Leader: Satanism Not Devil Worship
By Elizabeth Sekellick
Star-Gazette
A priest of the Church of Satan says there is no truth to the rumors that Satanists, at least the card-carrying kind, are involved in ritual murder and animal sacrifice.
Peter Gilmore, an administrator of the Church of Satan in Manhattan and editor of a Satanist newsletter, said many of those who claim they committed serious crimes because they are Satanists “tend to be psychologically damaged people.”
“They are Devil-worshipers(sic), not Satanists,” he said.
The Church of Satan was founded in 1966-Year One of the reign of Satan-by a magician-photographer-occultist named Anton Szandor LaVey. A one-time, $100 registration fee is all that is required for membership, which entitles the individual to a red membership card.
Despite the name, however, Satanists do not believe in the Devil, Gilmore said. “We are completely anti-theistic,” he said. “We go back to the Hebrew definition of Satan, which is ‘adversary,’ because we are opposed to all organized religions.”
Born to a family of “nominal Christians,” Gilmore said he decided he was an atheist at the age of 8 after reading tales of Greek and other mythologies. He described himself as a scientific materialist when at the age of 13, he read LaVey’s The Satanic Bible and recognized a kindred soul.
“We feel that Satanists are born, not converted,” he said. “Satanists introduce their children to different religions and let them make the decision of what they want to believe on their own.”
All rumors to the contrary, he said, members of the Church of Satan do not sacrifice living creatures, either animal or human, nor do they participate in sexual activities with children. “People who join thinking it’s all orgies and animal sacrifices leave very quickly,” he said. “All the Satanists I know have no interest in orgies and are mostly in monogamous relationships.”
For a Satanist, the worst sins include stupidity, pretentiousness, self-deceit(sic) and a lack of perspective. They practice a modified version of the Golden Rule; Do unto others as they do unto you, he said.
