Sounds warm and fuzzy but, I’ve read the Satanic Bible, and it’s much more than that.
That’s a different organization.
Totally different groups with radically different goals.
After reading my copy of Lavoy’s manuscript I left it at a community book sharing program. Hail Satan!!
That’s my point. You can’t deny God, an all powerful biblically based entity while, at the same time, accept Satan who is another all powerful biblically based entity. If, on the other hand, the “Satan” thing is just for shock value, then it strikes me as very juvenile.
How dare you taunt the Black Lord!!
So, seriously, if xtians can be all serious about jesus christ and stuff, then I’ll play along and profess my belief in Satan, my lord and master.
To be honest, the whole thing is dumber than hell. But even the satanists who are serious aren’t denying god exists. They just prefer Satan. It’s the deity equivalent of the Pepsi challenge.
That is exactly the point: in real Satanism, the Christian God is a demiurge who is possibly evil or malevolent, or is the origin of these flaws, while Satan is the Prometheus-like saviour of humanity. Or whatever; point is, it is a real religion and not for shock value. OTOH even in this thread many, even most, people seem to confuse Satanism with the shock-value Satanic Temple.
To really shock Americans, though, explain to them that you are a Sunni Muslim.
God wants it known that He is highly insulted! 
The branding issue is that they’re confused with actual Satanists, who believe in god and satan and choose the latter. One is the Satanic Temple, right? And, the other is the Temple of Satan or something? It’s like the People’s Front of Judea.
I’m all for the atheist “satanists” who push to get religion out of our public sphere, or, barring that, show how silly it is by pushing satan into it. I’m not at all for the actual satan worshippers.
To me, that’s the branding issue. You don’t want to get confused with actual religionists if you’re trying to show how silly they are.
I was at a festival where the Temple Of Satan (or was it the Satanic Temple?) had a booth. I was explaining their position to my gf. Then, somebody with a dog came up to the booth. The guy in the black and scarlet robes was all “Can I pet the puppy?” and very excited. The owner said yes. The satanist loved petting the dog and the dog loved the satanist. AFAIAC, that tells me all I really need to know.
You know who else loved his dog?
I thought the robes guys were Crowley/Argenteum Astrum and Catholic/Orthodox clerics, not so much Satanists or even Wicca?
If you believe in a supernatural entity named Satan, and you believe that interacting with this entity can produce useful results . . . .
I will mind my own business, and try to keep a safe distance.
If you are an atheist who uses Satanic imagery to troll the yokels . . .
I will still mind my own business, but I will have a lot more sympathy for the yokels than for you.
I imagine you feel the same way about anyone who thinks that interacting with supernatural entities will produce results, right?
I think they are more trying to help America live up to its ideals of the non-establishment of religion, and also protecting people who are in minority religions from the tyranny of the majority. They bring attention to their cause by being a little shocking, but I don’t think they’re trolling.
If…you believe in Satan, you must by default believe in God.
Playing with fire is not something I wanna do this close to my own demise. Hell just doesn’t seem pleasant.
I’m not religious. But I also don’t have an atheist view.
I think maybe I like angels and living in a nice place after death. I think I’m closer to hell in this life.
Surely I’ll get another better afterlife. I have hope in my puny little heart.
BTW…the “Becks Bad, bad, bad afterlife” thread will be posted!
Splitter!
See, you can see the branding issue right here. The OP is talking about a bunch of atheists who use satanic imagery to try and open the eyes of judges and elected officials by insisting that their religious imagery belongs right next to the Christian ones, or none of them belong.
IIRC, LaVey’s 70s-80s Church of Satan promoted a generally libertarian and individualistic ethic. Like today’s Satanic Temple, they called themselves Satanists to dramatically emphasize their rejection of Christian theology, but they didn’t actually believe in the Christian God. The difference was that their religion wasn’t a joke to them; they performed rituals and spells which they believed were effective (although LaVey left the door open to the possibility that “maybe the real magic is in the psychological effects the ritual has on the participants, and the true miracle of the Ritual of Baphomet is the friends we made along the way!”)
Nah, it’s quite ok:
