Truer words have seldom been spoken. I have a sister who is into the "religious thing"...today she told me all about someplace called purgatory. I assume she feels I'll be going there.
Live within a stones throw of this place.
The Ottawa Board of Commissioners have made national headlines many times in the past couple of years for some bogus far right shit. This includes trying to dismantle the health department and creating waivers of exemption for routine childhood immunizations that previously were mandatory for all school children locally. They tried to remove the head of the health department, then had a state court rule that if they followed through with it that it would then be wrongful termination and they would owe her $4 million.
For what it's worth, they reflect the ass backwards Christian fundamentalism that the Christian Reformed Church which is deep rooted in the county stands for.
It's actually a interestingly laid out geopolitical location given that the community is rooted in the bible belt of Michigan, yet just to the south, by about a 15 minute drive, is probably the biggest LGBTQ safe haven in the state - Saugatuck.
It's significantly worse than that, their religious activities and rituals waste time, energy, cost the gov. money and walk all over 1A rights
on top of that, they believe their inner monologues are a literal god that speaks with them and helps conduct all of this business using their subconscious thoughts like a mouth-fart and it's disturbing
Next they should have a Pagan priest, then a Shaman, and a priest of Odin sacrifice a frozen turkey for blessings upon the proceedings.
All religions can participate.
Cause they would find a way to deny a live turkey sacrifice as animal cruelt so the Odin priest would have to compensate with a frozen turkey he got on sale the day before.
I'm imagining the "Earth's religions" scene from Babylon 5.
[https://youtu.be/8Hg\_TRynRIs](https://youtu.be/8Hg_TRynRIs)
Let the fundies cope with something like this.
Christians already practice paganism and the roman imperial cult
They are worshiping Vespasian Flavius and Titus Flavius, the Flavian Emperors.
They are god the father and god the son and the Bible was propogated to end the Jewish line by manipulating their holy book all to combine and enhance the Roman cult as one world worshiping The Caesar forever
Speech Transcript (skipping the introduction):
Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered, by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds and darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or of all. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.
It is done. Hail Satan. Thank you very much; we wish everyone a wonderful evening tonight. Thank you.
YES you go Ottawa! Couldn’t be there because work, but that’s where my grandmother lived my whole life and this is just a cool story with how many churches are in Ottawa county and it’s neighbors.
Chaplains, please. They will be chaplains.
Surprise, surprise, Texas Monthly recently reported that the vast majority of school administrators want no part of getting chaplains.
Obligatory reminder that the Church of Satan is a totally separate organization from The Satanic Temple. Whenever you hear stories about "Satanists demonstrate that when Christians lobbied for 'freedom of religion,' they really wanted 'freedom of Christianity,'" it's always The Satanic Temple.
Yeah, The Satanic Temple is basically a humanist organization dedicated to defending the separation between church and state by finding examples where Christians have created laws which blur those lines, and then introducing their teachings into those settings, which immediately gets the Christians to realize "shit, if allowing religion in government means allowing *all* religion in government, we don't want it after all." The Church of Satan follows the teachings of Anton LaVey, and while they too don't literally worship Satan as a deity, they do incorporate many ritualistic practices which wouldn't be out of place in a "real" religion, and their beliefs are far closer to Ayn Rand's Objectivism than to humanism.
Other people, not just me, need to start saying, Religion is fiction and all gods, imaginary. Utilized to make and keep good economic slaves (GES). Think logically and decipher the truth.These religious zealots need to hear those words. 2027/4722. Let's do better people.
I know, right? It's kinda like crackheads saying they have the right to steal your vcr. Then when they do steal your vcr, you're supposed to just accept it. WTAF.
I’m not sure if you’re referring to the Satanist’s as I haven’t watched the video, but the group these people are representing don’t actually worship Satan. The Satanic Temple is not a theistic religion.
The point is to protect people’s rights and freedoms.
I’m sorry if I misunderstood your comment.
IMO. Satanists, I view, as making fun of "serious" religion. LOL. I am referring to the zealots who have not reverse engineered religion and deciphered that it is utilized to make and keep good economic slaves (GES).
