Since the 19th century various small religious groups have emerged that identify as Satanist or use Satanic iconography. While the groups that appeared after the 1960s differed greatly, they can be broadly divided intonontheistic Satanism andtheistic Satanism.[9] Those venerating Satan as a supernaturaldeity are unlikely to ascribeomnipotence, instead relating to Satan as apatriarch. Nontheistic Satanists regard Satan as a symbol of certain human traits, a usefulmetaphor without ontological reality.[10] Contemporary religious Satanism is predominantly an American phenomenon, although the rise of globalization and the Internet have seen these ideas spread to other parts of the world.[11]
The termSatan has evolved from aHebrew term for "adversary" or "to oppose", into the Christian figure of a fallen angel who tempts mortals into sin. The wordSatan was not originally a proper name, but rather an ordinary noun that means "adversary". In this context, it appears at several points in theOld Testament.[12] For instance, in theBook of Samuel,David is presented as the satan ("adversary") of thePhilistines, while in theBook of Numbers, the term appears as a verb, when Jehovah sent an angel to satan ("to oppose")Balaam.[13]
Prior to the composition of theNew Testament, the idea developed within Jewish communities that Satan was the name of an angel who had rebelled against Jehovah and had been cast out of Heaven along with his followers; this account would be incorporated into contemporary texts such as theBook of Enoch.[14] This Satan was then featured in parts of the New Testament, where he was presented as a figure who tempts humans to commitsin; in theBook of Matthew and theBook of Luke, he attempted to temptJesus of Nazareth as the latter fasted in the wilderness.[15]
While the early Christian idea of the Devil was not well developed, it gradually adapted and expanded through the creation of folklore, art, theological treatises, and morality tales, thus providing the character with a range of extra-Biblical associations.[16] Beginning in the early middle ages, the concept developed in Christianity of the devil as "archrepresentative of evil", and of the Satanist "as malign mirror image of the good Christian".[17]
The wordSatanism was adopted into English from the Frenchsatanisme.[18] The termsSatanism andSatanist are first recorded as appearing in the English and French languages during the 16th century, when they were used by Christian groups to attack other, rival Christian groups.[7] In aRoman Catholic tract of 1565, the author condemns the "heresies, blasphemies, and sathanismes [sic]" of theProtestants.[18] In anAnglican work of 1559,Anabaptists and other Protestant sects are condemned as "swarmes of Satanistes [sic]".[18] As used in this manner, the termSatanism was not used to claim that people literally worshipped Satan, but instead that they deviated from true Christianity, and thus were serving the will of Satan.[19] During the 19th century, the termSatanism began to be used to describe those considered to lead a broadly immoral lifestyle,[19] and it was only in the late 19th century that it came to be applied in English to individuals who were believed to consciously and deliberately venerate Satan.[19] This latter meaning had appeared earlier in theSwedish language; theLutheran BishopLaurentius Paulinus Gothus had described devil-worshipping sorcerers asSathanister in hisEthica Christiana, produced between 1615 and 1630.[20]
Definitions
Some definitions of Satanism:
the worship or veneration of the figure from Christian belief known as Satan, the Devil or Lucifer[2]
the "intentional, religiously motivated veneration of Satan"[21][19]
"a system in which Satan is celebrated in a prominent position"[22] This definition has the advantage of avoiding "assumptions about the nature of religion".[23]
the simultaneous presence of three characteristics:
1) the worship of the character in the Bible whose name is Satan or Lucifer,
2) the organization of these "Satanists" into a group with at least some kind of organization and hierarchy, and ...
3) and has some kind of ritual or liturgical practices [...]
whether the group with these characteristics perceives Satan as personal or impersonal, real or symbolic, does not matter.[24]
But these definitions of Satanism are limited to
figures and groups whoidentify as Satanists or at least admirers of Satan (Romantic Satanists, hellfire clubs and modern Satanists).
... excluding
figures and groupsaccused of worshipping Satan and in the process committing horrible crimes (in the middle ages, during the 1980–1994Satanic ritual abuse moral panic, etc.) but who either appear to have not been satanists or to not have actually existed.
According to Laycock, excluding the second group, you leave out most of the history of Satanism.[23]
If youdo include both groups, you have two sides with very different views on who or what Satan was/is and represented. The accusers usually follow the Christian idea of Satan as an irredeemably evil fallen angel who seeks the destruction of both God and humanity, but who, along with his followers, is doomed to fail and to suffer eternal punishment.[3] While the self-identified Satanists often do not believe that Satan actually exists as a being (they believe he is a symbol and a "Promethean figure",[25] "an esoteric symbol of a vital force that permeates the universe"),[26] let alone is trying to destroy humanity.
Definitions that would include the "satanism" of heresy crusades and moral panics is:
an invention of Christianity, relying on a character deriving fromChristian mythology, i.e. Satan.[27]
In their study of Satanism, thereligious studies scholars Asbjørn Dyrendal,James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aa. Petersen stated that the termSatanism "has a history of being a designation made by people against those whom they dislike; it is a term used for 'othering'".[28]
Eugene Gallagher noted that Satanism was usually "apolemical, not a descriptive term".[29]
Similar to the way certain Christian denominations accuse each other of heresy, different satanic groups—mainly the Church of Satan (CoS), the Temple of Set (ToS), the Order of Nine Angles (ONA), and The Satanic Temple (TST)—often accuse one another of being fraudulent Satanists and/or ignorant of true Satanism.[3]
Related terms
Because the original concept of Satan came from Judaism and was embraced by Christianity, and because Satanists, almost by definition, oppose the teachings of those religions, people drawn to Satanism will often move on to "post-Satanism", i.e. to a religion that does not declare itself "Satanic", but includes elements of Satanism (e.g.Temple of Set). Others may regards themselves as Satanists but promote mythological figures and traditions outside of Christianity or Judaism.[30] These religions are sometimes called Satanic and sometimes post-Satanic.[Note 1]
Diane E. Taub and Lawrence D. Nelson complain that Satanism "is frequently defined either too broadly or too narrowly", with accusers sometimes including non-satanic groups such asSanteria,Witchcraft, Eastern religions as well asFreemasonry; and academics (for example Carlson and Larue)[31] and others sometimes restricting its definition to "recognized Satanic churches and their members", excluding those who "believes in a literal Satan". Taub and Nelson define Satanism as "the literal or symbolic worship of Satan, the enemy of the Judeo-Christian God".[32]
Devil in society
Devil mask from Portugal
Historical and anthropological research suggests that nearly all societies have developed the idea of a sinister and anti-human force that can hide itself within society.[33] This commonly involves a belief inwitches, a group of individuals who invert the norms of their society and seek to harm their community, for instance by engaging inincest,murder, andcannibalism.[34] Allegations of witchcraft may have different causes and serve different functions within a society.[35] For instance, they may serve to uphold social norms,[36] to heighten the tension in existing conflicts between individuals,[36] or to scapegoat certain individuals for various social problems.[35]
Another contributing factor to the idea of Satanism is the concept that there is an agent of misfortune and evil who operates on a cosmic scale,[37] something usually associated with a strong form of ethical dualism that divides the world clearly into forces of good and forces of evil.[38] The earliest such entity known isAngra Mainyu, a figure that appears in the Persian religion ofZoroastrianism.[37][39] This concept was also embraced by Judaism and early Christianity, and although it was soon marginalized within Jewish thought, it gained increasing importance within early Christian understandings of the cosmos.[40]
TheNative South American terrible godTiw is traditionally honored with the syncretic dance and paradeDiablada ('Dance of the Devils') that was opposed to the Catholic Church in origin.[41]
Accusations of Satanism
According to authorArthur Lyons, "Satanic religions are as old as monotheism and have their origins in Persia of the sixth century",[Note 2]and Joe Carter of the conservative ecumenical journalFirst Things writes that "real satanism has been around since the beginning of history, selling an appealing message: Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God."[43][Note 3]
On the other hand, religious scholar Joseph Laycock writes that the "available evidence suggests" that Satanism began as "an imaginary religion Christians invented to demonize their opponents".[23]Confessions of worship of Satan came only after torture or other forms of coercion in early modern Europe.[23] While early stories of satanic activity have been commonly labeled and regarded as propaganda based on falsehood, they also partially shaped the beliefs of what would become modern religious Satanism. Those who absorbed and accepted the tales sometimes began to imitate them (celebrating Black Masses for example), a process known to folklorists as "ostension".[45]
Francisco de Goya'sWitches' Sabbath (1789), which depictsthe Devil flanked by Satanic witches. The witch-cult hypothesis states that such stories are based upon a real-life pagan cult that revered a horned god.
