What is Satanism?
I read about it a little bit, but never met any Satanists in real life. What do you believe in, and why? How does it affect your outlook on life and your relationships with others? Just curious...
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[link] - An interview with head of satanic church on ThinkingAtheist show.
Give it a listen if you're interested.
Give it a listen if you're interested.
I suppose the word itself can refer to multiple things.
There is theistic Satanism, where the practitioner believes Satan is an extant supernatural entity to be worshipped. I am not well versed on this matter, but I suspect that given its unpopularity (for obvious reasons), it must be a mostly personal religion, or one for only very small-scale congregations. With that in mind, it must be highly variable depending on the individual or congregation.
There is also LaVeyan Satanism, a philosophy pioneered by Anton LaVey. Interesting enough, LaVeyan Satanists generally don't believe Satan is a literal, supernatural entity, and instead revere him as a symbol of their ideals, something to strive for. There's a joke that LaVeyan Satanists are just atheists who really like Halloween. Anyway, chief among their core values is personal responsibility. If something is wrong in your life, don't whine about it, make it better, so say the LaVeyan Satanists. I also know that they consider pretensiousness and willful ignorance to be sins.
In either case, I think it's a bit silly. Granted, I find I even mostly agree with the LaVeyan's philosophy, but I just think that anybody who proclaims to worship or revere Satan is just trying to horrify the Christians and draw attention to themselves. As I said, I can even agree with the LaVeyan's much of the time, but it's not at all necessary to have Satan for a role model.
There is theistic Satanism, where the practitioner believes Satan is an extant supernatural entity to be worshipped. I am not well versed on this matter, but I suspect that given its unpopularity (for obvious reasons), it must be a mostly personal religion, or one for only very small-scale congregations. With that in mind, it must be highly variable depending on the individual or congregation.
There is also LaVeyan Satanism, a philosophy pioneered by Anton LaVey. Interesting enough, LaVeyan Satanists generally don't believe Satan is a literal, supernatural entity, and instead revere him as a symbol of their ideals, something to strive for. There's a joke that LaVeyan Satanists are just atheists who really like Halloween. Anyway, chief among their core values is personal responsibility. If something is wrong in your life, don't whine about it, make it better, so say the LaVeyan Satanists. I also know that they consider pretensiousness and willful ignorance to be sins.
In either case, I think it's a bit silly. Granted, I find I even mostly agree with the LaVeyan's philosophy, but I just think that anybody who proclaims to worship or revere Satan is just trying to horrify the Christians and draw attention to themselves. As I said, I can even agree with the LaVeyan's much of the time, but it's not at all necessary to have Satan for a role model.
satanism is love
I believe in love, cos love is the greatest
stigmatized
I believe in love, cos love is the greatest
stigmatized
For a long time of the word's existence, there weren't really Satanists. People just want you to think anyone different was certainly worshipping the devil. However there are modern day LaVeyan Satanism which is more rooted in self determinism and independence rather than relying on an higher power or believing in karmatic justice.
Other than the church Anton LeVay, I don't think there has ever been any serious Satanic groups.
The thing I find to be very funny about satan, is a lot of the imagery and terms we associate with him are usually a mix of pagan gods.
Such as the image with him having horns and looking like a goat, is actually used in contrast to the greek god pan, silly little guy kind of looks like Satan doesn't he?
They demonized Satan to look like a goat to convert people from praying to the greek gods to Christianity!
You can see some similarities if you line them next to each other!
[link]
[link]
The other funny one is "beelzebub" , which is a mix of the word "Baal", whom was a god to the ancient Phoenicians, and "zebul" which meant "dung". So beelzebub is just an old term the Hebrews came up with to make fun of the Phoenicians deity!
The thing I find to be very funny about satan, is a lot of the imagery and terms we associate with him are usually a mix of pagan gods.
Such as the image with him having horns and looking like a goat, is actually used in contrast to the greek god pan, silly little guy kind of looks like Satan doesn't he?
They demonized Satan to look like a goat to convert people from praying to the greek gods to Christianity!
You can see some similarities if you line them next to each other!
[link]
![[link]](https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?http://im.glogster.com/media/3/8/22/69/8226935.jpg){kind=link}
[link]
![[link]](https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?http://www.morethings.com/images/satan/animal-goat-satan_881.jpg){kind=link}
The other funny one is "beelzebub" , which is a mix of the word "Baal", whom was a god to the ancient Phoenicians, and "zebul" which meant "dung". So beelzebub is just an old term the Hebrews came up with to make fun of the Phoenicians deity!
Both are ways for teenagers to be exceptionally rebellious if they hate their parents more than the regular amount. Or for adults, it's either when those same teenagers never got over it, or have an extra dose of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia? hah. you forgot narzism and egocentrism. Also a bit of Social Darwinism and Eugenics if you want to go into the dephts of it, if you insult me, do it right bitch.
