Satanism

From TinWiki.org

Satanism is a religion which, despite it's provocative name, is unrelated to any of the other main world religions. It is a religion which encourages the Satanist to feel free to live live according to their urges: be that hating someone or something for good reason, or showing love for one who deserves it.

Contents 1 Misconceptions about Satanism 2 Useful List of Satanic Literature 3 See Also 4 External Links

Misconceptions about Satanism

• Satanists worship the Devil -- NOT TRUE: Satanists worship the ego primarily. Although some theistic Satanists may worship the 'Devil' an an opposition to God, most are atheistic and look upon 'Satan' as representing all that is carnal and natural to mankind. Satanists see these natural instincts as something to be embraced rather than suppressed, as in many other religions.

• Satanism is a violent religion -- NOT TRUE: Satanism encourages it's followers to treat people with the same amount of respect as someone treats them. That is to say, if you are are pleasant to a Satanist then they will in turn be pleasant to you. Satanists do not preach wanton, unnecessary violence.

• Satanists harm children and animals -- NOT TRUE: There is no international conspiracy of Satanists ritually abusing children and animals. A lot of beliefs about Satanism and Satanic Ritual Abuse that hits the press every now and again all stems from four books: Michelle Remembers, Satan Seller, Satan's Underground and He Came to Set the Captives Free. Some of these contain what are said to be personal experiences with Satanism - as victim or perpetrator. All of them have been shown to be hoaxes by various Evangelical and Wiccan investigators. There are many more books which are written by Evangelical authors which appear to use combinations of these four books for reference material. It is worth wondering how much of the information that exists in the public imagination is purely based upon evangelical propaganda.

Useful List of Satanic Literature

• Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor Lavey and Peter H. Gilmore.
• The Satanic Rituals: Companion to The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey.
• The Devil's Notebook by Anton Szandor LaVey.
• The Satanic Witch by Anton Szandor LaVey.
• The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn Manson and Neil Strauss.
• The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton LaVey by Blanche Barton.
• Satan Speaks! by Anton Szandor LaVey.

See Also

• Satan
• Temple of Set

External Links

• The Church of Satan founded by Anton LaVey
• The First Church of Satan founded by John Allee
• The Temple of Set at xeper.org.
• YouTube Video "Anton LaVey and his calliope" (a clip from the 1993 documentary "Anton Szandor LaVey - Speak Of TheDevil")
• The Satanic Bible: Quasi-Scripture / Counter-Scripture (a paper presented by James R. Lewis at the 2002 CESNUR International Conference on Minority Religions, Social Change, and Freedom of Conscience)