The rise of Satanism in America:

[ActionfigureJoe]

I bet they get all the hot girls. 

They first cropped up seemingly out of nowhere about six years ago, adorned in black capes with curved devil horns affixed to their heads, holding posters and black American flags as they shouted ‘Hail, Satan’ on the steps of government institutions from Arkansas and to Oklahoma and Detroit. The antics and declarations seemed like a hoax to many – onlookers and journalists and politicians alike – until it became apparent that members of newly-formed The Satanic Temple were here to stay.

And they were growing, exponentially. Since TST’s founding in 2012, the organization has increased from a handful of members to tens of thousands, with chapters all over the US and the globe, from Stockholm to and Los Angeles to . And their ‘pranksterism,’ as filmmaker Penny Lane first considered it, has given way to a well-conceived ethos, forming an organized ‘religion’ for a ‘group of contrarians’ opposed to any organization at all.

The Satanic Temple, it seems, is becoming more and more firmly established across the United States – largely composed of individuals who don’t even worship Satan in the first place but center on a different interpretation of biblical teachings. And Lane’s new documentary about the group, premiering later this month at Utah’s famed Sundance Film Festival, paints a surprising portrait of the unlikely ‘religion’ – one which has challenged even the preconceived notions of the director herself.

‘The reason this became a feature length documentary was that I found so many interesting surprises at each stage of discovery,’ says Lane, the title of whose documentary – Hail, Satan? – fittingly addresses the controversy surrounding the relatively neophyte group.

Co-founder of The Satanic Temple Lucien Greaves, center, poses with other followers of TST, which began in 2012 and has become well-known for high-profile stunts and activism

Greaves - posing with a statue of Baphomet, the goat-headed representation of the devil, is a key protagonist in new documentary Hail, Satan? which premieres this week at Sundance Film Festival in Utah

Various chapters are more extreme than others, such as the Detroit chapter, formerly headed by Jex Blackmore

Blackmore has since been kicked out of the Temple after calling for violence and the execution of the US president, which goes against the peaceful tenets of the TST

The Temple commissioned a massive sculpture of Baphomet posing with children which has been displayed around the country; it argued that, if the Ten Commandments could be installed on government property, such as in Oklahoma and Arkansas, the Baphomet sculpture and other religious iconography should be given equal space

In addition to a Black Mass - which contravenes traditional Catholic Mass rituals -  held outside the Michigan State Capitol, above, The Satanic Temple attempted to stage one on the Harvard campus in Boston, but a massive counter-march by the Archdiocese prompted its cancellation, and it was moved to a nearby Chinese restaurant/comedy club

LA Satanic Temple celebrates biggest ever Black Mass

 

‘Every layer of the onion that we peeled back, there was like something really surprising at the next layer. The first thing you know, I could see, was how serious and intelligent they were – despite what you might expect of a bunch of Satanists. They were really sophisticated thinkers, and many times the people who would go out in public against what they do would sound like raving lunatics.’

In comparison to the protesting hardcore Christians, she says, ‘the Satanists were like the adults in the room – not at all what I was expecting.

‘The next thing I came to understand was they weren’t pretending to be Satanists to make a political point. They were Satanists. My understanding of what a Satanist was simply incorrect – so those were the first kind of two layers of surprises for me.

‘Modern Satanism is a non-theistic religious practice that uses the symbol of the literary symbol of Satan as a kind of symbol … against tyrannical authority,’ she tells DailyMail.com.

Hail, Satan? follows not only the TST founders but also regular members across the country and the world – trying ‘to get a more accurate picture of day-to-day life at a local level, which is really at the heart of what the Satanic Temple is,’ Lane continues. ‘Like, oh, it looks like a bunch of headline-grabbing clever pranks – but in reality … what’s going on here is nice people gathering in their communities who organize [charity events] … or do challenge very, very local power.’

The documentary initially focuses on co-founders Lucien Greaves – not his real name, though he’s pictured on camera and has essentially become the spokesperson for TST – and Malcolm Jarry, whose face is never shown. Many members, in fact, are pixelated in footage, and quite a big deal is made of the threats to members from people opposed to their views, despite the fact that many detractors have no idea what TST members actually believe.

The seven tenets of The Satanic Temple 

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 wilfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s one

Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take 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 

Greaves, for example – an articulate, well-educated 43-year-old with a somewhat disconcerting eye condition – is shown putting on a bullet proof vest before a public event, as fellow temple members go over security plans to keep him safe.

‘There’s huge amounts of death threats and hatred and actually, to be frank, some mentally individuals out there who absolutely are really scary,’ Lane tells DailyMail.com. ‘Every time they went to an event, there were sensitive conversations about security. I don’t want to overstate the fear, but it’s more like, you never know what can happen – and the amount of daily kind of vitriol and violence that is threatened against them is really shocking.’

Because The Satanic Temple has been formed years after the devil-worship panic of the 1980s and 1990s, when a veritable witch-hunt by the far right fueled urban legends and blamed horrid crimes on followers of Beelzebub. There were multiple incarnations of Satanic-centric religions and cults going back centuries; 'The Satanic Temple did not invent modern Satanism,' Greaves says in the film.

Jesper Aagaard Peterson, who wrote The Invention of Satanism, says that a 'founding aspect of Satanism [is] that you troll people. They faint or get angry or whatever happens, and then you move on.'

He refers to the Church of Satan, founded in 1966 by the flamboyant, Hollywood-esque character Anton Szandor LaVey - which billed itself as 'the first above-ground organization in history openly dedicated to the acceptance of Man's true nature - that of a carnal beast, living in a cosmos that is indifferent to our existence.