As Christianity expanded throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, it came into contact with a variety of other religions, which it regarded as "pagan". Christianity being a monotheist religion, Christian theologians believed that since there was only one God (the God of Christianity) the gods and goddesses with supernatural powers venerated by these "pagans" could not be genuine divinities but must actually be demons.[46] However, they did not believe that "pagans" were deliberately worshippingdevils, but were instead simply misguided and unaware of the "true" God.[47]
Those Christian groups regarded asheretics by theRoman Catholic Church were treated differently, with theologians arguing that they were deliberately worshipping the Devil.[48] This was accompanied by claims that such individuals engaged in acts of evil—incestuous sexual orgies, the murder of infants, andcannibalism—all stock accusations that had previously been leveled at Christians themselves in theRoman Empire.[49] In Christian iconography, the Devil and demons were given the physical traits of figures fromclassical mythology, such as the godPan,fauns, andsatyrs.[47]
The first recorded example of such an accusation being made withinWestern Christianity took place inToulouse in 1022, when two clerics were tried for allegedly venerating a demon.[50] Throughout theMiddle Ages, this accusation would be applied to a wide range of Christian heretical groups, including thePaulicians,Bogomils,Cathars,Waldensians, and theHussites.[51] TheKnights Templar were accused of worshipping anidol known asBaphomet, with Lucifer having appeared at their meetings in the form of a cat.[52] As well as these Christian groups, these claims were also made about Europe's Jewish community.[53] In the 13th century, there were also references made to a group of "Luciferians" led by a woman named Lucardis which hoped to see Satan rule in Heaven. References to this group continued into the 14th century, although historians studying the allegations concur that these Luciferians were probably a fictitious invention.[54]
Within Christian thought, the idea developed that certain individuals could makea pact with Satan.[55] This may have emerged after observing that pacts with gods and goddesses played a role in various pre-Christian belief systems, or that such pacts were also made as part of the Christian cult of saints.[56] Another possibility is that it derives from a misunderstanding ofAugustine of Hippo's condemnation ofaugury in hisOn Christian Doctrine, written in the late 4th century. Here, he stated that people who consulted augurs were enteringquasi pacts (covenants) with demons.[57] The idea of the diabolical pact made with demons was popularized across Europe in the story ofFaust, probably based in part on the real lifeJohann Georg Faust.[58]
As the late medieval gave way to theearly modern period, European Christendom experienced a schism between the establishedRoman Catholic Church and the breakawayProtestant movement. In the ensuingReformation andCounter-Reformation (1517–1700 CE), both Catholics and Protestants accused each other of deliberately being in league with Satan.[8] It was in this context that the termsSatanist andSatanism emerged.[7]
Witch trials
Thetorture used againstaccused witches, 1577. Estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe vary between 40,000 and 60,000.
The early modern period also saw fear of Satanists reach its "historical apogee" in the form of thewitch trials of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries,[59] when between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed, almost all in Europe.[60] This came about as the accusations which had been leveled at medieval heretics, among them that of devil-worship, were applied to the pre-existing idea ofthe witch, or practitioner of malevolentmagic.[61] The idea of a conspiracy of Satanic witches was developed by educated elites, although the concept of malevolent witchcraft was a widespread part of popular belief, andfolkloric ideas about the night witch, thewild hunt, and the dance of the fairies were incorporated into it.[62] The earliest trials took place in Northern Italy and France, before spreading it out to other areas of Europe and to Britain's North American colonies, being carried out by the legal authorities in both Catholic and Protestant regions.[59]
Most historians agree that the majority of those persecuted in these witch trials were innocent of any involvement in Devil worship.[63] Historian Darren Eldridge writes that claims that there actually was a cult of devil-worshippers being pursued by witch hunters "have not survived the scrutiny of surviving trial records" done by historians from 1962 to 2012.[64]However, in their summary of the evidence for the trials, the historians Geoffrey Scarre and John Callow thought it "without doubt" that some of those accused in the trials had been guilty of employing magic in an attempt to harm their enemies and were thus genuinely guilty of witchcraft.[65]
In a scandal starting with the poisoning of three people, prominent members of the French aristocracy, including members of the king's inner circle, were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning and witchcraft. Between 1677 and 1682, during the reign of KingLouis XIV, 36 people were executed in Satanic panic known to history as theAffair of the Poisons.[66] At least some of the accusers were implicated others under torture and in hopes of saving their lives. These highly unreliable reports include what "may be the first report of a satanic mass using a woman as an altar".[66]
18th- to 20th-century Christendom
Stanislas de Guaita drew the original goat pentagram, which first appeared in the bookLa Clef de la Magie Noire in 1897. Adaptations of this inverted pentagram would later become synonymous withBaphomet.
TheEnlightenment andScientific Revolution changed humanity's understanding of the world. The mathematics ofIsaac Newton and psychology ofJohn Locke "left little space for the intervention of supernatural beings".[67]Charles Darwin's theory ofevolution undermined the doctrine of the Fall in the Garden of Eden and the role of the diabolicalserpent, while also providing an "alternative account of human evil" in the form of "a residual effect of our animal nature".[68] TheIndustrial Revolution and urbanization disturbed traditional social relations and folk ideas to undermine belief in witchcraft and the devil.[68] Understanding of disorders of the mind undercut demonic possession.[68] But while the hunting and killing of alleged witches waned, belief in Satan did not disappear.
During the 18th century, gentleman's social clubs became increasingly prominent in Britain and Ireland, among the most secretive of which were theHellfire Clubs, which were first reported in the 1720s.[69] The most famous of these groups was the Order of the Knights of Saint Francis, which was founded circa 1750 by the aristocratSir Francis Dashwood and which assembled first at his estate atWest Wycombe and later inMedmenham Abbey.[70] A number of contemporary press sources portrayed these as gatherings ofatheistrakes where Christianity was mocked, and toasts were made to the Devil.[71] Beyond these sensationalist accounts, which may not be accurate portrayals of actual events, little is known about the activities of the Hellfire Clubs.[71] Introvigne suggested that they may have engaged in a form of "playful Satanism" in which Satan was invoked "to show a daring contempt for conventional morality" rather than to pay homage to him.[72]
TheFrench Revolution of 1789 dealt a blow to the hegemony of theRoman Catholic Church in parts of Europe, and soon a number of Catholic authors began making claims that it had been masterminded by a conspiratorial group of Satanists.[73] Among the first to do so was French Catholic priest Jean-Baptiste Fiard, who publicly claimed that a wide range of individuals, from theJacobins totarot card readers, were part of a Satanic conspiracy.[74] Fiard's ideas were furthered byAlexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier de Terre-Neuve du Thym (1765–1851), who devoted a lengthy book to thisconspiracy theory; he claimed that Satanists had supernatural powers allowing them to curse people and to shapeshift into both cats and fleas.[75] Although most of his contemporaries regarded Berbiguier as suffering from mental illness,[76] his ideas gained credence among many occultists, includingStanislas de Guaita, aCabalist who used them for the basis of his book,The Temple of Satan.[77]
A reaction to this was theTaxil hoax in 1890s France, where an anti-clerical writerLéo Taxil (aka Marie Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès), publicly converted to Catholicism and then published several works alleging to expose the Satanic doings ofFreemasons. In 1897, Taxil called a press conference promising to introduce a key character of his stories but instead announced that his revelations about the Freemasons were made up, and thanked the Catholic clergy for helping to publicize his stories.[78] Nine years later he told an American magazine that at first he thought readers would recognize his tales as obvious nonsense, "amusement pure and simple", but when he realized they believed his stories and that there was "lots of money" to be made in publishing them, he continued to perpetrate the hoax.[79] Around the same time, another convert to CatholicismJoris-Karl Huysmans, also helped promote the concept of active Satanist groups in his 1891 workLà-bas (Down There). Huysmans "helped to cement" the idea the black mass as Satanic rite and inversion of the Roman Catholic mass, with a naked woman for an altar.[2] (Unlike Taxil, his conversion was apparently genuine and his book was published as fiction.)
