# Why would someone worship Satan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 1, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561 "2009-04-01T10:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/61 "2009-04-02T16:58:20Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > How long have you been reading **kanicbird** ’s stuff? He believes that miscarriages and birth defects are caused by the fetus making a deal with Satan. I don’t think the idea that non-Christians are Satanists is too far out in left field for him to believe. And let’s not forget that a nine-year-old who is made pregnant by rape should die giving birth rather than have an abortion. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/62 "2009-04-02T17:10:17Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > First, very, very few people really DO worship Satan. > > The few who do fall into a couple of broad categories: > > 1. Dumb, bored teenagers who think the occult and black magic sound cool. > > 2. Atheists who don’t really believe in Satan any more than they believe in God, but who get a weird thrill by pretending to be transgressive and by embracing the forbidden. > > 3. New Agey types who’ve convinced themselves that Satan isn’t REALLY the evil guy described in Scripture, but is some kind of earthy spirit, or the counterpart to some likable pagan god. No, there are also quite a few sadists out there who try to use this “religion” as a defense of the harm they cause to others. Of course, there have also been many Chritians/Muslims/etc. who use THEIR beliefs as a defense of the harm they cause to others. The worst category of all IMHO are those who use their beliefs to ritualize, defend and proselytize pedophilia. These can also be found among most religions, but it’s more likely as a _causative_ for someone to choose Satanism. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/63 "2009-04-02T17:13:18Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > [Christianity and STDs are linked](http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html). You’re less likely to have an STD if you’re a heathen. (Same thing with having a baby out of wedlock.) I understand why a non-Christian would want to trumpet Gregory Paul’s article, but only if he ahdn’t read it. Any honest non- (or anti-) Christian who HAD read the article would have to scoff at how ineptly researched the whole thing is. There is no attemot to correlate STD’s or homicide with Christianity, no attempt to find out the actual religious beliefs of people wh get STD’s or commit murder. ALL he does is compare rates in the (supposedly) Christian USA with those in several (supposedly) secular nations. Of course, he cherry picks the secular nations he compares to the USA. Russia, for instance, has been official atheist since 1917… but Paul conveniently doesn’t even TRY to compare their problems to those of the USA. Does Paul TRY to compare the STD rates of churchgoing Christian middle-class girls in, say, Cleveland, to those of non-Christian middle-class girls in Cleveland? Nope. He just uses the entire USA as shorthand for “Christian” and a handful of European countries as shorthand for “secular.” Dumb article. ---
**Author:** ![DagNation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@DagNation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DagNation)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/64 "2009-04-02T18:06:11Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > (this is the motivation of demons to get souls into hell, so there is someone below them) So hell is just a multi level marketing scheme?!? I knew there was something wrong with that Amway guy… When I was a teen, I realized that a large part of Christianity was based on the fear of Satan… and I thought, well, I see no actual evidence of a Satan or an “evil force”. It seems to me that all the power that some people ascribe to Satan is a form of worship, so those Christians are also Satanists in a backward way - well, I choose not to give my energy to that evil, and so I am not a Christian. It was a few years later that I decided to give up all superstitions and now I am an atheist. All that being said, satin is a nice fabric for some types of costumes. Regarding the OP: the Christian view of Satan is a straw man, if you want to know why someone would worship Satan, don’t ask a bible thumper, ask a Satanist. The only people I have ever known who claimed to worship Satan did it for shock value (in my opinion), not for real metaphysical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/65 "2009-04-02T18:08:12Z")
So, in other words, “Correlation does not imply causation,” **astorian**? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/66 "2009-04-02T18:14:10Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > The worst category of all IMHO are those who use their beliefs to ritualize, defend and proselytize pedophilia. These can also be found among most religions, but it’s more likely as a _causative_ for someone to choose Satanism. Can you cite this? Because my understanding is that most “ritual pedophilia” is bullshit, either fearmongering by law enforcement or backpedaling by a pedophile trying to justify himself. The “official” Laveyan Church of Satan certainly doesn’t condone pedophilia, in any context, and certainly not in a ritual context. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/67 "2009-04-02T18:20:07Z")
hmmm… cause if you say you’re an atheist - everyone wants to convert you but if you say you’re a satanist you pretty much get left alone? Easy way to get people and their convictions off the porch if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/68 "2009-04-02T18:45:27Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Can you cite this? Because my understanding is that most “ritual pedophilia” is bullshit, either fearmongering by law enforcement or backpedaling by a pedophile trying to justify himself. The “official” Laveyan Church of Satan certainly doesn’t condone pedophilia, in any context, and certainly not in a ritual context. The[McMartin Preschool case](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial), maybe? That’s the only thing I can think of that the poster is alluding to. (And that all started with a mentally ill woman being convinced her son was sexually molested, and then accused his teachers of being Satanists and it all blew up from there) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/69 "2009-04-02T18:48:17Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > or backpedaling by a pedophile trying to justify himself. > [@](#): > > who try to use this “religion” as a defense of the harm they cause to others I think we actually agree on this. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/70 "2009-04-02T19:04:39Z")
