You ever had of the most recent region. Well, it is called the satanic Temple. Gross name, Isn’t it? Know what? its rituals also look as bad as it sounds.
It is a non-theistic group based in the U.S with chapters in U.K, Australia and Canada. The groups founder is Lucien Greaves (Not his real name), but damn he also has that eerie look. The religious group uses satanic symbology to promote liberal ideologies of religious freedom, social justice and social equity. In its campaign the group uses various concepts including the use of dark humor, satire, and theatrical ploys.
The group believes that Christians have enjoyed too much religious privilege and that other religions should also enjoy these privileges. Interestingly, the group does not believe a supernatural Satan bad crates a literal image of Satan who they believe is their role model.
Religious basis of the Satanism Movement
The motivators towards seeking for a satanic figure can be traced to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Satan followers believe that the devil is the liberator, since he gave humanity the gift of knowledge and liberated them from the shackles of mental slavery from the biblical God. The believers also make various biblical inferences for believing in the devil calling him the first entity that was able to stand up to a dictatorial God. They compare themselves to Satan whereby they believe that they exemplify Satan in the current society by speaking against the some of the overlooked worldly injustices.
Other biblical inferences used to support the devil include the story of Abraham, Job, and Jesus in the wilderness where the devil offered solutions to liberate the individuals from the suffering that was induced by GOD.
History
Being a new religion there is no much history to it rather than the fact that it was founded by some Harvard graduates in 2012 retaliating towards the creation of White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, an initiative that supported faith based movement through federal funding. The movement also appears to have borrowed some ideals from the LaVeyan Satanic movement that was founded in 1966 . The headquarters of the movement are at Salem, Massachusetts, Nick named Witch City. A city that is renown for it witch trials during the latter 17th century. The movement received tax exempt status in April 25 2019 meaning that the U.S. had recognized it as a religious and faith group with the freedom for expression and liberty.
Mission Statement
The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.
Tenets
- 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.
Key campaigns
Grey faction – a faction fighting against satanic ritual abuse, a concept that was created during the 1980’s the created the fear of Satanists by portray them to be cannibalistic people that sacrificed babies, drank human blood and engaged in child pornography.
Prayer in schools – a groups of Satanists that promote Satanism in schools
Pink mass – an act of vengeance by the group where they performed gay acts over the grave of a Boston minister’s mothers grave. The ceremony was a mockery of the Mormonism believe that you can interact with the afterlife. They insist that the ritual turned the ministers mother gay in the afterlife.
Planned parenthood protests – Insistence on the liberty of mothers to make their decision on abortion
Baphomet statue- A goat headed winged idol that was crowd funded as serves as the religions symbol. Followers of the religion have been pushing for the istallation of the statue at the Arkansas state govenment headquarters.
After school Satan – A school initiative that sought to teach students Satanic thinking.
My thoughts
The new religious movement is a liberal movement that uses symbology to gain significance. The movement does not have strong satanic roots or theistic beliefs. The groups use of irony satire and dark humor has led to it high acceptance rate among young liberals. The relentless fight for homosexual, transgender, abortion, and religious rights has also inspired it popularity among the LGBT community. Moreover, the groups dark themes and public promiscuity have inspired more hippies to join the program. The growth of the religion could also be spurred by the growing number of atheists globally. Since Satanisim is an athiestic religion, it may favor the atheist that would like to oppose abrahmic religious belifs without having to submit to a controlling diety.
The ease of acceptance of the group presents a moral challenge for the society. The group promotes ideals that were traditionally unacceptable such as idol worship, sexual promiscuity (public pornography and nudity), homosexuality, abortion, and transgender practice. Though the leader is not charismatic, their ideals are, such that they can easily recruit people into the movement. Theistic Satanists have mocked the movement indicating that it is just a hippie mockery of satanism. However, the group’s ability to recruit more members proved that they have got the right approach to satanism.
The key concerns of the movement are some of the interpretations that some of them may gain from the movement. For instance, some members may seek a better understanding of satanism and even delve deeper into the principles of the Levayan Church of Satan, which has its own publication “The satanic bible”. Thus, the Satanic temple could be the nursing ground for Satanists who shall soon start stemming out at various places in the world.
Should we be wary of the Satanic Temple? Yes and Yes, for it form the perfect seeding ground for extreme satanic practices. For instance, some factions may develop that do no believe in a literal Satan. but worship a dietic Satan. Some of these faction may use satanism to justify the acts of necrophilia, cannibalism, human blood consumption, public orgies, liturgical parody, consumption of aborted features, and human sacrifice.
What are your thoughts on Satanism?
The Tjay pod 
Very good article. Informative!! You need to proofread your work boss.
LikeLike