.
The 2 satanic organizations I am aware of the might fit the “satanic atheist” description both use the imagery of satan to make a point about religion and are not religions in the normal sense of the word. I think using the term “satanic atheist” is helping confuse people as to what is really going on: baiting religious nutcases.
I see your points and your argument about hypocrisy is well-taken, but I don’t know if I agree with you.
There seems to be a need for ritual and symbolism that is hard-wired in the human brain. As an example, there are laws which dictate how the American flag should be treated, and we have ceremonies for everything from circumcision to death.
I think that a part of the reason why religion succeeds when atheism fails is because organized atheism doesn’t have a framework of rituals and symbolism to satisfy this need.
This point has real world consequences when–for example-- a person can’t get a work exemption from some specific duty that violates the employee’s moral values.
As an example, please consider that I was a paramedic for many years. We run routine medical calls (such as when a patient goes to dialysis) that don’t involve an emergency.
A fellow paramedic got exemptions for his work responsibilities on the basis of religion when he refused to transport women for abortions, and also because he refused to transport birth control pills when bringing a patient home from a hospital. He was entitled to this because he brought in a notarized letter from his minister, and the EMS company didn’t want to be sued.
I–however–could not get an exemption from forcibly transporting teenagers to gay conversion therapy because a sincere moral belief is not the same as a religious belief.
Issues like this are a large part of what forced me out of EMS.
If I belonged to an atheistic Satanic temple, the EMS agency might have to accommodate my moral objection to abducting children and bringing them to a facility to get emotionally and physically tortured for being gay, if the Satanic pastor was willing to write me a religious exemption letter (which I’m sure that (s)he would).
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