Religious Satanism

Religious Satanism (sometimes referred to as Traditional Satanism or Theistic Satanism) is the form of Satanism whose followers believe Satan is a force (or energy) in nature. Contrary to popular belief, most forms of Satanism understand Satan as a symbol, and not as an actual entity; therefore, Religious Satanism is very rare. A more common denomination of Satanism is called Philosophical or LaVeyan Satanism.

Unlike Satanists affiliated with the Church of Satan who are largely atheistic or agnostic, theistic Satanists claim that they experience a "dark" divinity or powerful entity behind the forces of darkness, knowledge, animal energy and freedom in their lives. He (or She) is sometimes perceived as the Muse and the Bestower of knowledge (Gnosis). Theistic Satanists may place a great emphasis on the Serpent in the Biblical tale of Genesis, whom they perceive to be one of the many emanations or incarnations of Lucifer or Satan. According to such teachings, Satan blessed mankind with the "forbidden" fruit of knowledge of good and evil. From this perspective, knowing good is a good thing, but knowing evil is even better, for someone who knows and recognizes evil is better-armed and equipped to fight evil. It is for this reason that Theistic Satanists perceive Satan not as a Force of evil but rather a Force of good. Other devil worshippers though reject this idea, and see themselves as enemies of "Good" and servants of "Evil" in the name of Satan, who they see as the God of all that is Evil.

Overview

Religious Satanism is often similar in outlook and attitude to Philosophical Satanism, though it is generally a prerequisite that the Satanist accept a theological and metaphysical canon involving one or more God(s) who are either Satan in the strictest, Biblical sense, or specially created to identify with or represent the practitioner. A Satan represented in the latter group may be entirely of the practitioner's mind, or may be an adoption from another (usually pre-Christian) religion.

Depending on the Satanists in question, this God (or Gods) may be any in a variety of deities, sometimes taken from ancient faiths; with common ones being Seth of Egyptian theology, any number of ancient Mesopotamian Gods or Goddesses, sometimes Gods of Greek or Roman mythology (Mars, for instance). Others claim a largely original God, although it is usually said by those Satanists that their deity is in fact very old, perhaps from ancient pre-history and often being the first God worshipped by humans (though such claims are unverifiable at best).

Others worship a stricter interpretation of Satan: that of the fallen angel featured in the Christian Bible, though unlike many who see him as being evil as defined by the Christian Church, they instead believe him to be correct in his rebellion against God. Some these faiths hold in common, however, with each other and with Philosophical Satanists, that man, and specifically the self are the highest priorities. This view is often supported by Satanists' view of the god, who is seen to encourage individuality and freedom of thought, and the quest to raise one's self up through means such as magick and similar to Nietzschean Will to Power. Devil Worshipping Satanists follow what is close to inverted chirstianity, literally worshipping Satan as the highest Power, and serving Him, not themselves,

One example of this would be the Biblical Satan, such as the Serpent in Genesis encouraging mankind to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, saying "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil", with the clear implication, coinciding with the beliefs of all Satanists, that mankind should know what is better for itself than any God which would forbid knowledge and self-government. Because of the common position that their faiths are in fact very old, or the oldest, Religious Satanists sometimes refer to themselves as "Traditional Satanists" and Philosophical Satanists as "Contemporary Satanists".

Types of Religious Satanism

Setian Satanism

According to this sect, the Egyptian deity Set, is the real Dark Lord behind the name Satan. They have their own concept of the Black Flame.

This type of Satanism maintains that the Hebrews ran into an adversary in Egypt who was the Pharaoh of the Seti Dynasty, when Set was the principal pharaonic Deity. After the Pharaoh expelled the Hebrews from Egypt, the Hebrew Bible scribes wrote "Exodus", demonstrating the enormity of this event to the Hebrew people. However, there are apparently no Egyptian records to back up any of the Hebrew claims except a passing mention of the Pharaoh kicking many foreigners out at that time — not just Hebrews. Even so, the impact of this expulsion was large enough to the Hebrews to warrant their calling Egypt and its Seti Pharaoh "ha stn", the adversary. Setian Satanists theorize that "Satan" is a wrong or slanderous label for a legitimate Egyptian God, the God Set.

The practices and theology of the Set sect are very oriented towards cultivating selfhood. They reject the dissolving of the individual into oneness with existence, and celebrate the separation of the individual self from the rest of the universe. Some followers believe in Set as a real theistic conscious being that appears in revelations and delivers messages, while others revere Set as a more of a principle. How historically correct their picture of Set is might be considered debatable.