'To us, Satan is the symbol that best suits the nature of we who are carnal by birth - people who feel no battles raging between our thoughts and feelings, we who do not embrace the concept of a soul imprisoned in a body. He represents pride, liberty, and individualism - qualities often defined as Evil by those who worship external deities, who feel there is a war between their minds and emotions.'

Author Peterson, in Hail Satan?, says: 'The Church of Satan is the watershed moment in the history of Satanism. That's where the attribution of Satanic identity is not just something people do to others; it's something people to do to themselves.'

While both Church of Satan and TST members self-identify, he says, the Church of Satan was 'much more of a ratpack carnival. They were never political, whereas The Satanic Temple is actually refining Satanism and making it into a new tool, a new weapon in the ongoing culture wars.' 

The Satanic Temple, for example, is not afraid to take legal action when it feels that representations of Baphomet and other Satanic icons are not accurate reflections of its ethos and organization.  When Netflix released its new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series last autumn, for example, the show featured a goat-headed statue of Baphomet - very similar to a sculpture commissioned by TST - which the Temple contended was portrayed as evil.

The Satanic Temple sued Warner Brothers and Netflix - and in November announced that it had 'amicably settled' the lawsuit, which also resolved that TST would be acknowledged in credits for pre-filmed episodes of the series. 

The Satanic Temple, religious studies professor R. Andrew Chesnut tells DailyMail.com, 'actually present themselves as atheistic and really see Satan more as a metaphor.  

'They've actually been criticized by other old-school Satanist groups - how on earth can you say you're Satanists, but at the same time claim to be atheistic? Because if you believe in Satan, Satan is a supernatural figure. So they're really kind of a new generation of Satanists, and I think more than actual veneration of Satan, this is really about much more kind of politicized.' 

He adds: 'They don't really seem engaged in the kind of organized rituals and worship that the older-school Satanist groups do.'      

While the organization, as a whole, is unafraid of the spotlight, however, many individual members are not as eager to be identified. Most of the interviewees featured in Hail Satan?, from the top of the organization down, go by pseudonyms. Many of them, however, look as one would expect; Jex Blackmore, for example, the former head of the Detroit chapter, is a pale beauty favoring dark hair and makeup, shown in one protest dressed as a nun, her nose pierced and her attitude defiant. 

[Skidooski]

Don't tease me with a good time! 

[snoughnut]

After reading the title, I thought this thread was going to be about the Democrat Party.

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, snoughnut said:

After reading the title, I thought this thread was going to be about the Democrat Party.

No, no.  Satanism requires some kind of self sacrifice.  So, no.

[ActionfigureJoe]

5 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

Don't tease me with a good time! 

I could easily pretend to believe. Look at trump Christians. They do it all day long and don’t get any pussy. 

[Skidooski]

Just now, ActionfigureJoe said:

I could easily pretend to believe. Look at trump Christians. They do it all day long and don’t get any pussy. 

I can only imagine the amount or freaky ass woman that are there

[steve from amherst]

Just now, Skidooski said:

I can only imagine the amount or freaky ass woman that are there

But is it as good as AA.?  Sex is all those bitches have left.

[ActionfigureJoe]

Just now, Skidooski said:

I can only imagine the amount or freaky ass woman that are there

Years ago I had a freeky chick drag me to The Leather Rose in Chicago. It’s a BDSM club down on Michigan Ave. I saw shit there that you just can’t unsee.  

[Skidooski]

3 minutes ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

Years ago I had a freeky chick drag me to The Leather Rose in Chicago. It’s a BDSM club down on Michigan Ave. I saw shit there that you just can’t unsee.  

Haven't seen any of that. Closest thing might be Jim Rose Circus type stuff from the 90's

[steve from amherst]

4 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

Haven't seen any of that. Closest thing might be Jim Rose Circus type stuff from the 90's

Ya didn't miss much. Freak show

[ActionfigureJoe]

1 minute ago, steve from amherst said:

Ya didn't miss much. Freak show

Sinsations was way better. 

[Skidooski]

3 minutes ago, steve from amherst said:

Ya didn't miss much. Freak show

I vaguely remember their show long time ago on tour with NIN

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

23 minutes ago, steve from amherst said:

But is it as good as AA.?  Sex is all those bitches have left.

Are you in marketing?? You finally gave me a reason to go to the meetings (one not mandated by a Commonwealth or strongly recommend by council)! They should be advertising this shit, I would have started attending years ago!! 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

[Anler]

They sound like my kind of people! Hail Satan!  

[Anler]

Are Satanists the same as Luciferians? Paging @bussman

[Anler]

How about a link? 

[SSFB]

1 hour ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

Years ago I had a freeky chick drag me to The Leather Rose in Chicago. It’s a BDSM club down on Michigan Ave. I saw shit there that you just can’t unsee.  

Was Momo there eating shit out of a pail?

 

[Lord Rothschild]

It's too late for America, my plans are working to perfection. 

[steve from amherst]

51 minutes ago, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot said:

Are you in marketing?? You finally gave me a reason to go to the meetings (one not mandated by a Commonwealth or strongly recommend by council)! They should be advertising this shit, I would have started attending years ago!! 

I dated a couple, AA taught them not to drink. What they never learned was to do things in moderation.

[Cold War]

3 hours ago, steve from amherst said:

I dated a couple, AA taught them not to drink. What they never learned was to do things in moderation.

Yup,  and they freak out when you suggest such a thing.   Replace drinking with Jesus, tattoos, coffee/ Mountain Dew,  working out , cigarettes,  to an unhealthy extreme.