“[Fill in a person on the opposite side of the political spectrum with power here, for example James Talarico or Pete Hegseth] is the devil!”
With so much talk of Christianity in our government, it’s only a matter of time before it became a “battle of dark vs. light”.
See this non-satirical AI slop posted by the Senator tied for my least favorite with Rep. Fine, Ogles (Couldn’t embed, but please check it out if you need a laugh):
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Do9WXRdhD
There’s also this banner that allegedly was displayed in Iran, showing Trump, Netanyahu and other world leaders as puppets of Satan:
This is really serving the vibes a reboot of the Satanic Panic of the 80’s-90’s.
For this Freaky Friday (as in, posting this on a Friday), I wanted to talk a little about the Satanic Panic v1 and discuss what the Church of Satan / The Temple of Satan / other sects actually believe in.
The Satanic Panic
I listen to a podcast called Last Podcast of the Left, the comedically covers light topics like serial killers, cryptids, alien stories, and occult tales. It’s from this podcast’s various series’ that I have listened to over the years that I came to know about the Satanic Panic and various occult groups’ beliefs. Madame Blavatsky, Damien Echols and the West Memphis Three, Aleister Crowley, and Jack Parsons were some of my all-time favorite episodes the group has ever covered, because everybody likes to listen to something edgy and completely different from what they believe.
Here’s the link to a collection of their most wiggity-weird episodes. They’re pretty funny and the episodes are informative!
Last Podcast On The Left Witch, wizard and magic – playlist by Aztec19XX | Spotify (not my playlist so thanks to Aztec19XX for making it)
Anyway, for those of you who didn’t live through the 80’s and 90’s (I mean, I was born in ’95 so this applies to me as I was still a sponge-brained baby for the part of the 90’s I lived through), let’s talk about the Satanic Panic.
The Satanic Panic was a “moral panic” that started in the 1980’s. The general fear among the panickers was that heavy metal music and Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying games were being used by Satan to ensnare the youth and drive them to suicide.
I’m not kidding.
In addition, there was a completely unfounded claim that daycare providers were performing Satanic rituals on their children. I’m also not kidding about this.
From the History website: “The folk devil in this moral panic became the literal devil, as well as alleged Satan worshipers who sought to corrupt and abuse America’s youth. Although the satanic panic did not uncover any actual satanic cults, it led to real court cases that accused musicians, educators and day care workers of endangering children and teens”.
The serial killer Richard Ramirez helped further this “Satanic evil” message. Again from History, “When Los Angeles police arrested serial murderer Richard Ramirez in 1985, the media played up his apparent obsession with “satanic themes” on an AC/DC album. At his first court appearance, he raised a hand with a pentagram drawn on it and yelled, “Hail Satan!”
The West Memphis Three is perhaps the case that sticks with me the most. This is a case where three alt / goth kids were arrested and convicted for the murder of three 8-year old boys. Three 8-year old boys whose murders they had nothing to do with.
The basis of their case was claiming the West Memphis Three killed these boys as part of a Satanic Ritual. The lead detective had it in for Damien Echols, specifically, because of his goth appearance and “weirdness”. The other two teenagers, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, were roped in by circumstance. Misskelley, who had an intellectual disability, was coerced into a confession after hours of questioning without his parents present. This allowed all three boys to be charged and convicted, despite only this evidence to go on.
According to the innocence project, DNA tests would later prove none of the three teenagers were present on the scene. Today, all three teenagers (now adults) are free. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only goth kids convicted for crimes simply because they “looked” Satanic.
The Satanic Panic ended between 1992-1995, with the realization that the panic was over nothing. Geraldo Rivera publicly apologized for his role in fanning the flames. Carl Sagan dedicated an entire chapter in his book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark to taking down the claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse. All in all, the fear petered out and the world moved on.
Until, seemingly, now.
Next, let’s talk about what Satanists actually believe in, so we can reduce fear by understanding.
Satanic “Religions” Don’t Believe in Satan
I said the quiet part out loud.
Satanic groups don’t actually believe in “Satan” as a deity.
Really, they don’t.
There are two main flavors of Satanism: The Church of Satan and the Satanic Temple. They have distinct theologies, that I’ll break down here:
The Church of Satan
The Church of Satan (CoS) was founded by Anton LeVay in 1966, and embodies “man’s carnal nature”. Rather than avoiding temptation as we are asked to do in the Lord’s Prayer; “Lead us not to temptation”, CoS followers embrace these impulses. From the FAQ section of their site:
Satanists are atheists. We see the universe as being indifferent to us, and so all morals and values are subjective human constructions.
Our position is to be self-centered, with ourselves being the most important person (the “God”) of our subjective universe, so we are sometimes said to worship ourselves. Our current High Priest Gilmore calls this the step moving from being an atheist to being an “I-Theist.”
Satan to us is a symbol of pride, liberty and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential. We do not believe in Satan as a being or person.
Some other misunderstandings cleared up on their site:
- Satanists do not perform sacrifices or ritual abuse.