It's redundant to say narcissism and ego-centrism, since those things apply to pretty much everyone, whether they admit it or not. It only makes sense to list more specific things.
You need to specify as there are some sub groups. The people that are too romantic and dig angels and flowers and happiness, the heavy metal fetishists, the counter culture.. I, myself am Laveyan, the only group that can defend their philosophy rationally, and that I've found incredibly compelling. what you heard about that already is correct, but I'm here for questions if you have any, oh and the reason striped power is pissed off at them is that I cut at his believes with ockhams razor previously, just a btw. ^^
@The part regarding belief dissection of StripedPower and Occam's razor: Would you mind noting me about that?
As you used the alternative spelling I'm confident I don't need to go into details about the razor.
He is a religiously confused person, as in having problems admitting what exactly he sticks with in fear of it being stripped away, he has most often identified as 'pantheist' however.
Now Pantheism is a faith that cannot easily be argued against, god is everywhere, just like an additional neutron in an atomic core, that does nothing to affect the physical properties of said neutron, Just like an additional compartment of air that cannot be refractionary distilled from air and has no effects on assimilation nor dissimilation.
So in a nutshell it's the faith closest to what atheists in the middle ages had, so they wouldn't be tortured, obviously, such faith just needs a treatment of occams razor.
I Had striped power share this idea with me, with my usual open minded and friendly self, and he took exeption to meeting someone that could destroy his believes with logic.
He is a religiously confused person, as in having problems admitting what exactly he sticks with in fear of it being stripped away, he has most often identified as 'pantheist' however.
Now Pantheism is a faith that cannot easily be argued against, god is everywhere, just like an additional neutron in an atomic core, that does nothing to affect the physical properties of said neutron, Just like an additional compartment of air that cannot be refractionary distilled from air and has no effects on assimilation nor dissimilation.
So in a nutshell it's the faith closest to what atheists in the middle ages had, so they wouldn't be tortured, obviously, such faith just needs a treatment of occams razor.
I Had striped power share this idea with me, with my usual open minded and friendly self, and he took exeption to meeting someone that could destroy his believes with logic.
I can't believe they haven't gotten over it to this point. 
- Before they tell you anything: Basically, they (alzebetha) don't seem to understand that I'm a pantheist (God = The Universe and everything else). They got all enraged when I mentioned the word "God", without even letting me explain anything else. They use and abuse the Occam's razor theory as a method of discrediting any belief they disagree with. Then I replied telling them how immature they were for doing that and for refusing to hold a decent discussion without throwing out insults to everyone. That's one of the things that made me think satanists are negative people.
Yes, you're a satanist, too. That doesn't mean you should give them the reason.
- Before they tell you anything: Basically, they (alzebetha) don't seem to understand that I'm a pantheist (God = The Universe and everything else). They got all enraged when I mentioned the word "God", without even letting me explain anything else. They use and abuse the Occam's razor theory as a method of discrediting any belief they disagree with. Then I replied telling them how immature they were for doing that and for refusing to hold a decent discussion without throwing out insults to everyone. That's one of the things that made me think satanists are negative people.
Yes, you're a satanist, too. That doesn't mean you should give them the reason.
I was thinking of just reading the conversation for myself to judge o__o (which is why I'd rather get a note about the link to the convo). I somewhat know that ~alzebetha does have a tendency to do that from the replies to some of the things they set up in their "Ask A Satanist" thread. Don't know why it didn't come to my mind earlier that the usage that they did in the conversation was a rather hasty application of it ><.
I just wanted to clarify stuff before you or someone else get a bad impression about me. You know, I have to defend my reputation. 
As for the link, I can't seem to find it here, I think that thread is gone for good. But I found it with Google. I have no problem with making this issue public, so... here it is: [link] *grabs popcorn and waits for something to happen*
As for the link, I can't seem to find it here, I think that thread is gone for good. But I found it with Google. I have no problem with making this issue public, so... here it is: [link] *grabs popcorn and waits for something to happen*
Occam's Razor is not a theory, but a law.
Don't you think it's wrong to generalise all satanists on the example of one?
Also, you could have just applied Occam's Razor in the same way, since satanists are not exempt from it.
Don't you think it's wrong to generalise all satanists on the example of one?
Also, you could have just applied Occam's Razor in the same way, since satanists are not exempt from it.
LaVeyan are.
In same way atheists are, there's no real competition there. 
Hold on, how do you want to apply ockhams to a non faith?
Please don't do a variation of proving a negative here, those things lower the IQ of everyone reading them.
