Church of Satan
Quotation: "You cannot love everyone; it is ridiculous to think you can. If you love everyone and everything you lose your natural powers of selection and wind up being a pretty poor judge of character and quality. If anything is used too freely it loses its true meaning. Therefore, the Satanist believes you should love strongly and completely those who deserve your love, but never turn the other cheek to your enemy!"
Overview:
The beliefs, practices and rituals of the Church of Satan have few, if any, points of similarity with the Christian concept of Satan. The CoS' concept of Satan is pre-Christian, and derived from the Pagan image of power, virility, sexuality and sensuality. Satan is viewed as a force of nature, not a living quasi-deity. Their Satan has nothing to do with Hell, demons, pitchforks, sadistic torture, and profound evil. They have occasionally engaged in a Black Mass for publicity purposes, in which the Roman Catholic Mass is ridiculed. But, otherwise, their rituals have no connection to those of Christianity.
There are probably fewer than 10,000 religious Satanists in North America, if teenage dabblers are not included. CoS membership has never exceeded 300 individuals. Many Satanists prefer to work alone as solitary practitioners.
Founding of the Church of Satan:
Religious Satanists existed in the 1950's, both in the United States and the UK. But they were little known to the public. Anton LaVey was teaching weekly lectures on occult topics for $2.00 a person during the spring of 1966. A professional publicist, Edward Webber, suggested that he "would never make any money by lecturing on Friday nights for donations ... it would be better to form some sort of church and get a charter from the State of California ... I told Anton at the time that the press was going to flip out over all this and that we would get a lot of notoriety". Formation of the Church of Satan occurred much later in 1966; it was triggered by a newspaper article that referred to LaVey as the "priest of the Devil's church".
Its beliefs and practices:
The nine Satanic statements: These form the core of the Church of Satan beliefs. They were written by Anton LaVey. In abridged form, they state that Satan represents:
1. Indulgence, not abstinence.
2. Vital existence, not spiritual pipe dreams.
3. Undefiled wisdom, not hypocritical self-deceit.
4. Kindness to those deserving of it, not love wasted on ingrates.
5. Vengeance, not turning the other cheek.
6. Responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires.
7. Man as just another animal - the most vicious of all.
8. Gratification of all ones desires.
9. The best friend that the Christian Church has had as he has kept it in business for centuries.
The nine Satanic sins are: stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies, counterproductive pride, and lack of aesthetics.
Satanists believe: People have created Gods in many forms; pick one that might be useful to you. Heaven and hell do not exist. Satan is not closely related to the modern (post 1400 AD) concept of the Christian devil. Satanists view Satan as a pre-Christian life principle which represents the carnal, earthly, and mundane aspects of life. Satan is not a being, a living entity; he is a force of nature. Human life is held in sacred regard. "Satan...represents love, kindness and respect to those who deserve it." The highest of all Satanic holidays is the birthday of the individual Satanist.
Rituals and ceremonies contain the following concepts: Names used include Satan, Lucifer, Belial and Leviathan.
Ceremonies are pageants, which are used to celebrate a person or element of faith. Magick rituals consist of three types: sex magic (includes masturbation), healing or happiness ritual, and destruction ritual (may include sticking pins in a doll; drawing a picture or writing a description of the victim's death; delivering a soliloquy, etc.). Destruction rituals are best performed by a group. If a person targeted by a destruction ritual is not deserving of it, the ritual will not harm them.
Rules of behavior: Prayer is useless; it distracts people from useful activity. Ritual killing (of humans or animals) violates Satanic principles. Blood drawn from a victim is useless. Victims are killed symbolically, not actually. Members enjoy indulgence instead of abstinence. They practice with joy all the seven deadly Christian sins (greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust and sloth). If a man smites you on one cheek, smash him on the other. Do onto others as they do onto you. Engage in sexual activity freely, in accordance with your needs. The ideal is a monogamous relationship based on compatibility and commitment. Suicide is actively discouraged. The Satanist needs no elaborate, detailed list of rules of behavior.
Membership in the CoS is limited to adults of legal age, unless a teenager obtains the written permission and attendance of their parent or legal guardian.
Political agenda: Termination of the myth of equality for all. Tax all churches. Remove any religious beliefs which have been incorporated in legislation. "Development and production of artificial human companions."
The Church of Satan is highly decentralized, believing that a strong central organization is not desirable. Each Satanist is expected to follow his/her own path.
Satanists' are often highly critical of all other faiths. They are particularly opposed Christianity, because of its paramount position in Western society and the historical persecution by Christians of Satanists.
Books by A.S. LaVey:
"The Satanic Bible,"
"The Satanic Rituals"
"The Satanic Witch"
"The Devil's Notebook"
"Satan Speaks!"
