# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/101 "2009-04-06T20:15:31Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > I would think that if a person was going to denounce another’s work then they should at least get their own facts straight first. > [Religion in Russia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Russia) Yes or no- was Russia officially an atheist nation from 1917 until the collapse of the Soviet Union? Yeah. Yes or no- was organized religion reduced to almost nothing in Russua in that time? Yeah. SINCE the fall of the Soviet Union, anything goes. Many religious groups, Christian and otherwise, both mainstream and off-the-wall have been recruiting there, with mixed success. Fact remains, Russia is a mighty secularized nation, as are most of its former satellites. And it’s still the most populous nation in Europe. So, any study that does NOT include it is guilty of cherry picking, which is unforgivable. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/102 "2009-04-06T20:56:45Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > God is far above Satan, but allows Satan to be Satan, as He allows us to be us to the extent He permits (God does set limits). God uses Satan to refine us, while limiting what Satan can do. As I understand it, Satan is “limited” to inflicting torture beyond measure upon countless souls for eternity. And, of course, to providing countless bribes, explanations, cultural pressure, evidence, and earthly rewards to lure unsuspecting souls to their doom, such that few manage to resist. Out of curiosity: what would it look like if Satan were _without_ limits? ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/103 "2009-04-06T22:42:04Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So, any study that does NOT include it is guilty of cherry picking, which is unforgivable. Satan will forgive you. Come to Satan. ---
**Author:** ![Imjoosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Imjoosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imjoosh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/104 "2013-09-25T02:11:13Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > If he were real, and the stories true, then a person would worship him for the power and instant gratification. Worshipping Jesus and his pop will get you nothing until after you’re dead. Worshipping Satan gives you power and benefits _now_ while you’re living. Does worshipping the devil really give you “powers”??? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/105 "2013-09-25T02:22:34Z")
Satanic zombies! > [@Imjoosh](#): > > Does worshipping the devil really give you “powers”??? Of course not; neither Satan nor God nor supernatural powers of any kind exist. But from your own quote: > [@](#): > > If he were real, and the stories true So it’s like asking if the One Ring in _The Lord of the Rings_ really makes you invisible if you wear it. Yes it does - in the story. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/106 "2013-09-25T02:29:05Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The Satanic kingdom is a pyramid with Satan at the top and shit rolling down hill. Really? In Dante, Satan is at the **bottom.** ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/107 "2013-09-25T02:33:32Z")
What could be more appropriate than a zombie thread about Christianity? Let’s say a person really buys into the whole Christian belief system and they’re really big on sin. They believe sin is everywhere and it’s virtually impossible to avoid - no matter how hard you try to live a good life, you’re going to fail. And they don’t take a liberal view on mercy and forgiveness. So eternal damnation is the lot of pretty much everyone. So a person in this situation might decide if they’re going to spend eternity suffering in Hell anyway, they might as well enjoy their time on Earth. They’d sell their soul to Satan for whatever secular rewards they can get, knowing they’re going to end up in Hell but figuring they at least got something out of it first. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/108 "2013-09-25T02:36:49Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > [http://web.satanism101.com/statements.html](http://web.satanism101.com/statements.html) As we can read from that, Satanists – LaVeyan Satanists, at any rate\* – do not really worship (or believe in the existence of) Satan. They worship themselves, and Satan is but the pet-name they give their own egos. Satanism is not simply inverted Christianity – where Christians are enjoined to love and do good, Satanists are not enjoined to hate or do evil. Satanism is **partly** inverted Christianity, in that it rejects humility and substitutes pride as a value, rejects self-denial and substitutes self-indulgence as a value. Another difference is that, unlike Christianity, Satanism does not claim to be for everybody, but only for an elite of bold, fierce souls. Anton Szandor LaVey once described his Church of Satan as “Objectivism with mysticism added.” - There is also [Theistic Satanism](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Satanism#Theistic_Satanism), however. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/109 "2013-09-25T02:51:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > What could be more appropriate than a zombie thread about Christianity? > [@](#): > > 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. > > 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. > > 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, **BBBRRRAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNZZZZZZZ!!!