Any Satanists?

Satanism tends to get a bad rap and most of those opinions come from people who have no clue what Satanists stand for. If you are coming to this thread simply to criticize, feel free. Just try to do a little research and understanding beforehand.

"The mission of The Satanic Temple, a religious organization, is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits."

I've had a deepening interest in Satanism for the past few years and have finally decided I'm dedicated enough to consider myself a Satanist. I prefer The Satanic Temple, not the Church of Satan, but I am more than happy to hear views from anyone interested.

As a discussion topic - what led you to Satanism?

The campaigns TST has are frankly awe-inspiring; reproductive rights, mental health, stopping abuse in schools, freedom of ALL religions (in schools as well), non-religious-based sobriety, scholarships, and community support! I find the Seven Tenets to align so well with my views that I couldn't turn away.

I

One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

II

The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

III

One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV

The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.

V

Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.

VI

People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII

Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.


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I see no reason why this shouldn't become a real organized thing.
The word "Satan" in itself scares people.
These tenets actually make more sense than the Ten Commandments of Christian Church, which are based on values dating back thousands of years.
I've never been into any type of religion. I'm more into science, logic and reason.
This Temple has really peaked my interest since LaVeyan Satanism and The Church of Satan isn't my thing.

You're completely right. I always find it kind of funny considering that both forms of Satanism don't believe in Satan or the supernatural in general. Satan as a being is a Christian (and I think Jewish?) belief. LaVey described Satan "as a positive archetype representing pride, carnality, and enlightenment." For The Temple, "Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority ... an icon for the unbowed will of the unsilenced inquirer - the heretic who questions sacred laws and rejects all tyrannical impositions."

I'm also not into religion. I view Satanism as more of a philosophy. From the FAQ page (linked in the second 'Satan' link above) - "Are we supposed to believe that those who pledge submission to an ethereal supernatural deity hold to their values more deeply than we? ... Satanism provides all that a religion should be without a compulsory attachment to untenable items of faith-based belief."

And The Temple is definitely where it is at. Unlike LaVey ("an ... author, musician, and occultist"), Lucien Greaves "studied neuroscience ... and graduated from Harvard University."

I am a christian personally, and I have found this thread very enlightening. thank you for explaining a concept that I would have probably never looked in to personally. This is clearly a very different Satan from the one in the Bible.

The biggest irony of the whole Satanic philosophy is that the people who do not know what its about (especially most Christians) instinctively and unknowingly follow all the Satanic principles to the tee...

I was part of the MCoS for many years and 3 of the most common facts about it were that every single member was either an atheist or agnostic, they were for the most part very successful (scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs with large businesses, architects etc), and they banned all the 'devil-worshippers' who tried to join...

Every ideology, political affilliation, religion and culture has their extremists. Just like Buddhism, Satanism leans more to an ideology than a religion, regardless of what selective labels people want to slap onto it.

As an atheist I have zero need in my life for any religion or anti religion formed as a mirror to an existing one.

I have no need for ideas of luck nor superstition either.


Having said that I admire any of the aboves ideals when then they align with mine, in fact I've yet to find a religion that doesn't have something worthwhile included in it .

Religions are seldom problematic,the adherence however...

There are a lot of groups that call themself " Satanists". Any one can call themself a Satanist, one group "Joy of Satan" is a bunch of neo-nazi. Most of the are really just anti-christians.

I have never been into religion of any kind at all i put cults alongside religion they are the same thing more or less.

The last time i went to a church was for the funeral of a work friend. That was about 20 years ago ...

Religion/cults i understand that they give people comfort.

But you dont have to look far to see the pain and suffering they cause today and the pain and suffering they caused in the past as well.

Fairy tales. Sometimes those fairy tales cause wars or lower down brainwashing ie terrorists or lesser than that people just leading misguided lives all in the name of baby Jebus or whoever.

It has no place in modern society. Religion does still and has caused so much hate in the past it is ridiculous.

Its just a dead pointless concept it really has no place in the world. The crutch has to go. That is all what religions/cults are a crutch.

There is no afterlife, heaven, hell. You live your life and thats it game over. The crutch of religion does have to go and we have to get on with our lives and it would be SO much better for all of us if religion/cults didnt exist.