In the early 20th century, the British novelistDennis Wheatley produced a range of influential novels in which his protagonists battled Satanic groups.[80] At the same time, non-fiction authors such asMontague Summers and Rollo Ahmed published books claiming that Satanic groups practicing black magic were still active across the world, although they provided no evidence that this was the case.[81] During the 1950s, various British tabloid newspapers repeated such claims, largely basing their accounts on the allegations of one woman, Sarah Jackson, who claimed to have been a member of such a group.[82] In 1973, the British Christian Doreen Irvine publishedFrom Witchcraft to Christ, in which she claimed to have been a member of a Satanic group that gave her supernatural powers, such as the ability tolevitate, before she escaped and embraced Christianity.[83]
In the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, various Christian preachers—the most famous beingMike Warnke in his 1972 bookThe Satan-Seller—claimed that they had been members of Satanic groups who carried out sex rituals and animal sacrifices before discovering Christianity.[84] According to Gareth Medway in his historical examination of Satanism, these stories were "a series of inventions by insecure people and hack writers, each one based on a previous story, exaggerated a little more each time".[85]
Other publications made allegations of Satanism against historical figures. The 1970s saw the publication of the Romanian Protestant preacherRichard Wurmbrand's book in which he argued—without corroborating evidence—that the socio-political theoristKarl Marx had been a Satanist.[86]
At the end of the 20th century, amoral panic arose from claims that a Devil-worshipping cult was committing sexual abuse, murder, and cannibalism in its rituals, and including children among the victims of its rites.[87] Initially, the alleged perpetrators of such crimes were labeled "witches", although the termSatanist was soon adopted as a favored alternative,[87] and the phenomenon itself came to be called "the Satanism Scare".[88] Those active in the scare alleged that there was a conspiracy of organized Satanists who occupied prominent positions throughout society, from the police to politicians, and that they had been powerful enough to cover up their crimes.[89]
Preceded by some significant but isolated episodes in the 1970s, a great Satanism scare exploded in the 1980s in the United States and Canada and was subsequently exported towards England, Australia, and other countries. It was unprecedented in history. It surpassed even the results ofTaxil's propaganda, and has been compared with the most virulent periods of witch hunting. The scare started in 1980 and declined slowly between 1990... and 1994, when official British and American reports denied the real existence of ritual satanic crimes. Particularly outside the U.S. and U.K., however, its consequences are still felt today.
Sociologist of religion Massimo Introvigne, 2016[90]
One of the primary sources for the scare wasMichelle Remembers, a 1980 book by the Canadian psychiatristLawrence Pazder in which he detailed what he claimed were therepressed memories of his patient (and wife) Michelle Smith. Smith had claimed that as a child she had been abused by her family in Satanic rituals in which babies were sacrificed and Satan himself appeared.[91][92] In 1983, allegations were made that the McMartin family—owners of a preschool in California—were guilty of sexually abusing the children in their care during Satanic rituals. The allegations resulted in alengthy and expensive trial, in which all of the accused would eventually be cleared.[93][94] The publicity generated by the case resulted in similar allegations being made in various other parts of the United States.[95]
A key claim by the "anti-Satanists"[attribution needed] of the Satanic Scare was that any child's claim about Satanic ritual abuse must be true, because children do not lie.[96] Although some involved in the anti-Satanism movement were from Jewish and secular backgrounds,[97] a central part was played by fundamentalist[contentious label] and evangelical Christians, in particularPentecostal Christians, with Christian groups holding conferences and producing books and videotapes to promote belief in the conspiracy.[88] Various figures in law enforcement also came to be promoters of the conspiracy theory, with such "cult cops"[attribution needed] holding various conferences to promote it.[98] The scare was later imported to the United Kingdom through visiting evangelicals and became popular among some of the country's social workers,[99] resulting in a range of accusations and trials across Britain.[100]
In the late 1980s, the Satanic Scare had lost its impetus following increasing skepticism about such allegations,[101] and a number of those who had been convicted of perpetrating Satanic ritual abuse saw their convictions overturned.[102] In 1990, an agent of the U.S.Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ken Lanning, revealed that he had investigated 300 allegations of Satanic ritual abuse and found no evidence for Satanism or ritualistic activity in any of them.[102] In the UK, theDepartment of Health commissioned the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine to examine the allegations of SRA.[103] She noted that while approximately half did reveal evidence of genuine sexual abuse of children, none revealed any evidence that Satanist groups had been involved or that any murders had taken place.[104] She noted three examples in which lone individuals engaged in child molestation had created a ritual performance to facilitate their sexual acts, with the intent of frightening their victims and justifying their actions, but that none of these child molesters were involved in wider Satanist groups.[105]
By 1994, the Satanic ritual abuse hysteria[contentious label] had died down in the US and UK,[90] and by the 21st century, hysteria about Satanism has waned in most Western countries, although allegations of Satanic ritual abuse continued to surface in parts of continental Europe and Latin America.[106] In the United States SRA ideas persisted among much of the public even as law enforcement had grown tired of false leads. A 1994 survey for the women's magazineRedbook reported in 1994,
70 percent of those polled "believe that at least some people who claim that they were abused by satanic cults as children, but repressed the memories for years, are telling the truth"[107][108]
32 percent agreed with the statement, "The FBI and the police ignore evidence because they don't want to admit the cults exist",[108][109] and
22 percent agreed that cult leaders use brainwashing to ensure that the victims would not tell.[108]
Another Satanic conspiracy theory arose in the United States by 2017,[110] with unsubstantiated allegations of organized Devil-worshippers in prominent positions committing sexual abuse, murder, and cannibalism. The source of such claims began within a far-right political movement, made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q", which were relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. The central QAnon claim purports that a global childsex trafficking ring made up of Democratic politicians, Hollywood actors, high-ranking government officials, business tycoons, and medical experts,[111] were kidnapping, sexually abusing and eating children, but that (then-President)Donald Trump would round up the cabal and bring them to justice in a climactic event known to supporters as "the storm".[112][113][114][115] With the lack of any evidence of child abuse or harm, and failure of the prophesized "storm" to appear before the inauguration of a new president, the conspiracy has waned but not entirely disappeared.[116]
Precursors of modern Satanism
Literary