** And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. – Gospel of John (Improved Standard Version) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/110 "2013-09-25T05:11:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Really? In Dante, Satan is at the **bottom.** No way! That’ll happen when Hell Freezes … uh… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/111 "2013-09-25T05:13:07Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > – Gospel of John (Improved Standard Version) I see you’re a Romero Catholic. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2013, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/112 "2013-09-25T05:29:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I see you’re a Romero Catholic. Yes - they pray at Dawn ---
**Author:** ![DagNation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@DagNation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DagNation)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/113 "2013-09-25T08:54:49Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > Stepping out of the atheist box for a moment here to form a theological argument: doesn’t the attribution of powers to Satan by certain Christians turn Christianity into more of a Manichaeism? Even if you say the “good guy” is stronger the fact that the “evil guy” has mighty supernatural powers and does things change Christianity to a de facto duothiestic religion. One does not need to sacrifice goats to them in order to believe in a supernatural being, after all. This is what I came to say… My definition of “worship” is attributing power over yourself to a mystical being… The people who spend the most time promoting the power of Satan are Christians. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/114 "2013-09-25T09:05:15Z")
Hey, if it is the Super Devil, I’d worship him, too. Not that regular Satan fellow, though. > **[Super Devil](https://familyguy.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Devil)** > > The Super Devil is a creature that the Texans believe exist as a superior to Satan in "Boys Do Cry". He is at least six inches taller than Satan. He first appears in a Channel 5 News Texas report by religion reporter Dallas Houston. He is called a... ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/115 "2013-09-25T13:52:16Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > **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. The good thing about zombies is that occasionally you discover a response to one of your posts that you missed the first time around. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/116 "2013-09-25T14:15:42Z")
The common take is that Satan offers them power to rule over others. Hell is not always taken as a place of constant equalized torment, but you can have a person suffer for you if you can rule over them. This ties in very nicely to the concept of reincarnation, the promise to come back as someone important and powerful by basically sucking life from those under you. I believe the Zodiac killer held such beliefs. Another aspect is that some are deceived into worshiping by mistaking Satan for God, in Revelation Jesus reveals a temple as a synagog of Satan. Such as one is made to believe that a being that requires rules that have punishments and discrimination and require worship and a percent of income is a god worth worshiping, because they are told that is god they do. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/117 "2013-09-25T14:31:04Z")
What you describe is completely unlike the traditional concept of reincarnation. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/118 "2013-09-25T15:19:21Z")
> [@Imjoosh](#): > > Does worshipping the devil really give you “powers”??? According to medieval stories, yes. The folks who burned witches always had stories of powers that the witches had used, which they had received by entering into a pact with the devil. Causing cows stop giving milk, people to sicken, and babies to be stillborn were popular. So was flying while sitting on a sieve (later a broom) and being able to escape churchmen by throwing a spool of thread out of a window and being pulled after it. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/119 "2013-09-25T15:55:19Z")
When I was younger, I knew a Satanist. YMMV but his point of view was that Satan was misunderstood and that God was truely the evil one. Satan wasn’t a nice guy but he was one that demanded and acted to get the power that he deserved and not be subserviant to God. He worshipped Satan because he thought that he (personally) was superior to almost all people and he wanted his proper place of power over them. By worshipping Satan and showing you were strong you would have more status/power over others in the afterlife as well as help attaining power in this life. He was a scary individual. He tended to lump people into 3 types…superior to him, inferior to him or equal to him. Only people he considered equal to him were relatively safe around him and that was what he considered me. I tried to limit my time with him but, because of circumstances had to spend some time around him. Basically a belief in complete ‘freedom’ to do what you wish…even if that is harmful to those around you. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561/120 "2013-09-25T17:07:14Z")
And how is this individual doing today? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-someone-worship-satan/491561.md?page=7)