Church of Satan Sigil of Baphomet

CONJURING CONFUSION

A self-proclaimed Satanist group has recently gotten media attention, though one may wonder if it is a political activist prank rather than a legitimate philosophical organization. Mounting public stunts geared to be as obnoxious as those perpetrated by certain Christian activist groups suggests that they are looking to leverage contemporary social media and blog culture so as to grab people’s attention. It’s working. But is it provoking thought or simply making Satanism look as ridiculous as the theist belief systems that are being mocked?

Their web site lifts many concepts from the literature of the Church of Satan, but one has to wonder whether the folks behind this actually understand and embrace our principles? One of their outings includes ritually dealing with spirits in an afterlife, which is absolutely not part of the the Church of Satan’s philosophy. A web-published image of one of the participants rubbing his genitals on a tombstone reinforces “Satanic Panic” stereotypes of Satanists desecrating Christian sanctuaries. I question the wisdom of such behavior. If these people truly embrace the philosophy as codified by Anton LaVey and maintained by the Church of Satan, they do a disservice to Satanism by creating public confusion regarding its actual principles and tenets.

We neither endorse nor encourage aping the shoddy behavior of Christian activists. The demonstrations of irrationality and intolerance displayed by some self-proclaimed Christian groups should show thinking people that such positions merit rejection. Imitating them puts one on the same level, making it likely that intelligent people will equally reject the group proclaiming such a counter-message, simply because of the way in which it is framed.

Magus Peter H. Gilmore