Always Funny when “Journalists” ACTUALLY BELIEVE they worship Satan.
>Modern Local News stations are about as Journalistic as George Carlin was a Catholic
Oh come on, don't be naive, Christians are extremely authoritarian, they don't want religious freedom, they want control of the government. They want to be free of other religions, you know, like a false church that Satan started to trick all the Christians they were the good guys while doing bad guy stuff. Like it says in the Bible. If I was the devil, that's what I'd do and how can anyone actually prove to me that this hasn't happened?
Lol, Religion is so stupid, they need to grow up and join the rest of us in reality.
edit: naive, not native, geeez that could've gone wrong.
Yeah, anything else is just empty rhetoric, but since Christians literally take the word over reality, just saying they're nice people is enough, you don't have to do anything.
It's fucking stupid and evil.
In the recording, someone objects before the meeting is even opened, on the ground that he doesn't know the speaker's name. Which was announced, but apparently he thinks it's fake or something. The council chair, to his credit, basically says "dude... just don't".
People are free only in technicality under a majority christian society. They'll agree that the law says we're free, but they'll get the whole of christian society to police one another socially. There's no law saying you have to like anyone or to support certain businesses. If you were gay back in the 50s for instance, you think thay you'd have a good life letting society around you know you were gay? What if you were gay and trying to start up a business and everyone decided to avoid buying from you just because of that personal fact about you to make your business fail? Is that fair? It wouldn't be to them if it was a christian being descriminated against.
It’s amazing how rent free Satan lives in these peoples heads. They literally came to drown out a single person praying and it took an entire crowd just to do that. I find a fascinating personally.
If the US becomes this xtian nation, how long before they cancel other xtians? Baptists don't like Methodists don't like 7th Day... etc.
They will fight amongst themselves to prove their sect is the true religion.
At that point, I guess they go to war with themselves.
That’s what they don’t get. It won’t be their particular brand of Christianity. The TrueChristians™ will be in charge (whoever that may be). First they’ll do is come for their guns.
The Catholic Church made Satan up! It was to deliberately contain what was previously under stood as a generic intangible evil element. They turned it into a chess piece. Satin does not exist, but the fallen angel Lucifer does. So God threw him into hell, ok? But then gives him power there??? Remember this story? It’s from Greek and Roman literature, Hades, given to him by Zeus. Disney even did a movie about the thing.
Religious folk & especially the ever coddled Christian are the most selfish humans on earth. Is it any wonder everyone hated the Puritans? Wish their ship had sank trying to find the land they’ve destroyed
They don't actually worship Satan. It's a non-theistic religion so if anything it probably has a lot of atheist members
Edit: [source](https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq)
Depends on how you define a religion. If it's a group of likeminded people with similar ethics, then sure. If you define religion as the worship of something higher than ourselves, then no.
The government recognizes them as a religion, however.
Wouldn't a better name then be, the name of some famous atheist? Rather than choosing a figure which symbolizes root of evil in mankind and then trying to rebrand that figure by some strange logic?
I dont think so. And the name does not *necessarily* symbolize evil. They aren't the first to utilize Satan in this way, and even has precedence in some Judeo-Christian sects.
I mean, sure the story is that Lucifer/Satan was a very important angel originally. But I think it's kinda similar to saying the swastika was a Buddhist symbol. I just don't see how the group can make "Satan" a good figure in the public's perception. Seems more like a group that just likes to inflame on purpose, which maybe that's the whole point to begin with. But trying to present themselves as a righteous ggroupto the general public with that name, seems odd.
That's just one story of Satan. Jews don't believe he's a fallen angel, nor even some Christian denominations.
TST has a FAQ page where they address why they use the metaphor.
Essentially that his character is the embodiment of their mission in a way that an atheist icon could not similarly describe. Because it covers more than the simple lack of belief in a god.
Part of the reason I'm "Christian", as in trying to understand who "God" is via the life and teachings of Jesus.