From the late 1600s through to the 1800s, the character of Satan was increasingly rendered unimportant in western philosophy, and ignored in Christian theology, while in folklore he came to be seen as a foolish rather than a menacing figure.[117] The development of new values in theAge of Enlightenment (in particular, those ofreason andindividualism) contributed to a shift in many Europeans' concept of Satan.[117] In this context, a number of individuals took Satan out of the traditional Christian narrative and reread and reinterpreted him in light of their own time and their own interests, in turn generating new and different portraits of Satan.[118]
The shifting concept of Satan owes many of its origins toJohn Milton's epic poemParadise Lost (1667), in which Satan features as the protagonist.[119] Milton was aPuritan and had never intended for his depiction of Satan to be a sympathetic one.[120] However, in portraying Satan as a victim of his own pride who rebelled against the Judeo-Christian god, Milton humanized him and also allowed him to be interpreted as a rebel against tyranny.[121] In this vein, the 19th century saw the emergence of what has been termedliterary Satanism orromantic Satanism,[122] where in poetry, plays, and novels, God is portrayed not as benevolent but using His omnipotent power for tyranny. Whereas in Christian doctrine Satan was an enemy of not only god but humanity, in the romantic portrayal he was a brave, noble, rebel against tyranny, a friend to other victims of the all powerful bully, i.e. humans. These writers saw Satan as a metaphor to criticize the power of churches and state and to champion the values of reason and liberty.[123]
This was how Milton's Satan was understood byJohn Dryden[124] and later readers such as the publisherJoseph Johnson,[125] and the anarchist philosopherWilliam Godwin, who reflected it in his 1793 bookEnquiry Concerning Political Justice.[121]Paradise Lost gained a wide readership in the 18th century, both in Britain and in continental Europe, where it had been translated into French byVoltaire.[126] Milton thus became "a central character in rewriting Satanism" and would be viewed by many later religious Satanists as a "de facto Satanist".[118]
According to Ruben van Luijk, this cannot be seen as a "coherent movement with a single voice, but rather as apost factum identified group of sometimes widely divergent authors among whom a similar theme is found".[127] For the literary Satanists, Satan was depicted as a benevolent and sometimes heroic figure,[128] with these more sympathetic portrayals proliferating in the art and poetry of manyromanticist anddecadent figures.[118] For these individuals, Satanism was not a religious belief or ritual activity, but rather a "strategic use of a symbol and a character as part of artistic and political expression".[129]
Among the romanticist poets to adopt this concept of Satan was the English poetPercy Bysshe Shelley, who had been influenced by Milton.[130] In his poemLaon and Cythna, Shelley praised the "serpent", a reference to Satan, as a force for good in the universe.[131]Another was Shelley's fellow British poetLord Byron, who included Satanic themes in his 1821 playCain, which was a dramatization of the Biblical story ofCain and Abel.[122] These more positive portrayals also developed in France; one example was the 1823 workEloa byAlfred de Vigny.[132] Satan was also adopted by the French poetVictor Hugo, who made the character's fall from Heaven a central aspect of hisLa Fin de Satan, in which he outlined his owncosmogony.[133]Although the likes of Shelley and Byron promoted a positive image of Satan in their work, there is no evidence that any of them performed religious rites to venerate him, and thus they cannot be considered to be religious Satanists.[127]
Radical left-wing political ideas had been spread by theAmerican Revolution of 1775–83 and theFrench Revolution of 1789–99. The figure of Satan, who was seen as having rebelled against the tyranny imposed by Jehovah, was appealing to many of the radical leftists of the period.[134] For them, Satan was "a symbol for the struggle against tyranny, injustice, and oppression... a mythical figure of rebellion for an age of revolutions, a larger-than-life individual for an age of individualism, a free thinker in an age struggling for free thought".[129] The French anarchistPierre-Joseph Proudhon, who was a staunch critic of Christianity, embraced Satan as a symbol of liberty in several of his writings.[135] Another prominent 19th century anarchist, the RussianMikhail Bakunin, similarly described the figure of Satan as "the eternal rebel, the first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds" in his bookGod and the State.[136] These ideas probably inspired the Americanfeminist activistMoses Harman to name his anarchist periodicalLucifer the Lightbearer.[137] The idea of this "Leftist Satan" declined during the 20th century.[137]
Occult
The Sabbatic Goat, also known as the Goat of Mendes orBaphomet, as illustrated byÉliphas Lévi, has become one of the most common symbols of Satanism.[138]
In 17th-century Sweden, a number of highway robbers and other outlaws living in the forests informed judges that they venerated Satan because he provided more practical assistance than Jehovah,[139] practices now regarded as "folkloric Satanism".[20]
The figure of "Lucifer" was taken up by the Frenchceremonial magicianÉliphas Lévi (1810–1875), who shocked convention by turning the traditional figure of evil into a brave rebel against tyranny.[123] Lévi has been described as a "Romantic Satanist",[140][141] aRomantic literary movement that formed no organizations and did not worship Satan, but did make a crucial break away from the traditional Christian figure of the "Lord of Darkness" doomed to failure and punishment for his wickedness.[23] They reimagined Satan as an enemy of God the powerful, but not of the weak and mortal human race. In other words, a figure humans could sympathize with.[23]As Lévi moved toward political conservatism in later life, he retained the use of the term, but instead applied it to what he believed was a morally neutral facet of "the absolute".[140][141]
Lévi was not the only occultist who used the termLucifer without adopting the termSatan in a similar way.[141] The earlyTheosophical Society believed that "Lucifer" was a force that aided humanity's awakening to its own spiritual nature;[142] the Society began publishing thejournalLucifer in 1887.[143]
Danish occultistCarl William Hansen (1872–1936), who used the pen name Ben Kadosh, listed "Luciferian" as his religious affiliation in answer to the Danish national census (his wife and children were listed as Lutheran),[143] making him among the earliest "self-declared Satanists".[26] Hansen sought to spread a cult of Satan/Lucifer,[26] and was involved in a variety of esoteric groups, includingMartinism,Freemasonry, andOrdo Templi Orientis, drawing on their ideas to establish his own philosophy.[143] He provided a Luciferian interpretation of Freemasonry in a 1906 pamphlet, although his work had little influence outside of Denmark.[145][146]
Throughout his life British occultistAleister Crowley (1875–1947) was widely described as a Satanist, usually by detractors.[147] Crowley did not consider himself a Satanist, nor did he worship Satan, as he did not accept the Christian world view in which Satan was believed to exist.[148] He nevertheless used imagery considered satanic, for instance, describing himself as "the Beast 666" and referring to theWhore of Babylon in his work, sending "Antichristmas cards" to his friends later in life.[149] Crowley "in many ways embodies the pre-Satanist esoteric discourse on Satan and Satanism through his lifestyle and his philosophy", with his "image and thought" becoming an "important influence" on the later development of religious Satanism.[145] Both Crowley andLaVey "cultivated a sinister public image and sported shaved heads".