This type of Set-Satanism is a legally tax-exempt religion in the United States.

Sat/Tan Satanism

Sat/Tan Satanism is a quasi-philosophical/quasi-theological brand of Satanism which maintains both religious and non-religious philosophical influences, either inwardly focusing or outwardly. Sat and Tan are Sanskrit words meaning respectively "Being" and "Becoming" (stretching forth), and it has been called by followers often also Dark Doctrine or Dark Discipline Satanism. It maintains that before the universe existed, there was a vast Darkness which represented the concepts of chaos and night, and within that Darkness, there was a Flame or Light which represented Divine Right, or creative capacity. The Flame or Light flared up and spread to the uttermost corners of the Darkness, creating the universe as we know it. Sat/Tan Satanism maintains that today a theoretical "Darkness" still exists throughout the cosmos, and that while all life possesses the creative Flame or Spark of Divine Right, only those individuals defined in this article as Satanists recognize and properly nurture their own Divinity (in the Sat/Tan sense). Those who neglect it are seen as living in the Darkness of ignorance. As such, the movement may be at least superficially compared to certain forms of Gnosticism or Manichaeism.

An undoubtedly interesting note is that there are parallels between Sith religion of Star Wars and Sat/Tan Satanism; where The Force is seen as the Flame and the Jedi and their dogma are seen as living in the Darkness of meek or ignorant submission to the so-called "Will of the Force" (the Sith believe the Force has no will except when put to proper direction by the will of the Sith Acolyte himself).

Devil Worship

The term "Devil worship" has a wide variety of associated meanings, but in its most objective sense, it simply refers to a religious belief in and worship of a Devil or devils. Devil worship can also be referred to as Diabolatry (from the Greek "diabolos" - devil - and "latreia" - worship), or as theistic Satanism. It is a controversial term, since it has been used by LaVeyan Satanists as a term for those criminals who commit crimes citing Satan or Satanism as part of their justification.

However, despite this, there is widespread assumption that Devil Worshipers and Satanists and criminals conducting abhorrent acts under the name of either of these terms, are the same. Reasons for this include: (1) For many people (even Satanists), the terms "Devil worshiper" and "Satanist" are synonymous; (2) The media continues to use the term "Satanist" instead of "Devil worshiper" for criminals who commit crimes in the name of Satan (most likely because "Satanist" is shorter and fits more easily in a headline), (3) Many criminals who commit crimes in the name of Satan call themselves "Satanists," not "Devil worshipers," and (4) Referring to Satanism and Devil worship as "completely separate concepts" is often interpreted by non-Satanists as semantic gerrymandering and "hair-splitting" at best, or outright lying and deception at worst.

Other common arguments includes that throughout history, there have been far more many crimes committed in the name of Jehovah, Jesus Christ and Allah than there have been in the name of Satan; yet people do not typically use the term "Christ worship" to be synonymous for criminal activity. Therefore, it makes even less sense to use the term "Devil worship" as a label for criminals, and the idea of claiming that someone is a criminal simply because they worship a particular deity or principle is pure nonsense.

Part of the reason why some Satanists demonize the term "Devil worshiper" is because of the LaVeyan teaching that worshiping a deity is a sign of intellectual weakness. It is also commonly claimed that anyone who worships the Devil is necessarily constrained by Christian theology and dogma, whereas Satanism is "freed" from such. In fact some forms of contemporary Devil worship tend to divorce themselves from strict Christian theology in any event. The Joy of Satan is a good example of Devil worshipers who identify their idea of Satan with Sumerian mythology rather than the Bible (though one might call into question the extent of their devil worship, since they are linked with the NSM and also worship an alien known as "Melki"), and the Church of Azazel practices a polytheistic form of quasi-Devil worship that combines elements of Deism and the African-based Diaspora religions (e.g., Vodou, Santeria, Umbanda) and emphasizes the importance of philosophy and intellectualism to its adherents, as well as purposely distancing themselves from actual worship of Satan. There are however some Satanists that are proud to wear the title Devil Worshippers, for they actually worship Satan, rather than a polytheistic substitute, an example of this would be the Cathedral of The Black Goat. Actual Devil Worshippers, naturally, reject any claims made by non-Devil Worshippers about it being a sign of intellectual weakness to worship Satan.

External links

Satanism | Luciferianism | Left Hand Path | Occult

כת השטן | Traditioneel satanisme