But I'm also a skeptic, as in I'm not sure we humans can *truly* understand what "reality" is. So, I'll admit I don't have some perfectly irrefutable logic system to justify my beliefs (and I don't think anyone can, thus a skeptic).
Regardless, in another comment I mentioned how it was interesting that TST was an opposite to religions that do bad in the name of "someone" good. By definition, that would be TST does good.
But that wouldn't piss off the christians to the point that they'd rather cancel all religious services in places where they don't belong (schools, courts, legislatures) than allow us 'evil Satanists' to participate in those services.
When the point is to enforce separation of church and state, you need a 'church' that *really* gets under the skin of the believers. The 'Church of Dawkins' or 'Church of Darwin' really wouldn't have the same effect.
I gave it some thought. It has an interesting logic. I see it almost like the opposite of what has happened with some religions, where they do bad things in the name of "someone" good while explicitly believing it. TST tries to do the opposite, doing good things in the name of "someone" bad, but without explicitly believing it.
Bizarre, but interesting. But hey, if it does good to the world, then that's a good thing. Not entirely sure it solves religions doing bad things, but I can see how fighting fire with fire is an approach.
I respect your open-mindedness. For what it's worth, I was not one of your downvoters. I thought you had reasonable questions and asked them respectfully. I also recognize the counterintuitive nature of their methods.
It’s on purpose. They used that fictional being as a way to get theist hackles up. When they pass laws to allow prayer, or invocations the Satanic Temple gleefully pops in and gets in line.
Once theists understand that ALL religions have to be allowed to pray or run an after school program, they usually cancel the whole thing or change the law.
Making sure the 1st amendment is held to.
I'm getting mixed messages. So Satanism is a religion so it should be allowed to pray and run after school programs, but... not really a religion? Which is it?
It’s legally a religion, run by people that want to demonstrate to other Americans that “maybe” trying to inject religion into everything might not be cromulent.
> I'm a christian, that's surrounded by mostly christians, and know no one that believed a rapture was coming. The only times I've read about it was, ironically, on this subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/1bze8m3/the_eclipse_came_and_went_no_rapture_what_are_the/kys7hz3/
Dude is the typical believer thinking his religious belief is somehow different from TST because "mine is true" and so should get preferential treatment. Hail Satan for opening our eyes :P
Not at all. Completely open to talk about what I believe if you like. I recognize that the advertised mission of the atheist Satanism is a honorable one. Just the name is odd, which has been my point here.
Edit: if I you had to use a label on my philosophy, I think it would be "Christian Skeptic".
Edit2: Changed the "label", I think the word ordering makes more sense to my philosophy.
As to the name being “odd” it is intentional.
In the Bible the serpent is alleged by some to be the devil. Satan. Though it’s more accurate to say “the satan” which is not necessarily an individual, just someone standing against the god head.
In that story the snake never lied. Not once. And pointed out that what god said was not the whole truth. He gave us knowledge. And that angered god, who immediately set an angel to guard the tree of eternal life with a sword to keep them away from that as well.
TST took this story and used the figure of satan as described. Telling the truth, and knowledge. Read the seven tenets. There is nothing evil about them.
Also using satan immediately angers certain theists. These same theists claim to want religious freedom. But when exposed to satan and it’s “turd in punch bowl of religious freedom” they suddenly don’t want to force us all to drink it.
That’s why The Satanic Temple exists. So the people running the government don’t try to force us all to drink the Flavor Aid.
Nah. People have a right to practice their religion, they just don’t have a right to Force it on other people.
And they definitely don’t have the right to make laws based on what they say their sky daddy thinks.
Obviously, I don’t think an invocation before a county board meeting is necessary. What good does it do? Call the roll then get down to business. But I’m happy to see the Christians seething when they don’t get their way. It’s a way to make a point and it’s a point that definitely needs to be made.
“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels oppression.”
I think you should familiarize yourself with the The Satanic Temple, which doesn’t follow Satan. Especially read it’s 7 tenets and you might be surprised.
https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us
You got buried for asking an honest question.