In 1928, theFraternitas Saturni (FS) was established in Germany; its founder,Eugen Grosche, publishedSatanische Magie ("Satanic Magic") that same year.[150] The group connected Satan toSaturn, claiming that the planet related to the Sun in the same manner that Lucifer relates to the human world.[150]
Maria de Naglowska, a Russian occultist who had fled to France following theRussian Revolution, established the esoteric group Brotherhood of the Golden Arrow in Paris in 1932.[151][152] She promoted a theology centered on what she called the Third Term of the Trinity consisting of Father, Son, and Sex, the last of which she deemed to be most important.[151] Her early disciples, who underwent what she called "Satanic Initiations", included models and art students recruited frombohemian circles.[151] The Golden Arrow disbanded after Naglowska abandoned it in 1936.[153] Hers was "a quite complicated Satanism, built on a complex philosophical vision of the world, of which little would survive its initiator".[154]
Herbert Sloane claimsOur Lady of Endor Coven, a Satanic group based inToledo, Ohio, was founded in 1948. Describing his Satanic tradition as the Ophite Cultus Sathanas, the group first came to public attention in 1969.[155][156] The group had a Gnostic doctrine about the world, in which the Judeo-Christian creator god is regarded as evil, and theBiblical serpent is presented as a force for good, who had delivered salvation to humanity in theGarden of Eden.[155][157] Sloane's claim of a 1940s origin remain unproven: potentially fabricated to make his group appear older than the (1966) establishment of the Church of Satan.[158][156]
Contemporary tendencies and groups
"The intentional, religiously motivated veneration of Satan" is the "working definition" of Satanism of historian of religion Ruben van Luijk,[19] comes in different forms. Satanism has been called a "new religious movement",[159] and other times judged too diffuse to merit that description and been called instead a "milieu" (Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen),[160] united by "family resemblance",[28] and the fact that most of them wereself religions.[160] Some of the resemblances in this Satanic milieu are:
the positive use of the termSatanist as a designation,
an emphasis on individualism,
a genealogy that connects them to other Satanic groups,
an embrace of values such as pride, self-reliance, and productive non-conformity.[161]
A minority of Satanists have some type of association with the political far-right.[162]
Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen argue that the groups within the Satanic milieu can be divided into three groups: reactive Satanists, rationalist Satanists, and esoteric Satanists.[163]
Reactive Satanism (they believe) encompass "popular Satanism, inverted Christianity, and symbolic rebellion" and situates itself in opposition to society while at the same time conforming to society's perspective of evil.[163]
Rationalist Satanism is used to describe the trend in the Satanic milieu which isatheistic,skeptical,materialistic, andepicurean.[164] According to Joseph Laycock, "most contemporary Satanists" are nontheistic.[3]
Diane E. Taub and Lawrence D. Nelson (publishing in 1993, at the end of the "Satanic panic") divide Satanism into two:
"Establishment" Satanism, or the "respectable" form of Satanism that is "usually highly visible and structured",[32] and emphasizes its law-abiding nature. (This may include both Rationalist Satanism and Esoteric Satanism.) An example of "Establishment Satanism" is theChurch of Satan, which "officially condemns illegal activity".[165] (Other Establishment Satanists are the Church of Satanic Brotherhood or the Temple of Set.)[166] It is the variety of Satanism most studied by academic sociologists,[167] who also represent Satanism in their "discourse" as "harmless, law-abiding alternative religions",[167] ignoring the second type of Satanism ...
"Underground" Satanism, the Satanism of "reputed criminal elements", and the variety that lay groups and the media tend to focus on (especially during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s).[168][169] (Satanic Underground may be similar to Reactive Satanism.) Information on the underground is often less than reliable, as reports are sensational and the Satanists themselves are secretive.[170][171][172][173] Establishment and Underground Satanism conflict, the first wanting to preserve its social acceptance and tax-exempt status that the sensational crimes or alleged crimes of the underground put in jeopardy. How much cause and effect there is a between Underground Satanism and crime comes into question because according to at least one report, "nearly worshipping criminal has had a history of anti-social behavior ... long before taking up occult trappings.")[174][175] On the other hand, evidence of personality disorders does not mean the disorder sufferer does not have sincere Satanic beliefs.[176][171]
Contemporary religious Satanism is predominantly an American phenomenon but has spread elsewhere via globalization and the Internet,[11] allowing for intra-group communication and creation of a forum for Satanist disputes.[11] Satanism started to reachCentral and Eastern Europe in the 1990s—in time with the fall of theCommunist Bloc—and most noticeably inPoland andLithuania, predominantly Roman Catholic countries.[177][178]
Thesigil of Baphomet, official insignia of the Church of Satan and LaVeyan Satanism
Satanism as "a self-declared religion" began in 1966 with the founding of the Church of Satan (CoS) byAnton Szandor LaVey. Religious scholars have called the Church not only the oldest, continuous satanic organization[179][180][181][182] but the most influential, with "numerous imitator and breakaway groups".[179][183]
The church was founded in San Francisco, California, in an era when there was much public interest in theoccult,witchcraft, and Satanism. A "gigantic media circus"[184] developed around Anton LaVey, "the Father of Satanism" and his Satanic aesthetics. LaVey shaved his head, wore a goatee, performedBlack Masses with nude women serving as altars.[185] He was invited on national talk shows and mingled with celebrities attending his satanic parties.[186][187] As an entrepreneur, he saw an opening for a new religion in the spiritual void of a secularizing post-Christian West.[188]
But LaVey also promoted his ideas and his 1969Satanic Bible as "the best-known and most influential statement of Satanic theology".[189] It sold nearly a million copies.[179] These had "very little" connection with "either Satan or the worship of Satan",[190] but were based on theRomantic literary concept of Satan, not as a symbol of evil, but as a rebel anti-hero, defying God’s tyranny with charisma and bravery.[191] Together with the romanticism, "humanism, hedonism, aspects of pop psychology and the human potential movement" were woven together by LaVey,[186] and publicized with "a lot of showmanship".[179] PhilosopherAyn Rand, who argued that"selfishness" is a virtue[192] in that "unfettered self-interest is good and altruism is destructive",[193] was a major influence. According to both LaVey[194] and sociologist of religionJames R. Lewis,[195]Ayn Rand's thought was a cornerstone of his philosophy, along with "ceremony and ritual" or "ritual magic".
LaVey used Christianity as a "negative mirror" for his new faith,[197] rejecting the basic principles, theology and values of Christian belief,[198] along with other major religions and philosophies such as humanitarianism andliberal democracy—which he saw as negative forces. Instead of idealism, humility, abstinence, self-denigration, obedience, herd behavior, spirituality, and irrationality;[199] he praised theseven deadly sins (i.e.pride,greed,wrath,envy,lust,gluttony andsloth), as virtues not vices.[200][201] LaVey went beyond discouraging sexual inhibitions and feelings of guilt and shame over fetishes,[202][203] calling for a celebration of, and indulgence in, humanity's animal nature and its desires, which Christianity sought to suppress.[198] Human beings should seek out the carnal rather than the spiritual;[204] satisfying the ego's desires enhanced an individual's pride, self-respect, and self-realization.[205] Hate, and aggression were necessary and advantageous for survival,[206] victims should not "turn the other cheek"[207] but take an "eye for an eye".[208]
Satanists should be individualistic, non-conformist, contemptuous of "colorless" mainstream society.[209] LaVey saw Satanism as something like a personality type as much as a belief, since Satanists "are outsiders by their nature",[209] and "born, not made".[210] Since gods are actually a creation of man and not the other way around, LaVey asked, "'Why not really be honest and if you are going to create a god in your image, why not create that god as yourself'.... every man is a god if he chooses to recognize himself as one."[211][32] Not everyone would measure up to being a god however. Human social equality was a "myth", leading to "mediocrity" and support of the weak at the expense of the strong.[212][213] "Social stratification" was part of LaVey and the Church's "Five Point Program".[214][215]
A "true Satanic society" was described in Lavey's church's periodicalThe Black Flame and highlighted by anthropologistJean La Fontaine; it would be one in which the population consists of "free-spirited, well-armed, fully-conscious, self-disciplined individuals, who will neither need nor tolerate any external entity 'protecting' them or telling them what they can and cannot do".[216] Another version of the Satanic society envisioned by LaVey was the breeding of an elite people "superior" in their creativity and nonconformity.[217] These would live apart from the rest of the human "herd"—who would be relegated into ghettoes, ideally "space ghettoes" located on other planets.[218]
LaVey's ideas were also said to "seem contradictory".[186] According to CoS priest Gavin Baddeley, LaVey's church combined "a love of life garbed in the symbols of death and fear",[219][186] and while LaVey himself pontificated on personal freedom, he "micromanaged the lives of his followers".[220] Some doubted his atheist naturalism.[221] LaVey insisted the church scoffed at the supernatural, but also told an interviewer he considered "curses and hexes" against enemies a form of human sacrifice "by proxy".[222]
Contradictions in his thought have been explained by his wanting it to have as wide appeal as possible,[186] balancing, in his words, "nine parts" of "respectability" to "one part" of "outrageousness".[186][223] If Satanism was to be Satanic, it required some outrageous/anti-social elements, but if it was going to be a viable organization, these could not be allowed to frighten off potential congregants and attract unwanted attention.