Please don't do a variation of proving a negative here, those things lower the IQ of everyone reading them.
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It is a law if applied properly. A theory (a tool?) if you use it to exclude complex theories for the sake of simplicity, without it being a 'closed environment' where all the possible variables are known.
Well... I haven't yet come across a satanist that doesn't show an unusual amount of negativity in some way or another.
Well... I haven't yet come across a satanist that doesn't show an unusual amount of negativity in some way or another.
Well, there's no doubt he applied it wrong, as Occam's Razor is not used to weigh the value of one hypothesis to another in science, but as a method to make sure the hypothesis you're making doesn't contain more holes than it should.
So no, Occam's Razor isn't used to exclude a hypothesis, it is only used to simplify a hypothesis.
So no, Occam's Razor isn't used to exclude a hypothesis, it is only used to simplify a hypothesis.
tihi. So many dumb people.
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Ok, same questions as I asked ShadowKyogre. Thanks!
who/what do you worship, and how do you know s/he is the true god/dess?
-> Nothing, but I go with the assumption that I am the god of my world. This is to be taken metaphorically(and not to be confused with descartes), when I die reality ends for me. I am the centre of all existance.
How do you worship?
-> As I am the centre of my worship my own pleasure and enjoyment takes precedence over everything else. Wasting time doing rituals for machinations of my, or worse, other peoples imaginations is futile.
->What do you believe happens after death?
I believe nothing, but I know I will slowly rot away.
->How did you become a Satanist?
A combination of enviromental factors, genetic traits and peer association.
->Do you know others in real life who also believe the same thing?
No.
->What are some common misconceptions of your religion?
That it is a religion that worships satan as entity. It is however very amusing to see uneducated people presume it is; in reality I see it as Atheism 2.0
That the Stigma of evil/immorality/etc is something that would affect us negatively. We have embraced humanities own immorality instead of trying to distance ourselfs from it, calling me depraved, immoral, evil, etc, is approving of me, so is calling me good. you cannot succeed in hurting me by adressing my character.
-> What's wrong with the world? Thanks!
The world as in the planet? that ones doing fine till it falls into a black hole.
The world as in encompassing society plus ecosystem? Several things, but if I had to nail something I'd go with 'too many stupid people'
-> Nothing, but I go with the assumption that I am the god of my world. This is to be taken metaphorically(and not to be confused with descartes), when I die reality ends for me. I am the centre of all existance.
How do you worship?
-> As I am the centre of my worship my own pleasure and enjoyment takes precedence over everything else. Wasting time doing rituals for machinations of my, or worse, other peoples imaginations is futile.
->What do you believe happens after death?
I believe nothing, but I know I will slowly rot away.
->How did you become a Satanist?
A combination of enviromental factors, genetic traits and peer association.
->Do you know others in real life who also believe the same thing?
No.
->What are some common misconceptions of your religion?
That it is a religion that worships satan as entity. It is however very amusing to see uneducated people presume it is; in reality I see it as Atheism 2.0
That the Stigma of evil/immorality/etc is something that would affect us negatively. We have embraced humanities own immorality instead of trying to distance ourselfs from it, calling me depraved, immoral, evil, etc, is approving of me, so is calling me good. you cannot succeed in hurting me by adressing my character.
-> What's wrong with the world? Thanks!
The world as in the planet? that ones doing fine till it falls into a black hole.
The world as in encompassing society plus ecosystem? Several things, but if I had to nail something I'd go with 'too many stupid people'
And I forgot to answer the post's questions when I typed up my message. Forgive my energy on the matter, for here are my answers:
* What do I believe in and why?: This is a pretty vague question. Provide some specific variants of this question?
* Outlook on life?: I developed my outlook on life long before I came to Satanism, save for some facts about demons and angels. Generally, I try to be nice to others unless they've snapped several of my mental wires.
* Relationship with others?: See outlook on life for the ones that are fine with it. As for the ones that don't, I usually try to keep it under the rugs :s. It's kinda rough living with a parent that blindly tramples upon one's beliefs everyday, but the experiences you gain from being one are absolutely worth it. Regarding metaphysical entities, I could probably write a novel on that if I wanted to x_x.
* What do I believe in and why?: This is a pretty vague question. Provide some specific variants of this question?
* Outlook on life?: I developed my outlook on life long before I came to Satanism, save for some facts about demons and angels. Generally, I try to be nice to others unless they've snapped several of my mental wires.
* Relationship with others?: See outlook on life for the ones that are fine with it. As for the ones that don't, I usually try to keep it under the rugs :s. It's kinda rough living with a parent that blindly tramples upon one's beliefs everyday, but the experiences you gain from being one are absolutely worth it. Regarding metaphysical entities, I could probably write a novel on that if I wanted to x_x.