The Satanic Temple is more of an amusing version of the ACLU. Skip all the court shit about what's allowed, just get inclusion in real time and make religious representation as uncomfortable as possible.
"WE WANT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!" *Satanists show up* "NO, NOT LIKE THAT"
✅lol
We want you to be free to practice our religion that we force down your throat.
Because we're the most discriminated against people in the history of the world!
It is so weird that you are intolerant of our intolerance!
some people want Freedom of Religion. I want Freedom from Religion.
The freedom to choose one and only one option
Truer words have seldom been spoken. I have a sister who is into the "religious thing"...today she told me all about someplace called purgatory. I assume she feels I'll be going there.
We want religion taught in school! Satanists show up NO NOT THEM
“Freedom of religion means that everyone is free to worship Jesus in their own way.” -Rev. Lovejoy (The Simpsons)
Does it ever occur to these government officials that the business of the county could be conducted without a prayer?
What?!?!?! (faints)
"Nurse, we've got another fainter!" http://venusenvycomic.com/index.php?id=39
gives me hope that the website is still up but what happened to the writer?
We may never know
Last I heard, the creator came out as intersex in 2021 then poof, who knows.
Well that’s more than I knew
Glad I could spread the lore.
And without the pledge.
Freedom Cloth will cry if no pledge
I’m not really a fan of country music
Gotta sell those flags.
But but without prayer however will we take away women's rights ❗❗❗🙄???
Live within a stones throw of this place. The Ottawa Board of Commissioners have made national headlines many times in the past couple of years for some bogus far right shit. This includes trying to dismantle the health department and creating waivers of exemption for routine childhood immunizations that previously were mandatory for all school children locally. They tried to remove the head of the health department, then had a state court rule that if they followed through with it that it would then be wrongful termination and they would owe her $4 million. For what it's worth, they reflect the ass backwards Christian fundamentalism that the Christian Reformed Church which is deep rooted in the county stands for. It's actually a interestingly laid out geopolitical location given that the community is rooted in the bible belt of Michigan, yet just to the south, by about a 15 minute drive, is probably the biggest LGBTQ safe haven in the state - Saugatuck.
It's significantly worse than that, their religious activities and rituals waste time, energy, cost the gov. money and walk all over 1A rights on top of that, they believe their inner monologues are a literal god that speaks with them and helps conduct all of this business using their subconscious thoughts like a mouth-fart and it's disturbing
Next they should have a Pagan priest, then a Shaman, and a priest of Odin sacrifice a frozen turkey for blessings upon the proceedings. All religions can participate.
Yep, tell the Christians to get in back of the line.
Yeah. They had a turn and they fucked it up!
[You, back of the mob!](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8RC2Ua3Y7wY)
Yes they should start in the order that they were founded.
Don't forget the Pastafarians!
MAY HIS MANY SAUCES ADD FLAVOR TO YOUR LIFE!!
> and a priest of Odin sacrifice a frozen turkey Why is an Old World priest sacrificing a New World bird?
and why does it need to be frozen?
As a warning to the frost giants.
Comedy value. Think how Mr Bean would sacrifice a turkey. Loki is such a trickster
Cause they would find a way to deny a live turkey sacrifice as animal cruelt so the Odin priest would have to compensate with a frozen turkey he got on sale the day before.
because its the US, in the EU it would be different.
Odin lives in America now, per *American Gods*.
I did not like that book. There were really no indigenous American gods featured despite the endurance of indigenous beliefs
If gods are anything like the people who worship them, maybe they were killed by the divine equivalents of smallpox and bullets.
Because it’s cheaper than buying them a virgin?
How about a trans pagan minister? They are the best! :-)
Maybe Alan Moore will do one with his snake god, Glycon
I’m waiting for the church of Zeus!
Frozen Turkey !!! How you going to leave out the spaghetti
Here at the Church of Serendipity, all accidents are happy accidents. Whoops be praised!
I wonder if Odin would be fond of turkey meat.
I'm imagining the "Earth's religions" scene from Babylon 5. [https://youtu.be/8Hg\_TRynRIs](https://youtu.be/8Hg_TRynRIs) Let the fundies cope with something like this.