LaVey died in 1997, but the church maintains a purist approach to his thought,[226] insisting he and the church have "codified" Satanism as "a religion and philosophy",[227] and dismisses other Satanist groups (atheistic or otherwise), as reverse-Christians, pseudo-Satanists or Devil worshipers.[228]
After LaVey's death in 1997, the Church of Satan was taken over by a new administration and its headquarters were moved to New York City. LaVey's daughter, the High PriestessKarla LaVey re-founded The First Satanic Church on 1999 in San Francisco. This church has been called "a lot more exclusive" than the original and as of late 2023 was known for producing a "Black X-Mass concert" in San Francisco "every year for the last couple decades".[229]
Differing from other Satanic organizations, theSatanic Reds, founded in 1997 by Tani Jantsang, is a unique organization blendingMarxist-communist politics withLovecraftian occultism mixed with elements ofCentral Asian folklore and the advocacy ofsocial welfare;[230] the group became notable mainly for theironline activism and usage ofcommunist symbols merged with Satanist ones. However, the Satanic Reds claim to belong to the left-hand path but do not identify as theistic Satanists in the manner of believing in Satan as a god with a personality, since they conceive it asSat andTan, "Being and Becoming", similarly to the fictional deity of chaosNyarlathotep from Lovecraft'sCthulhu Mythos.[230]
The Satanic Temple (TST), has been called the "most prominent" satanic organization "in terms of both size and public activity" (as of late 2023).[231] Based inSalem, Massachusetts and active since 2012,[232] it claims 700,000 members worldwide.[233] Like the older Church of Satan, its congregants do not believe in a supernatural Satan, but if the CoS saw Satanism as a "negative mirror" of Christianity, reversing Christian principles of altruism (helping the downtrodden and community-mindedness) to selfishness, the Christian principles TST wants to reverse are politically conservative activist/fundamentalist ones—the elimination of the right to abortion, of the teaching of evolution, of the separation of church and state, etc. This "left-wing",[231] "socially engaged Satanism",[234] involves activism,[231] rather than the individualism and right-wing-oriented,[235] "getting what you want for yourself",[236] of the CoS.[Note 4]
They have been called "rationalist, political pranksters" (by Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen),[238] with pranks designed to highlight religious hypocrisy and advance the cause ofsecularism.[239] One such prank was performing a "Pink Mass" over the grave of the mother of the evangelical Christian and prominent anti-LGBTQ preacherFred Phelps and claiming that the mass converted the spirit of Phelps' mother into a lesbian.[238] The "Seven Fundamental" tenets of the temple on its website mention compassion, justice, freedom, inviolability of the human body, conforming to scientific understanding, human fallibility—but say nothing about Satan.[240][241][242] The Temple has been described as using theliterary Satan as metaphor to promote pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy, and curiosity;[242] and as a symbol to represent "the eternal rebel" against arbitrary authority and social norms.[243][244]
The temple has also demanded the privileges the government affords Christians, such as giving prayers before city council meetings, erecting (satanic) statues on government property, and distributing its materials in public schools. As the movement became bigger, its congregations volunteered to clean highways and help the homeless, at least in part to demonstrate they were civic minded and not evil.[245][246] It has made efforts atlobbying,[247] with a focus on the separation of church and state and using satire againstChristian groups that it believes interfere with personal freedom.[247]
Lucien Greaves has described the Satanic Temple as being a progressive and updated version ofLaVey's Satanism,[239] posted a fairly detailed refutation of LaVey's doctrines,[221] accusing the CoS of fetishizing authoritarianism,[247][248] and explaining how elements ofSocial Darwinism andNietzscheanism within LaVeyan Satanism are incongruent withgame theory,reciprocal altruism, andcognitive science.[249] The Church of Satan, on the other hand, has declared the TST members as only "masquerading" as Satanists,[250][251] being in violation of the "five decades of a clearly defined belief system called Satanism expounded by a worldwide organization" (i.e.LaVeyan Satanism).[227]
Theistic Satanism, otherwise referred to as spiritual Satanism, or devil worship,[252][253] is a form of Satanism with the primary belief that Satan is an actualdeity or force to revere or worship.[9][254] Other characteristics of theistic Satanism may include a belief inmagic, which is manipulated throughritual, although that is not a defining criterion, and theistic Satanists may focus solely on devotion.
First Church of Satan
The First Church of Satan (FCoS), a splinter group that separated from LaVey's Church of Satan during the 1970s,[255] attempts to rediscover the teachings of Aleister Crowley and believe thatAnton LaVey actually was amagus in the early days of the Church of Satan but gradually renounced his powers, became isolated and embittered.[255] Furthermore, the First Church of Satan strongly criticizes the current Church of Satan as a pale shadow of its former self, and they strive to "maintain a Satanic organization that is not hostile or manipulative toward its own members".[255]
Pekka Siitoin founded the satanist group called the Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences (Turun Hengentieteen Seura) on September 1, 1971. The society stated its founding principles as "promot[ing] nationalist patriotic activity [and] development of Aryan spirituality". The society also stated opposition to capitalism, communism and "the Jewish religion based on Jehovah's tyranny."[256] Siitoin believed inneo-Gnosticism andTheosophy and combined these with antisemitism and satanism. The society allegedly performed satanic orgies which researcher of religion Pekka Iitti opined might not be "far off from the truth".[257] Several of the perpetrators of theKursiivi printing house arson in November 1977 were members of the society.[258][259]
The Order of Nine Angles, claiming to have been established in the 1960s, rose to public recognition in the early 1980. This movement expressed the idea that groups like Church of Satan were "too benevolent and law-abiding" to be true Satanists. This notion grew, particularly among musicians and fans of extreme heavy metal music, where being more extreme meant being more authentic.[25] These antinomian and amoral Satanic (or post-Satanic) groups are sometimes called the "sinister tradition" of Satanism.[25]
The O9A describe their occultism as "Traditional Satanism".[260] The O9A's writings not only encourage human sacrifice,[261] but insist it is required in Satanism,[25] referring to their victims asopfers.[262] According to the Order's teachings, such opfers must demonstrate character faults that mark them out as being worthy of death.[263][264] No O9A cell has admitted to carrying out a sacrifice in a ritualized manner, but rather, Order members have joined the police and military to carry out such killings.[265]
The Temple of Set is anoccultleft-hand path religious organization. It was founded in 1975 whenMichael Aquino, the founder of a Church of Satan Grotto in Louisville, Kentucky, and editor of the Church's newsletter,The Cloven Hoof, left the church, taking 28 members with him.[266][267] Aquino's anger that LaVey had devalued his high level grade of "magister" in the church may have initiated his break, but Aquino also disagreed with LaVey's materialist philosophy, arguing that while the church might publicly be materialist, Satan as symbol was "only part of the truth". Aquino held a ritual to ask Satan "where to lead" his CoS defectors and, on the night of 21–22 June 1975, Satan allegedly told him to "Reconsecrate my Temple and my Order in the true name of Set. No longer will I accept the bastard title of a Hebrew fiend." Thus Aquino came to believe that the nameSatan was a corruption of the nameSet, the Egyptian god of darkness.[268][269] The philosophy of the Temple of Set may be summed up as "enlightened individualism"—enhancement and improvement of oneself by personal education, experiment, and initiation. This process is necessarily different and distinctive for each individual. The members do not agree on whether Set is real or symbolic, and they're not expected to.[270]