> [@simster](#): > > hmmm… cause if you say you’re an atheist - everyone wants to convert you but if you say you’re a satanist you pretty much get left alone? > > Easy way to get people and their convictions off the porch if you ask me. I usually tell the bible salesman I’m a very strict Mixolydian. They ask what that is and I tell them to Google. At least they get a little music lesson. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/71 "2009-04-02T19:10:15Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So, in other words, “Correlation does not imply causation,” **astorian**? No, it’s more serious than that. IF Gregory Paul had produced data showing that Christians have higher rates of STD’s than non-Christians in their own communities, I might have to fall back on “Correlation does not imply causation.” But Paul doesn’t even prove THAT! Did he compare STD rates of self-identified Christians to those of self-identified non-Christians in the same communities? Nope. Does he compares the STD rates of self-identified Christians to those of self-identified non-Christians in similar socio-economic classes? Nope. Does he check whether churchgoing Irish, Dutch or German girls had higher or lower STD rates than their non-churchgoing neighbor He simply compares “Christian” America to “secular” Europe, and points out broad areas where Europe seems to be doing better. Which proves… WHAT exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/72 "2009-04-02T19:20:54Z")
That he’s a dumbass? (Sorry, I mostly skimmed the article) The ONLY remote explanation I can come with is that our sex ed programs over here are pretty pathetic. But even that doesn’t fit in. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/73 "2009-04-02T19:27:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There’s a very interesting question, here: Whence the notion that Satan is in charge of Hell? He’s not the boss, he’s inmate #1. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m guessing that idea came from Milton, who pretty explicitly described Satan as the Guy In Charge Down There. “Better to reign in hell than serve in Heaven,” etc. **Paradise Lost** depicts Satan (and his minions) as _thinking_ he’s in charge although God still calls the shots, in Heaven, Earth, and Hell. “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven” is spoken by Satan in arrogance and ignorance. The entire work makes it clear that God is firmly in control, culminating in Book 10: Ye have the account Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods, But up, and enter now into full bliss? So having said, a while he stood, expecting Their universal shout, and high applause, To fill his ear; when, contrary, he hears On all sides, from innumerable tongues, A dismal universal hiss, the sound Of public scorn; he wondered, but not long Had leisure, wondering at himself now more, His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare; His arms clung to his ribs; his legs entwining Each other, till supplanted down he fell A monstrous serpent on his belly prone, Reluctant, but in vain; a greater power Now ruled him. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/74 "2009-04-02T20:24:04Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I understand why a non-Christian would want to trumpet Gregory Paul’s article, but only if he ahdn’t read it. > > Any honest non- (or anti-) Christian who HAD read the article would have to scoff at how ineptly researched the whole thing is. There is no attemot to correlate STD’s or homicide with Christianity, no attempt to find out the actual religious beliefs of people wh get STD’s or commit murder. I suspect that the relationship would bear out at the individual level. I’ve never seen any data which went the other way on similar topics. Edit: For instance - [http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102230105.html](http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102230105.html) ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/75 "2009-04-02T21:25:30Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > [http://web.satanism101.com/statements.html](http://web.satanism101.com/statements.html) > > The Nine Satanic Sins > > Stupidity > Pretentiousness > Solipsism > Self-deceit > Herd Conformity > Lack of Perspective > Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies > Counterproductive Pride > Lack of Aesthetics Sounds just like the US! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/76 "2009-04-02T21:40:20Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Satan does not care about those souls, he just wants to inflict pain on others, that’s how he feels better about himself. > > The Satanic kingdom is a pyramid with Satan at the top and shit rolling down hill. As long as you have someone below you to roll your shit and the shit rolled onto you onto your OK, but the people at the bottom have no outlet for all the shit rolled onto them (and their own shit), and just must bear that shit with no outlet. (this is the motivation of demons to get souls into hell, so there is someone below them) You know how satan thinks and feels? That would be impossible…unless. All hail Kancibird. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/77 "2009-04-02T22:14:52Z")
> [@DagNation](#): > > So hell is just a multi level marketing scheme?!? I knew there was something wrong with that Amway guy… Yes it is exactly a multi level marketing scheme, with the persons at the bottom having to continuously suffer - see why they call it hell. > [@](#): > > When I was a teen, I realized that a large part of Christianity was based on the fear of Satan… and I thought, well, I see no actual evidence of a Satan or an “evil force”. It seems to me that all the power that some people ascribe to Satan is a form of worship, so those Christians are also Satanists in a backward way - well, I choose not to give my energy to that evil, and so I am not a Christian. Interesting way of looking at it. Jesus came to set us free of that fear so what you were learning was not the teachings of Jesus. > [@](#): > > It was a few years later that I decided to give up all superstitions and now I am an atheist. Yes one of the worshipers of spirit of the antichrist. I really like how that demon tells you that he doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/78 "2009-04-02T22:20:55Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Yes one of the worshipers of spirit of the antichrist. I really like how that demon tells you that he doesn’t exist. So sayeth the man who, if his family loved him, would have had him committed years ago… ---
**Author:** ![wsbenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@wsbenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsbenge)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/79 "2009-04-02T22:26:07Z")
Define worship? I think worship is not attending church, and singing songs … worship is HOW one lives their life. That said, a lot of Christains worship Satan, by how they live. One day a week doesn’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/80 "2009-04-02T22:34:22Z")
> [@wsbenge](#): > > Define worship? The God (or god or gods) you serve. > [@](#): > > I think worship is not attending church, and singing songs … worship is HOW one lives their life. define church? And for followers of Jesus the person no longer lives their own life, but it is Jesus Himself that lives your life. > [@](#): > > That said, a lot of Christains worship Satan, by how they live. > > One day a week doesn’t cut it. Agreed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561.md?page=5)