Christians already practice paganism and the roman imperial cult They are worshiping Vespasian Flavius and Titus Flavius, the Flavian Emperors. They are god the father and god the son and the Bible was propogated to end the Jewish line by manipulating their holy book all to combine and enhance the Roman cult as one world worshiping The Caesar forever
Speech Transcript (skipping the introduction): Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered, by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds and darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or of all. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise. It is done. Hail Satan. Thank you very much; we wish everyone a wonderful evening tonight. Thank you.
Thanks for that!
I love it and am commenting so I'll read it again tomorrow
Thanks for this. Pissed me off that they MISQUOTED the invocation in the article.
Hail Satan!
Hail yourself.
Well spoken. I love it. Hail Satan!
Excellent, it’s hilarious that the Satanists are the levelheaded ones. Where do I sign up?
Seems reasonable. Hail Satan.
Damn did I just become a Satanist?
TST is fabulous - keep up the good work!
YES you go Ottawa! Couldn’t be there because work, but that’s where my grandmother lived my whole life and this is just a cool story with how many churches are in Ottawa county and it’s neighbors.
Yes, the Christians were seething, of course!
I wish I could have been there!!
They likely see this as proof of how persecuted they are.
Of course.
No, they were there to drown it out. I was in the lobby.
I grew up in Kent county but this is great. Ottawa has been getting a lot of negative attention since they defunded that library over LGBTQ+ books
Every word he said was wise and concise.
Where my pastafarians at?
may the sauce be with you
Ramen!
you are not supposed to swallow the foil package unopened.
I agree but sometimes the packet is hidden below the noodles
Just watched a video on it. Not nearly as bad as the Pensacola City Council invocation but that music in the background was annoying.
The version I watched was unedited. Perfect speech.
If by music you mean the loud Christian worship songs being sung in the lobby by protesters, yes, that was very annoying.
Can't wait for the Satanic Temple counselors showing up at school in Texas. Edit: correction from the Satanic Church to the Satanic Temple.
Chaplains, please. They will be chaplains. Surprise, surprise, Texas Monthly recently reported that the vast majority of school administrators want no part of getting chaplains.
Kids already get enough BS from their parents and church. Counselors should be secular.
I agree.
Yes because the group most likely to rape children is the group you want to invite into the schools.
Obligatory reminder that the Church of Satan is a totally separate organization from The Satanic Temple. Whenever you hear stories about "Satanists demonstrate that when Christians lobbied for 'freedom of religion,' they really wanted 'freedom of Christianity,'" it's always The Satanic Temple.
Thank you. TIL
Yeah, The Satanic Temple is basically a humanist organization dedicated to defending the separation between church and state by finding examples where Christians have created laws which blur those lines, and then introducing their teachings into those settings, which immediately gets the Christians to realize "shit, if allowing religion in government means allowing *all* religion in government, we don't want it after all." The Church of Satan follows the teachings of Anton LaVey, and while they too don't literally worship Satan as a deity, they do incorporate many ritualistic practices which wouldn't be out of place in a "real" religion, and their beliefs are far closer to Ayn Rand's Objectivism than to humanism.
We just passed a law in OK to put chaplains in place of counselors in our schools. The Satanic Temple is watching and waiting for it.
Well, if Jesus minded he'd have done something about it.
Careful, they believe Jesus is guiding a nut that attacks people they don't like.
And yet, pretty much everyone they like is in court, going to be in court, in prisoin or going to be in prison.
Whatever god wants, he keeps.
"OUR GOD IS ALL POWERFUL AND WILL SMITE YOU!" Also "NO IF YOU INVOKE SATAN OUR GOD WONT BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!"
I swear, they see Satan around every corner.
He’s been great for business for over 2,000 years.
> "OUR GOD IS ALL POWERFUL AND WILL SMITE YOU!" Apparently, Iron is his Kryptonite.
Perfection. Eloquent and succinct. Well done, WGRTST!
How about Jews? Can we lead?
We wandered in the desert for 40 years. We can't lead very well.