The Temple of the Black Light, formerly known as the Misanthropic Luciferian Order, is a Satanic occult order founded in Sweden in 1995. The group espouses a philosophy known as "Chaosophy". Chaosophy asserts that the world that mankind lives in, and the universe that it lives in, all exist within the realm known as Cosmos. Cosmos is made of three spatial dimensions and one linear time dimension. Cosmos rarely ever changes and is a materialistic realm. Another realm that exists is known as Chaos. Chaos exists outside of the Cosmos and is made of infinite dimensions and unlike the Cosmos, it is always changing. Members of the TotBL believe that the realm of Chaos is ruled over by 11 dark gods, the highest of them being Satan, and all of said gods are considered manifestations of a higher being. This higher being is known as Azerate, the Dragon Mother, and is all of the 11 gods united as one. The TotBL believes that Azerate will resurrect one day and destroy the Cosmos and let Chaos consume everything. The group has been connected to the Swedishblack/death metal bandDissection, particularly its front manJon Nödtveidt.[271] Nödtveidt was introduced to the group "at an early stage".[272] The lyrics on the band's third album,Reinkaos, are all about beliefs of the Temple of the Black Light.[273] Nödtveidt committed suicide in 2006.[274][275]
The Temple of Zeus is awestern esotericoccult organization that combines Satanism, theancient alien astronaut "hypothesis", andantisemitism.[276] It was originally founded as the Joy of Satan Ministries in the early 2000s by Maxine Dietrich (pseudonym of Andrea Maxine Dietrich),[277][278] wife of theNational Socialist Movement of the United States' co-founder and former leader Clifford Herrington.[279] With its inception, spiritual Satanism was born—a current that until recently was regarded only as "theist", but then defined into "Spiritual Satanism" by theistic Satanists who concluded that the termspiritual in Satanism represented the best answer to the world,[280] considering it a "moral slap" toward the earlier carnal and materialistic LaVeyan Satanism, and instead focusing its attention uponspiritual evolution.[280] Temple of Zeus presents a unique synthesis of theistic Satanism,Nazism,Gnosticism,neopaganism,Western esotericism,UFO conspiracy theories, and extraterrestrial hypotheses similar to those popularized byZecharia Sitchin andDavid Icke.[278]
Luciferians reportedly revereLucifer not as the devil, but as a destroyer, guardian, liberator,[281] light bringer, and/or guiding spirit to darkness,[282] or even as the true god, as opposed toJehovah.[281]
Personal Satanism
In contrast to the organized and doctrinal Satanist groups is the personal Satanism of individuals, who identify as Satanists due to their affinity for the general idea of Satan, including such characteristics as viciousness and/or subversion.
Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen used the termreactive Satanism to describe one form of modern Satanism. They described this as an adolescent andanti-social means of rebelling in a Christian society, by which an individual transgresses cultural boundaries.[163] which tends to fall into two tendencies:
"Satanic tourism"—characterized by the brief period of time in which an individual was involved;
"Satanic quest"—typified by a longer and deeper involvement.[164]
The researcher Gareth Medway noted that in 1995 he encountered a British woman who stated that she had been a practicing Satanist during her teenage years. She had grown up in a small mining village and had come to believe that she hadpsychic powers. After hearing about Satanism in some library books, she declared herself a Satanist and formulated a belief that Satan was the true god. After her teenage years she abandoned Satanism and became achaos magickian.[283]
Some personal Satanists are teenagers or mentally disturbed individuals who have engaged in criminal activities.[284] During the 1980s and 1990s, several groups of teenagers were apprehended after sacrificing animals and vandalizing both churches and graveyards with Satanic imagery.[285] Introvigne stated that these incidents were "more a product of juvenile deviance and marginalization than Satanism".[285] In a few cases, the crimes of these personal Satanists have included murder.
In 1970, two separate groups of teenagers—one led by Stanley Baker inBig Sur, and the other by Steven Hurd in Los Angeles, killed a total of three people and consumed parts of their corpses in what they later claimed were sacrifices devoted to Satan.[286]
The American serial killerRichard Ramirez claimed that he was a theistic Satanist; during his 1980s killing spree he left an inverted pentagram at the scene of each murder and at his trial called out "Hail Satan!".[287]
In 1984 on Long Island, a group allegedly called the Knights of the Black Circle killed one of its own members, Gary Lauwers, over a disagreement regarding the group's illegal drug dealing; group members later related that Lauwers' death was a sacrifice to Satan.[286] In particular, self-declared Satanist and alleged member of the Knights of the Black Circle,Ricky "the Acid King" Kasso, became notorious for torturing and murdering Lauwers while attempting to force Lauwers to declare "I love Satan" during the murder.[288]
Nikolai Ogolobyak, who confessed to being a member of a Satanic cult, was sentenced to 20 years in 2010 for the ritual killing of four teenagers in Russia's Yaroslavl region.[289]
Demographics
A survey in the Encyclopedia of Satanism found that people became involved with Satanism in many diverse ways and were found in many countries. The survey found that more Satanists were raised as Protestant Christians than Catholic.[290]
Beginning in the late 1960s, organized Satanism emerged out of theoccultsubculture with the formation of theChurch of Satan. It was not long, however, before Satanism had expanded well beyond the Church of Satan. The decentralization of the Satanist movement was considerably accelerated whenAnton LaVey disbanded the grotto system in the mid-1970s. At present, religious Satanism exists primarily as a decentralized subculture [...] Unlike traditional religions, and even unlike the early Satanist bodies such as the Church of Satan and theTemple of Set, contemporary Satanism is, for the most part, a decentralized movement. In the past, this movement has been propagated through the medium of certain popular books, especially LaVey'sSatanic Bible. In more recent years, the internet has come to play a significant role in reaching potential "converts", particularly among disaffected young people.
— Religion scholar and researcher of new religious movementsJames R. Lewis[291]
Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen observed that from surveys of Satanists conducted in the early 21st century, it was clear that the Satanic milieu was "heavily dominated by young males".[292] They nevertheless noted that census data from New Zealand suggested that there may be a growing proportion of women becoming Satanists.[needs update][292] In comprising more men than women, Satanism differs from most other religious communities, including most new religious communities.[293] Most Satanists came to their religion through reading, either online or books, rather than through being introduced to it through personal contacts.[294] Many practitioners do not claim that they converted to Satanism, but rather state that they were born that way, and only later in life confirmed that Satanism served as an appropriate label for their pre-existing worldviews.[295] Others have stated that they had experiences withsupernatural phenomena that led them to embracing Satanism.[296]
The surveys revealed that atheistic Satanists appeared to be in the majority, although the numbers of theistic Satanists appeared to grow over time.[291][297][298] Beliefs in the afterlife varied, although the most common beliefs about the afterlife werereincarnation and the idea that consciousness survives bodily death.[299] The surveys also demonstrated that most recorded Satanists practicedmagic,[300] although there were differing opinions as to whether magical acts operated according to etheric laws or whether the effect of magic was purely psychological.[301] A number of Satanists described performingcursing, in most cases as a form of vigilante justice.[302] Most practitioners conduct their religious observances in a solitary manner, and never or rarely meet fellow Satanists for rituals.[303] Rather, the primary interaction that takes place between Satanists is online, on websites or via email.[304] From their survey data, Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen noted that the average length of involvement in the Satanic milieu was seven years.[305] A Satanist's involvement in the movement tends to peak in their early twenties and drops off sharply in their thirties.[306] A small proportion retain their allegiance to the religion into their elder years.[307] When asked about their ideology, the largest proportion of Satanists identified as apolitical or non-aligned, while only a small percentage identified as conservative.[308] A small minority of Satanists expressed support forNazism; conversely, over two-thirds expressed opposition or strong opposition to it.[296]
2021 Canadian census
The2021 Canadian census states that 5,890 Canadians identify as Satanist, representing 0.02% of the population.[309]
Compared to the general population, Satanists are more likely to be male, aged in their 20s or 30s, and not a member of any recognized minority group, although the Japanese are an exception (with the Japanese comprising 0.3% of both Satanists and the population as a whole).