Everybody is scared of dieing. Spending half of your life worrying about your cult/religion is NOT the way to handle that fear. Bin your cult/religion and make the most of your life!!

I totally agree with you. That's why I choose to view Satanism as a theology that uses the title of religion for legal reasons (religious freedoms, taxation laws, etc.), despite it having the availability to develop the religion/cult-like mentality of community. I consider myself strongly anti-religious and don't actively participate in communities that have that same aspect of creating a purpose in life such as religions and cults do.


I also believe that religions are outdated and certainly should not be tied into anything political. Historically, they have caused much more conflict than good. That being said, I understand the human drive to seek out or produce their own comforts. Humans are weak creatures and many fail without thinking they have some greater purpose than simply existing. I am accepting of them as long as the beliefs do not cause them to interfere with the lives of others.


On a less related note - it's been a few years since I've been into a church, but God, I certainly can appreciate their architecture. From the roominess and grandiose displays to the absolutely stunning artform that is stained glass... Just lovely.

There is huge difference between the satanic temple which is a group, not a religion, that uses the satanic word to piss Christians and actual satanism.

Satanism was a word used by Christians to basically stop any pagan or other religion from existing. Anything that wasn't according to Christianity was labeled satanism.

However, that didn't stop people from actually forming cults with their own theories of how satanism works and worship Satan himself. In medieval times, Christianity believed that sex should happen only when married, so several cults would perform orgies or attract followers that seek sexual freedom. Those cults would also have sacrifices and rituals.

The concept was to bind people in the cult with an illegal ritual so they won't be able to leave the cult. Some of those cults still remain and perform orgy/sacrifice rituals even nowadays.

So saying satanism is labeled wrong without having any idea of the sects/cults devoted to satanism is very ignorant, especially if you base your idea of satanism on one group when there are multiple.

I am not saying the satanic temple is wrong all I am saying is that there were (are) cults in the name of sayan that do atrocities and are actual religions based on the devil.

I take it you are not familiar with the Church of Atheism.

what some folks don't realize apparently is what constitutes a religion by its definition.

However the religions of humanity that have been around for quite some time including the Abrahamic, are vital to humanity.

Folks take some things too literal and others not enough.

Here is a though experiment. Read Genesis, then study the big bang theory. List the parallels and wonder.

Genesis has too many contradictions. We read science journals.
With science people can actually make predictions.

I also disagree with you saying religions are vital to humanity. Science is more vital, without it we would still have a life expectancy of 40 years.

And atheism is not a religion, regardless of whether they call it a "church." They mean it in the context of a gathering.

Its very true what you are saying. Any group has their extremists. However, the founder of Satanism, Anton LaVey was an atheist and he did so indeed to give people the alternative to Christianity. He wanted to piss them off because he was tired of religious bullying and selfrighteous people.

But any group has their extremists, even Christianity. What those extremists do dont necessarily reflect the ideology of the original organisation.

The Church of Satan actually rejects membership to devil worshippers...

Its the Christian church who then went around and started calling the devil they believe in, Satan... To ridicule Satanism...

As they always do. They also stole the pagan festivals Easter and Christmas as well and falsely incorporated and synched the timelines to Jesus so it could suit the narrative. Like that they also took the word Satan and gave the name to the devil they believe in.

I don't disagree with you on Christians being wrong.

However, Church of Satan was founded on 1966 and Satanism exists way before that.

You had satanism in Medieval times, hell you had satanism even before. You think Satanism is Church of Satan, however Church of Satan is a sect that doesn't even believe in the dogma.

It's like saying you are vegetarian but eating meat all the time. Satanism, the dogma/religion is a complete different thing from Church of Satan and has a bad name for valid reasons. Sacrifices/Abuse/Human trafficking etc.

Understand the difference between Satanism and Church of Satan. The second one represents the minority of Satanism in it's history.

f**k all Satanists once u realize truth you know whats wrong and ur basically an injustice to urself by betraying GOD and praising Satanism.

Aint gonna say much but f**k Satanists

Salaam.

The day u realize what u did to GOD is the day your heart will betray u

Mawkin out

Cant emphasise this enough f**k satanists

Ur defending bull shit

I got into satanism through listening to Ghost xD

They're not even really satanic but it piqued my interest and now here I am