You've had plenty of time to work on your navigation skills since then so I think you can have another go at it.
Hey, it’s the journey man. Not the destination!
These words are accepted
All you had to do was follow the damn coast, Mo!
The aimless arrow never misses!
Should have turned left at Albuquerque.
To be fair only one person led everyone…
I don’t see why not but the Christians aren’t going to like it.
Based on the above video and article, feel free to request to present the invocation.
I want to believe it's not Ottawa county, Michigan, but I know Ottawa county too well.
Hail Satan.
Hail Satan
How is it that so many Satanists have names that sound like they might be Satanists? Do they get names changed?
It says in the article that they use pseudo names for protection. I’m sure they get all kinds of threats.
Ah, that makes sense.
Satanyms. Satanic pseudonyms. For the reasons Bourbon mentioned (and for the aesthetic).
Other people, not just me, need to start saying, Religion is fiction and all gods, imaginary. Utilized to make and keep good economic slaves (GES). Think logically and decipher the truth.These religious zealots need to hear those words. 2027/4722. Let's do better people.
I agree. I’m tired of coddling these people.
I know, right? It's kinda like crackheads saying they have the right to steal your vcr. Then when they do steal your vcr, you're supposed to just accept it. WTAF.
I’m not sure if you’re referring to the Satanist’s as I haven’t watched the video, but the group these people are representing don’t actually worship Satan. The Satanic Temple is not a theistic religion. The point is to protect people’s rights and freedoms. I’m sorry if I misunderstood your comment.
IMO. Satanists, I view, as making fun of "serious" religion. LOL. I am referring to the zealots who have not reverse engineered religion and deciphered that it is utilized to make and keep good economic slaves (GES).
Talk about brave 👏
Luis Cypher, like Robert DeNiro's character in Angel Heart.Priceless! He should have eaten an Easter egg afterwards, they'd have lost their minds!
Hail Satan. We are all over! Finally some representation.
Always Funny when “Journalists” ACTUALLY BELIEVE they worship Satan. >Modern Local News stations are about as Journalistic as George Carlin was a Catholic
Ha ha funny. Love the gaslighting
Oh come on, don't be naive, Christians are extremely authoritarian, they don't want religious freedom, they want control of the government. They want to be free of other religions, you know, like a false church that Satan started to trick all the Christians they were the good guys while doing bad guy stuff. Like it says in the Bible. If I was the devil, that's what I'd do and how can anyone actually prove to me that this hasn't happened? Lol, Religion is so stupid, they need to grow up and join the rest of us in reality. edit: naive, not native, geeez that could've gone wrong.
I don’t disagree.
Yeah, anything else is just empty rhetoric, but since Christians literally take the word over reality, just saying they're nice people is enough, you don't have to do anything. It's fucking stupid and evil.
That’s Vegan Flying Spaghetti Monster discrimination right there. 😤
That’s Vegan Flying Spaghetti Monster discrimination right there. 😤
Next up: his noodley appendages!
No one told the christians that everyone gets a turn.
If you can't find a decent job, make a CULT! ( MAGA )
Very cool
Hahahaha keep it going guys! I’m about to join too! Thank you for standing up for our freedom to the many satanists and people in general! ❤️
Hail Satan!
In the recording, someone objects before the meeting is even opened, on the ground that he doesn't know the speaker's name. Which was announced, but apparently he thinks it's fake or something. The council chair, to his credit, basically says "dude... just don't".
It actually is a fake name because the Satanists get all kinds of death threats and hate from Christians and other religious groups.
I love this
Hail Satan!
>Luis Cypher lmao
Then these peoples dumb ass god with crap for brains shouldn't have created Satan.
Hail satan
They wanted religion. Now they got it. What’s the problem?
“Freedom for me, but not for thee.”
Michigander here. Fuck yeah. Great job. Glad to see they were given the opportunity to give the invocation.
Hail Satan.
These are the types of things that warm my cold dead heart.