References
http://www.satansrealm.com/military/
http://www.churchofsatan.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hpaulis/CoS-FAQ.html
http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/Sins.html
Quotation: "You cannot love everyone; it is ridiculous to think you can. If you love everyone and everything you lose your natural powers of selection and wind up being a pretty poor judge of character and quality. If anything is used too freely it loses its true meaning. Therefore, the Satanist believes you should love strongly and completely those who deserve your love, but never turn the other cheek to your enemy!"
Overview:
The beliefs, practices and rituals of the Church of Satan have few, if any, points of similarity with the Christian concept of Satan. The CoS' concept of Satan is pre-Christian, and derived from the Pagan image of power, virility, sexuality and sensuality. Satan is viewed as a force of nature, not a living quasi-deity. Their Satan has nothing to do with Hell, demons, pitchforks, sadistic torture, and profound evil. They have occasionally engaged in a Black Mass for publicity purposes, in which the Roman Catholic Mass is ridiculed. But, otherwise, their rituals have no connection to those of Christianity.
There are probably fewer than 10,000 religious Satanists in North America, if teenage dabblers are not included. CoS membership has never exceeded 300 individuals. Many Satanists prefer to work alone as solitary practitioners.
Founding of the Church of Satan:
Religious Satanists existed in the 1950's, both in the United States and the UK. But they were little known to the public. Anton LaVey was teaching weekly lectures on occult topics for $2.00 a person during the spring of 1966. A professional publicist, Edward Webber, suggested that he "would never make any money by lecturing on Friday nights for donations ... it would be better to form some sort of church and get a charter from the State of California ... I told Anton at the time that the press was going to flip out over all this and that we would get a lot of notoriety". Formation of the Church of Satan occurred much later in 1966; it was triggered by a newspaper article that referred to LaVey as the "priest of the Devil's church".
Its beliefs and practices:
The nine Satanic statements: These form the core of the Church of Satan beliefs. They were written by Anton LaVey. In abridged form, they state that Satan represents:
1. Indulgence, not abstinence.
2. Vital existence, not spiritual pipe dreams.
3. Undefiled wisdom, not hypocritical self-deceit.
4. Kindness to those deserving of it, not love wasted on ingrates.
5. Vengeance, not turning the other cheek.
6. Responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires.
7. Man as just another animal - the most vicious of all.
8. Gratification of all ones desires.
9. The best friend that the Christian Church has had as he has kept it in business for centuries.
The nine Satanic sins are: stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies, counterproductive pride, and lack of aesthetics.
Satanists believe: People have created Gods in many forms; pick one that might be useful to you. Heaven and hell do not exist. Satan is not closely related to the modern (post 1400 AD) concept of the Christian devil. Satanists view Satan as a pre-Christian life principle which represents the carnal, earthly, and mundane aspects of life. Satan is not a being, a living entity; he is a force of nature. Human life is held in sacred regard. "Satan...represents love, kindness and respect to those who deserve it." The highest of all Satanic holidays is the birthday of the individual Satanist.
Rituals and ceremonies contain the following concepts: Names used include Satan, Lucifer, Belial and Leviathan.
Ceremonies are pageants, which are used to celebrate a person or element of faith. Magick rituals consist of three types: sex magic (includes masturbation), healing or happiness ritual, and destruction ritual (may include sticking pins in a doll; drawing a picture or writing a description of the victim's death; delivering a soliloquy, etc.). Destruction rituals are best performed by a group. If a person targeted by a destruction ritual is not deserving of it, the ritual will not harm them.
Rules of behavior: Prayer is useless; it distracts people from useful activity. Ritual killing (of humans or animals) violates Satanic principles. Blood drawn from a victim is useless. Victims are killed symbolically, not actually. Members enjoy indulgence instead of abstinence. They practice with joy all the seven deadly Christian sins (greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust and sloth). If a man smites you on one cheek, smash him on the other. Do onto others as they do onto you. Engage in sexual activity freely, in accordance with your needs. The ideal is a monogamous relationship based on compatibility and commitment. Suicide is actively discouraged. The Satanist needs no elaborate, detailed list of rules of behavior.
Membership in the CoS is limited to adults of legal age, unless a teenager obtains the written permission and attendance of their parent or legal guardian.
Political agenda: Termination of the myth of equality for all. Tax all churches. Remove any religious beliefs which have been incorporated in legislation. "Development and production of artificial human companions."
The Church of Satan is highly decentralized, believing that a strong central organization is not desirable. Each Satanist is expected to follow his/her own path.
Satanists' are often highly critical of all other faiths. They are particularly opposed Christianity, because of its paramount position in Western society and the historical persecution by Christians of Satanists.
Books by A.S. LaVey:
"The Satanic Bible,"
"The Satanic Rituals"
"The Satanic Witch"
"The Devil's Notebook"
"Satan Speaks!"
References
http://www.satansrealm.com/military/
http://www.churchofsatan.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hpaulis/CoS-FAQ.html
http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/Sins.html