- The CoS has strong rules against sex with children and non-humans. Minors are not permitted to become members.
The Satanic Temple
The Satanic Temple was founded by Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jarry in 2013. From their website, “The Mission Of The Satanic Temple Is To Encourage Benevolence And Empathy, Reject Tyrannical Authority, Advocate Practical Common Sense, Oppose Injustice, And Undertake Noble Pursuits”.
Like CoS, they don’t actually believe in or worship Satan. Quote, “…nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse”.
Do the promote evil? Quote: “No. The Satanic Temple holds to the basic premise that undue suffering is bad, and that which reduces suffering is good. We do not believe in symbolic “evil.” We acknowledge blasphemy is a legitimate expression of personal independence from counter-productive traditional norms”.
There are Seven Tenets of the ToS:
- One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
- The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
- One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Gotta say, pretty progressive and not-at-all-evil beliefs.
The ToS is active in the activism role, running campaigns to better the lives of others. Some examples:
- RELIGIOUS REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Consistent with our tenets that call for bodily autonomy and acting in accordance with best scientific evidence, The Satanic Temple religiously objects to many of the restrictions that states have enacted that interfere with abortion access as well as other related issues that affect members’ religious rights.
- GREY FACTION: An educational and advocacy organization whose mission is to protect mental health patients and their families from dangerous pseudoscience and discredited therapies, particularly in the area of so-called “repressed memories.”
- PROTECT CHILDREN PROJECT: Protect Children Project addresses abuses that take place in public schools that are perpetrated by school officials and are deemed legal. By asserting a religious claim consistent with our tenets, students who are TST members can legally exempt themselves from egregious forms of mistreatment.
- AFTER SCHOOL SATAN: The After School Satan Club is an after school program that promotes self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative interests of students.
- SOBER FACTION: The Satanic Temple Sober Faction is a peer support group that offers a Satanic approach to recovery from addiction.
- SATANIC GOOD WORKS: Satanic Good Works performs services that improve communities. From organizing blood drives, charity drives, and parks & road cleanups, Satanic Good Works assists members and congregations to build a better world.
Again, all good things.
Other Sects
There are a few other well-known characters associated with Satanism, or at least the Occult.
Aleister Crowley is probably the most well-known. Crowley preached his own theology, called Thelema. One of the main teachings was, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. On it’s face, this sounds like an excuse to do whatever the hell a person wants without fear of consequence. In reality, the rest of the teaching is “…as long as it doesn’t hurt others”. Thelema had rituals which involved sex, but the rule was all participants must be consenting adults. Even this “most unholy” sects still respected other’s will and bodily autonomy.
Jack Parsons, the inventor if JATO technology, was a Thelemic member. He maintained a house of his own full of out-there people. It was really just an excuse for a bunch of misfits to come together, drink absinthe and use Parson’s chemical skills to synthesize their own hallucinogenics. Again, not evil.
There are more to cover, but really, truly evil religions are never dedicated to Satan. Even Palo Mayombe, which requires feeding a Nganga for worship, is only evil when it’s applied as such. Truly, any religion can be used for evil if the adherent wishes to use it that way. The same as a gun isn’t inherently evil, the person who commits murder with it is the problem.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this Freaky Friday post! I hope that you have a better understanding of Satanic religions and can interpret media covering it as something to fear as total nonsense. The best way to reduce fear is to promote understanding, and I hope to have spread some understanding here today.
Happy Friday, Ya’ll!
Thank you for this educational piece. Not something I would have been inclined to research myself, but I feel smarter having read it.
While I don’t necessarily embrace the Seven Tenets of the ToS, I understand them and don’t find them overtly offensive.
I do have a question:
How do the Cos and ToS view each other? If their world view were a Venn chart, how much overlap would there be? For example: I see that the CoS forbids minors for being members, but ToS has after-school programs? That seems like a pretty significant deviation.
I don’t have much to contribute, but it does raise two interesting questions in my mind.
1) Knowing how the rest of the world views “Satan,” what possible reason could any organization have for choosing that as their namesake?
2) I often ask for our pastors to pray for the gift of “discernment,” the ability to tell the difference between one thing and another. So tell me, how do the “few” folks from these “churches” who commit horrific acts, differ from those “few” Muslims who commit horrific acts, so that we can condemn one whole group and not the other?
For a bunch of atheists, they could have picked a better name for themselves. To use “Satan” (or anything with demonic connotations) anywhere in their name suggests that they are either being disingenuous or just wanting to be controversial. Either way, it seems they could have done better.
I’m old enough to remember the Satanic Panic of the 80s & 90s. It began when the Ayatollah Jerry Falwell & other UnChristians started claiming that a harmless game like Dungeons & Dragons was a gateway to the occult & were accusing rock musicians of putting backward satanic messages in their songs. I was both amused & disgusted by it.
One of their biggest bits of buffoonery was when they claimed that the song “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin had the words “my sweet Satan” when played backwards. Although some rock groups did do this sort of thing, the Led Zeppelin claim was debunked. A lot of people had a good laugh over that.
-John