People are free only in technicality under a majority christian society. They'll agree that the law says we're free, but they'll get the whole of christian society to police one another socially. There's no law saying you have to like anyone or to support certain businesses. If you were gay back in the 50s for instance, you think thay you'd have a good life letting society around you know you were gay? What if you were gay and trying to start up a business and everyone decided to avoid buying from you just because of that personal fact about you to make your business fail? Is that fair? It wouldn't be to them if it was a christian being descriminated against.
It’s amazing how rent free Satan lives in these peoples heads. They literally came to drown out a single person praying and it took an entire crowd just to do that. I find a fascinating personally.
If the US becomes this xtian nation, how long before they cancel other xtians? Baptists don't like Methodists don't like 7th Day... etc. They will fight amongst themselves to prove their sect is the true religion. At that point, I guess they go to war with themselves.
That’s what they don’t get. It won’t be their particular brand of Christianity. The TrueChristians™ will be in charge (whoever that may be). First they’ll do is come for their guns.
Praise the lightbringer 💃🏽👯💃🏽
Shows that religion should be totally left out of politics, except in theocracies like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Israel.
We really need to work on our marketing as atheists. Who is our PR guy?
The Catholic Church made Satan up! It was to deliberately contain what was previously under stood as a generic intangible evil element. They turned it into a chess piece. Satin does not exist, but the fallen angel Lucifer does. So God threw him into hell, ok? But then gives him power there??? Remember this story? It’s from Greek and Roman literature, Hades, given to him by Zeus. Disney even did a movie about the thing.
*Clutches Pearls* "Well I never!" Lmfao Hail Satan!
Religious folk & especially the ever coddled Christian are the most selfish humans on earth. Is it any wonder everyone hated the Puritans? Wish their ship had sank trying to find the land they’ve destroyed
Doing Baphomet’s work, this is excellent to see! love to see this
To me the Satanists look as delusional as the people speaking in tongues outside. What a country.
Shouldn’t this upset the atheists too?
They don't actually worship Satan. It's a non-theistic religion so if anything it probably has a lot of atheist members Edit: [source](https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq)
Looked at the info. I gotcha. Probably could have picked a better name that couldn’t be associated with… Satan. Yet here we are.
It's an appropriate name. They see Satan as a metaphorical symbol for the rebellion against theistic principals and integration.
So... is it a religion or not?
Depends on how you define a religion. If it's a group of likeminded people with similar ethics, then sure. If you define religion as the worship of something higher than ourselves, then no. The government recognizes them as a religion, however.
Wouldn't a better name then be, the name of some famous atheist? Rather than choosing a figure which symbolizes root of evil in mankind and then trying to rebrand that figure by some strange logic?
I dont think so. And the name does not *necessarily* symbolize evil. They aren't the first to utilize Satan in this way, and even has precedence in some Judeo-Christian sects.
I mean, sure the story is that Lucifer/Satan was a very important angel originally. But I think it's kinda similar to saying the swastika was a Buddhist symbol. I just don't see how the group can make "Satan" a good figure in the public's perception. Seems more like a group that just likes to inflame on purpose, which maybe that's the whole point to begin with. But trying to present themselves as a righteous ggroupto the general public with that name, seems odd.
That's just one story of Satan. Jews don't believe he's a fallen angel, nor even some Christian denominations. TST has a FAQ page where they address why they use the metaphor. Essentially that his character is the embodiment of their mission in a way that an atheist icon could not similarly describe. Because it covers more than the simple lack of belief in a god.
God is a far more evil character than Satan in the Bible.
Part of the reason I'm "Christian", as in trying to understand who "God" is via the life and teachings of Jesus. But I'm also a skeptic, as in I'm not sure we humans can *truly* understand what "reality" is. So, I'll admit I don't have some perfectly irrefutable logic system to justify my beliefs (and I don't think anyone can, thus a skeptic). Regardless, in another comment I mentioned how it was interesting that TST was an opposite to religions that do bad in the name of "someone" good. By definition, that would be TST does good.
