In 2005, [pseudonym Lucien] Greaves had lunch with Peter H. Gilmore, high priest of the Church of Satan founded by Anton LaVey. Greaves felt that a cultural shift had occurred with the rise of the New Atheist movement, led by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, and that Satanists should participate in this new conversation about religion in the public sphere. As a cognitive scientist, he was suspicious of Dawkins\u2019 claims that humanity can live without religion since he felt that humans are \u201chard wired\u201d to interpret the world through a rich language of symbol, narrative, and ritual. So Greaves imagined Satanism as a religion that could combine Dawkins\u2019 aversion to supernaturalism with powerful and compelling symbols\u2014what might be called a \u201csacralized\u201d atheism.<\/p>\n
He also felt that organized Satanism had become moribund and needed to become politically active. \u201cWhat is the point of an organization, if it doesn\u2019t organize? You can\u2019t advocate something and then not do anything about it.\u201d. . .<\/p>\n
Greaves was eventually approached by The Satanic Temple, a group that shared his political goals and saw Satanism as a \u201cpoison pill\u201d that could be used to check the erosion of the establishment clause by reminding the public that privileges afforded to Christians could also be afforded to Satanists. The persona \u201cLucien Greaves\u201d was created to be the face of the Satanic Temple. In his more mundane persona, Doug Mesner, Greaves was already receiving a stream of hate mail and death threats for attacking claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse and repressed memories. He assumed that openly endorsing Satanism would bring even heavier attacks. Strangely it did not. \u201cMy daily persona gets a lot more hate mail than Lucien Greaves,\u201d he explained<\/p>\n
In January 2013 the Temple\u2019s campaign began with a rally to support Florida governor Rick Scott, who signed a bill allowing religious \u201cinspirational messages\u201d to be read before assemblies in public schools. This was followed by the aforementioned \u201cPink Mass\u201d at the gravesite of the mother of Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps, a service that would turn the woman\u2019s spirit gay, according to the Temple. There have also been plans to adopt a highway. However, the most successful campaign to date has been the offer to build a monument to the historical significance of Satan on the grounds of the Oklahoma capital as a compliment to an existing Ten Commandments monument.<\/p>\n
Greaves says he\u2019s only getting started as the Temple continues to experiment and determine which tactics are most effective. They also have a growing legal team. Future plans involve legally ordaining ministers and using the free exercise clause to claim privileges for Satanists. Satanic ministers could, for example, illegally marry a gay couple and then, when the state refuses to recognize the marriage, claim that their free exercise rights have been violated.<\/p>\n
Other projects involve the Satanic ideal that one\u2019s body is sacred and inviolable. Expressing disgust that corporal punishment is still legal in schools throughout the South and beyond, Greave hopes to produce waivers for Satanic families providing a religious exemption from corporal punishment (an ironic reversal of SRA claims, in which Satanists would actually prevent child abuse). A similar exemption would be sought for Satanic women in states that implicitly require trans-vaginal ultrasound to receive an abortion\u2014a policy that opponents have called \u201cstate-sponsored rape.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n
In an article for Time<\/a><\/em>, the Church\u2019s High Priestess Magistra Peggy Nadramia, claimed that Greaves is not an authentic Satanist and merely \u201criding the coattails\u201d of the Church of Satan, adding that \u201cThe Church of Satan is decidedly uninterested in politics.\u201d Greaves dismissed these attacks, asserting that preserving their status as the monolithic embodiment of Satanism appears to be the Church\u2019s only goal. For his own part, Greaves claims he has no interest in being the public face of Satanism and that struggles over leadership are at odds with Satanism\u2019s anti-authoritarian philosophy.<\/p>\nInterestingly, the claim that Greaves is not a \u201creal\u201d Satanist often hinges on his atheism, though he says, \u201cIf I were a fake, I would just claim a theistic belief in Satan.\u201d Greaves rejects the idea that religion is fundamentally about faith in the supernatural. He explained, \u201cLook at the Jews. They\u2019re united by a shared sense of identity and ritual praxis, not belief. No one would question whether Judaism is a religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greaves feels that a community centered around Satan\u2014not as a literal entity but a potent metaphor for values that he holds sacred\u2014is more than just a philosophy and should enjoy the same Constitutional protections afforded to religion. If the Satanic Temple\u2019s campaign has any traction it will force a public discussion not simply on the Constitutional issues surrounding religion, but on the perennial problem of what religion is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The group that is trying to erect a statue of Baphomet next to the Ten Commandments at the Oklahoma state capitol represents a new strain of Satanism.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t just about black masses, occultism, and deliberate acts of evil.\u00a0 The new Satanism is allying itself with atheism in an attempt to destroy traditional religions.\u00a0 And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[228,2948],"class_list":["post-17670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religions","tag-atheism","tag-satanism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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