Comparison of Satanists in Canada against the general population[309]
In 2005, theSupreme Court of the United States debated in the case ofCutter v. Wilkinson over protecting minorityreligious rights of prison inmates after a lawsuit challenging the issue was filed to them.[314][315] The court ruled that facilities that accept federal funds cannot deny prisoners accommodations that are necessary to engage in activities for the practice of their own religious beliefs.[316][317]
In 2019, The Satanic Temple was granted religiousIRS 501(c)(3) status.[318]
During the 1960s and 1970s, several rock bands— namely the American bandCoven and the British bandBlack Widow, employed the imagery of Satanism and witchcraft in their work.[319] References to Satan also appeared in the work of those rock bands which were pioneering theheavy metal genre in Britain during the 1970s.[320] For example, the bandBlack Sabbath made mention of Satan in their lyrics, although some of the band's members were practicing Christians, and other lyrics affirmed the power of the Christian God over Satan.[321] In the 1980s, greater use of Satanic imagery was made by heavy metal bands such asSlayer,Kreator,Sodom, andDestruction.[322] Bands active in the subgenre ofdeath metal—among themMorbid Angel andEntombed, also adopted Satanic imagery, combining it with other morbid and dark imagery, such as that ofzombies andserial killers.[323]
Satanism would come to be more closely associated with the subgenre ofblack metal,[320] in which it was foregrounded over the other themes that had been used in death metal.[324] A number of black metal performers incorporated self-injury into their act, framing this as a manifestation of Satanic devotion.[324] The first black metal band,Venom, proclaimed themselves to be Satanists, although this was more an act of provocation than an expression of genuine devotion to the Devil.[325] Satanic themes were also used by the black metal bandsBathory andHellhammer.[326] However, the first black metal act to more seriously adopt Satanism wasMercyful Fate, whose vocalist,King Diamond, joined theChurch of Satan.[327] More often than not musicians associating themselves with black metal say they do not believe in legitimate Satanic ideology and often profess to being atheists, agnostics, orreligious skeptics.[328]
In contrast to King Diamond, various black metal Satanists sought to distance themselves from LaVeyan Satanism, for instance by referring to their beliefs as "devil worship".[329] These individuals regarded Satan as a literal entity,[330] and in contrast to Anton LaVey, they associated Satanism with criminality, suicide, and terror.[329] For them, Christianity was regarded as a plague which required eradication.[331] Many of these individuals, most prominentlyVarg Vikernes andEuronymous, were involved in theearly Norwegian black metal scene.[332][333] Between 1992 and 1996, such people destroyed around fifty Norwegian churches in arson attacks.[334] Within the black metal scene, a number of musicians later replaced Satanic themes with those deriving fromHeathenry, a form ofneopaganism.[335]
^For example theTemple of Set, despite being a splinter group of the Church of Satan, venerates the deity Set, consideringSet to be the true name of Satan.
^An abstract of Lyon's book appeared on US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs web page.[42]
^In the 19th century, Charles Baudelaire (and others with variations of the wording) was quoted saying, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."[44]
^"The Church of Satan's Policy on Politics"[236] is that the Church has no "'official' political position". "Politics are up to each individual member", and those members embrace all sorts of different ideologies (it then lists every conceivable ideology including Communism and Socialism), but most members will "support political candidates and movements whose goals reflect their own practical needs and desires".[236] It also describes "the emotional drive to 'change the world'" as a "common stage of early adult development typically beginning around age 16 and lasting until around age 24".[236]Elsewhere however, Church writings argue for things not at all consistent with any leftward or even centrist politics. According to Ruben van Luijk and Amina Lap, LaVey thought eugenics could and should be part of the human future, leading to the breeding of an elite reflecting LaVey's "Satanic" principles,[237] who would come to power, and then hopefully relegate the rest of the human "herd" into ghettoes, ideally "space ghettoes" located on other planets.[218]
^Hicks, Robert D., 1991.In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult, Buffalo: Prometheus Book.
^Richardson, James T., "Satanism in the Courts: From Murder to Heavy Metal." pp. 205–217 inThe Satanism Scare, edited by James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David G. Bromley. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
^Carlson, Shawn and Gerald Larue. 1989.Satanism in America: How the Devil Got Much More Than His Due. El Cerrito, CA: Gaia, p.v. Quoted in ...
^R. H. Alfred, "The Church of Satan." in J. R. Lewis and J. A. Petersen (eds.), The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of Satanism (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008), pp. 478–502 (p. 485).
^Häkkinen, Perttu; Iitti, Vesa (2022). Lightbringers of the North: Secrets of the Occult Tradition of Finland. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-64411-464-3. p. 133
Bromley, David G. (2005). "Satanism". In Lindsay Jones (ed.).Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 12 (2 ed.). Detroit, IL: Macmillan Reference USA.
Carlson, Shawn; Larue, Gerald (1989).Satanism in America: How the Devil Got Much More Than His Due. El Cerrito, CA: Gaia. pp. 523–541.
Cavaglion, Gabriel; Sela-Shayovitz, Revital (December 2005). "The Cultural Construction of Contemporary Satanic Legends in Israel".Folklore.116 (3):255–271.doi:10.1080/00155870500282701.S2CID161360139.
Drury, Nevill (2003).Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans. London: Thames and Hudson.ISBN978-0500511404.
Dyrendal, Asbjørn (2012). "Satan and the Beast: The Influence of Aleister Crowley on Modern Satanism". In Henrik Bogdan; Martin P. Starr (eds.).Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism. Oxford and New York:Oxford University Press. pp. 369–394.ISBN978-0-19-986309-9.
——— . "Hidden Persuaders and Invisible Wars: Anton LaVey and Conspiracy Culture". InFaxneld & Petersen (2013), pp. 123–140.
——— ; ——— . "Cult of Carnality: Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Contemporary Satanism". InLewis & Bogdan (2014), pp. 165–181.
Gallagher, Eugene V. (2005). "New Religious Movements: Scriptures of New Religious Movements". In Lindsay Jones (ed.).Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 12 (2 ed.). Detroit, IL: Macmillan Reference USA.
La Fontaine, Jean (1999). "Satanism and Satanic Mythology". In Bengt Ankarloo; Stuart Clark (eds.).Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. Vol. 6: The Twentieth Century. London: Athlone. pp. 81–140.ISBN0-485-89006-2.
——— (2016).Witches and Demons: A Comparative Perspective on Witchcraft and Satanism. Oxford and New York:Berghahn Books.ISBN978-1-78533-085-8.
Lap, Amina Olander. "Categorizing Modern Satanism: An Analysis of LaVey's Early Writings". InFaxneld & Petersen (2013), pp. 83–102.
Rothschild, Mike (2021).The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything. Melville House.ISBN978-1612199306.
Schipper, Bernd U. (2010). "From Milton to Modern Satanism: The History of the Devil and the Dynamics between Religion and Literature".Journal of Religion in Europe.3 (1):103–124.doi:10.1163/187489210X12597396698744.
Senholt, Jacob C. "Secret Identities in the Sinister Tradition: Political Esotericism and the Convergence of Radical Islam, Satanism, and National Socialism in the Order of Nine Angles". InFaxneld & Petersen (2013), pp. 250–274.
Sieg, George (2013). "Angular Momentum: From Traditional to Progressive Satanism in the Order of Nine Angles".International Journal for the Study of New Religions.4 (2):251–283.doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v4i2.251.
Taub, Diane E.; Nelson, Lawrence D. (August 1993). "Satanism in Contemporary America: Establishment or Underground?".The Sociological Quarterly.34 (3):523–541.doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1993.tb00124.x.
Thurston, Robert W. (2001).Witch, Wicce, Mother Goose: The Rise and Fall of the Witch Hunts in Europe and North America. Edinburgh: Longman.ISBN978-0582438064.
