ebolamonger

ok, i'm having a discussion about satanism with someone and i have some general questions about satanism:

1. is there a working definition of satanism? the one i am going by is the one from religioustolerance.org and it is here:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanis1.htm

2. is satanism inherently more dangerous than any other religion or system of belief?

thanks!

-nikki-

reverendmoss

I read the Satanic Bible many years ago and found it to be rather tedious. It seems only to point at other religions ( esp. Christianity) and say, "They're wrong on this point. It should be this. Look how silly they are.". The white candle on the right side of the Satanic altar (according to ebolamonger's religious tolerance link) is a good example of this. The only thing worse than dogmatic religion is the shadowy mirror image of dogmatic religion.


I applaud the fact that they consider life sacred and stress the ideals of personal responsibility, yet it seems to be nothing more than a tediously immature reaction to oppressive Chritsian theosophy - as if saying "I don't agree, so I'll take the opposite stance." (devil's advocate -lol)
It's a pity some only see the world in black and white.

I'm surprised to see LeVay died in '97. How did I miss that? Thought for sure the priests would have been dancing in the streets.

happyboy

http://www.churchofsatan.com

there ya go! laveyan satanism in a nutshell.

happyboy

Harumi

What about the stereotypical "evil" satanism?

How many people practice that brand of religion?

I've read what religioustolerance.org has to say on the matter, but it does admit that certain young people (teenagers, go figure) practice it sometimes, and that can be inherently harmful. Ever met people who actually practice that stuff?

Straight Hate

I have never met anyone matching that profile. In my mind, this would suggest at least two things: 1) My horizons are still rather limited, or 2) that image is generally overblown by society at large. My guess is that it's a mix of the two. I'm sure the percentage of evil, devil-worshipping satanists that practice perverse rituals is rather small.

reverendmoss

Yes, strangely enough I have.
She was a 'reformed' satanist, but had practiced satanism for years previously, she said. She was kooky to say the least. When my girlfriend met her she was a practicing Wiccan, and we even did a few circles together.
Claims her moment of 'conversion' came when she dreamt that Satan was coming to kill her and the end of her dream was that he pulled her out through the windshield of her car. Two days later she was thrown into and through the windshield in a bad car wreck and almost died.
She was covered in scars and had difficulty speaking, walking, etc because of them. She's had countless plastic surgeries on her head and face and reconstructive surgeries on her arms and legs (apparently even walking was a miracle).
Fucked up story but this girl swears she still fears Hell and Satan. Don't know how that would fit into a Wiccan's world view, but she saw the Devil as incarnate - a entity capable of harming her. She had more than physical scars to say the least.
The more we got to know her and her boyfriend the less interested we became. I felt the boyfriend was still into the Satanic mindframe (his 'athame' was a 12 inch hunting bowie with a blood red garnet strapped to the hilt with a leather strap - seriously) and we stopped hanging out.

Freaky people.

happyboy

i have much more respect for levayen satanism than the crap that satanists who literally believe in satan spout. levayen satanism is essentially an elitist non-theistic philosophy; literal satanism is just more religious crap.

happyboy

Harumi

Couldn't Levayan Satanism just simply be a ritualized worship of the material world? In some ways, it is very materialistic. I met people who use rituals to try and get or get rid of things or people. The fact though that the person didn't care that they may have killed off another human being seriously disturbed me.

A lot of it is very existential in that sense too, but very warped. I can't say I care much for either type.

happyboy

at least levayen satanism is smart enough to say, "is there a God? who cares?!? what possible bearing could such a cruel entity have on our limited mortal lives?"

happyboy

Harumi

Lol. Buddha said that too actually. We just seem to be on at the same time today. We keep bumping into each other.