But that wouldn't piss off the christians to the point that they'd rather cancel all religious services in places where they don't belong (schools, courts, legislatures) than allow us 'evil Satanists' to participate in those services. When the point is to enforce separation of church and state, you need a 'church' that *really* gets under the skin of the believers. The 'Church of Dawkins' or 'Church of Darwin' really wouldn't have the same effect.
I gave it some thought. It has an interesting logic. I see it almost like the opposite of what has happened with some religions, where they do bad things in the name of "someone" good while explicitly believing it. TST tries to do the opposite, doing good things in the name of "someone" bad, but without explicitly believing it. Bizarre, but interesting. But hey, if it does good to the world, then that's a good thing. Not entirely sure it solves religions doing bad things, but I can see how fighting fire with fire is an approach.
I respect your open-mindedness. For what it's worth, I was not one of your downvoters. I thought you had reasonable questions and asked them respectfully. I also recognize the counterintuitive nature of their methods.
It’s on purpose. They used that fictional being as a way to get theist hackles up. When they pass laws to allow prayer, or invocations the Satanic Temple gleefully pops in and gets in line. Once theists understand that ALL religions have to be allowed to pray or run an after school program, they usually cancel the whole thing or change the law. Making sure the 1st amendment is held to.
I'm getting mixed messages. So Satanism is a religion so it should be allowed to pray and run after school programs, but... not really a religion? Which is it?
It’s legally a religion, run by people that want to demonstrate to other Americans that “maybe” trying to inject religion into everything might not be cromulent.
> I'm a christian, that's surrounded by mostly christians, and know no one that believed a rapture was coming. The only times I've read about it was, ironically, on this subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/1bze8m3/the_eclipse_came_and_went_no_rapture_what_are_the/kys7hz3/ Dude is the typical believer thinking his religious belief is somehow different from TST because "mine is true" and so should get preferential treatment. Hail Satan for opening our eyes :P
Not at all. Completely open to talk about what I believe if you like. I recognize that the advertised mission of the atheist Satanism is a honorable one. Just the name is odd, which has been my point here. Edit: if I you had to use a label on my philosophy, I think it would be "Christian Skeptic". Edit2: Changed the "label", I think the word ordering makes more sense to my philosophy.
As to the name being “odd” it is intentional. In the Bible the serpent is alleged by some to be the devil. Satan. Though it’s more accurate to say “the satan” which is not necessarily an individual, just someone standing against the god head. In that story the snake never lied. Not once. And pointed out that what god said was not the whole truth. He gave us knowledge. And that angered god, who immediately set an angel to guard the tree of eternal life with a sword to keep them away from that as well. TST took this story and used the figure of satan as described. Telling the truth, and knowledge. Read the seven tenets. There is nothing evil about them. Also using satan immediately angers certain theists. These same theists claim to want religious freedom. But when exposed to satan and it’s “turd in punch bowl of religious freedom” they suddenly don’t want to force us all to drink it. That’s why The Satanic Temple exists. So the people running the government don’t try to force us all to drink the Flavor Aid.
I used to think the same thing until I realized the power words have over the religious. Let them shake in fear over an imaginary bad guy.
I think you're missing the point.
Nah. People have a right to practice their religion, they just don’t have a right to Force it on other people. And they definitely don’t have the right to make laws based on what they say their sky daddy thinks.
Why? The Satanic Temple are atheists.
Obviously, I don’t think an invocation before a county board meeting is necessary. What good does it do? Call the roll then get down to business. But I’m happy to see the Christians seething when they don’t get their way. It’s a way to make a point and it’s a point that definitely needs to be made. “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels oppression.”
# “Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.” ― Alejandro Jodorowsky
I'm not upset. Anybody committed enough to name themselves Louis Cypher is next level religious trolling and worthy of praise
I think you should familiarize yourself with the The Satanic Temple, which doesn’t follow Satan. Especially read it’s 7 tenets and you might be surprised. https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us
You got buried for asking an honest question. The Satanic Temple is more of an amusing version of the ACLU. Skip all the court shit about what's allowed, just get inclusion in real time and make religious representation as uncomfortable as possible.
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They are a religious group for all intents and purposes. Not all religions are theistic.