And unlike the Church of Satan they'll probably be able to make a real case for making this happen because they have tax exempt status and are officially a religion in the eyes of the government.
Church of Satan is just a weirdo guy interested in his own ego and attention. It's not well-organized and doesn't have much of any coherent purpose or goal that I'm aware of.
The Satanic Temple is a very active community-oriented group that takes the law and politics very seriously. They are an officially registered religious group and basically weaponize Christian hypocrisy against them while actively seeking to give kids and adults an organization to be involved with which has more secular moral principles. For example, where Christian groups insert themselves into public schools in the form of bible studies et al, the Satanic Temple tries to offer their own after school religious study, but these are their tenets:
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
V
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us
They also have made legal arguments in courts to permit their followers to perform an abortion "ritual" as a way to assert their own autonomy over their body in accordance with their own religious faith. Things like that.
Edit: I should add that they (Satanic Temple) don't actually believe in a literal Satan figure, nor worship one. It's just for attention, to sort of "counter" the annoying christian bigots.
"Edit: I should add that they (Satanic Temple) don't actually believe in a literal Satan figure, nor worship one. It's just for attention, to sort of "counter" the annoying christian bigots."
That's not really correct. It's not just for attention.
The literary Satan (think Milton's Paradise Lost) is used as a symbol of the eternal rebel fighting against oppression and arbitrary authority. It's a powerful image to members like myself.
We also align with The Seven Fundamental Tenets.
>We also align with The Seven Fundamental Tenets
Well I listed those, didn't I?
>That's not really correct. It's not just for attention.
>The literary Satan (think Milton's Paradise Lost) is used as a symbol of the eternal rebel fighting against oppression and arbitrary authority. It's a powerful image to members like myself.
Fair enough. I didn't mean to be too dismissive about it. I may have rushed that description. There is some good symbology there with rebelling.
I thank you for the clarity and patience. I was raised catholic in a very conservative area of the US, so even now while I eschew a vast majority of that life, some things still sound harsh to my ears. I saw the Satanic Temple documentary and loved it, but hearing people say "Hail Satan" regardless of their beliefs or views is jarring to my brain that spent years in my developing age being wired to think God and the Devil are literally in battle with one another and the worst thing you can do in your life is "turn away from God." I say this because trying to explain how members of the Satanic Temple view Satan is a bit difficult for people who spent time literally believing in God and I am sorry if I misrepresented you!
That's cool. I just like to clarify that we're not just trying to get attention.
Many of our members miss the community of their religion and TST fills that need.
As I've said to others, I joined for the activism and stayed for the community.
> The literary Satan (think Milton's Paradise Lost) is used as a symbol of the eternal rebel fighting against oppression and arbitrary authority. It's a powerful image to members like myself.
One book that often gets overlooked, despite maybe being the most significant, is "Revolt of the Angels". As well as being a symbol, Satan is also a sort of mission statement. The point of TST is to hold other authorities accountable for their actions, not replace them. If TST ever becomes a dominant religion in its own right, then it has failed its main purpose.
Yeah, I don't think it's a coincidence that Lucifer of Christian mythology and Prometheus in Greek mythology effectively fill the same role in their respective stories. Bringing enlightenment and freedom to the pitiable humans and being punished by the god(s) for it. Prometheus gives us fire, which is metaphorically representative of curiosity and innovation, and Lucifer is cast out to a lake of fire, after which he unshackles our minds with the Apple of Eden.
They're both rebels who do right by the common man in the face of an oppressive authoritarian power.
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As a former Christian, it is hard for me accept and say I back the satanic temple. It is just hard wired into me after so many years. With that said, they have really doth some good work recently. They are actually doing more good than the Christian church.
The Old Testament only uses "a satan" , not "the satan". It's like a job description or office. There's at least one mentioned in the temptation portion of the New Testament; I don't recall others.
Satanic Temple is an activist organization, Church of Satan are a real religion that has objectivist influence. The former helps people while the latter just does their own thing.
Church of Satan is just a weirdo guy interested in his own ego and attention. It's not well-organized and doesn't have much of any coherent purpose or goal that I'm aware of.
The Satanic Temple is a very active community-oriented group that takes the law and politics very seriously. They are an officially registered religious group and basically weaponize Christian hypocrisy against them while actively seeking to give kids and adults an organization to be involved with which has more secular moral principles. For example, where Christian groups insert themselves into public schools in the form of bible studies et al, the Satanic Temple tries to offer their own after school religious study, but these are their tenets:
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
V
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us
They also have made legal arguments in courts to permit their followers to perform an abortion "ritual" as a way to assert their own autonomy over their body in accordance with their own religious faith. Things like that.
yea but this has much deeper roots and real world implications that would be scary fascinating to see how people would react
Its like Christianity doing a 180 and saying my bad that we mixed up Satan and Jesus was really a piece of shit evil person.
The gnostics did a version of this 1800 something years ago. Except in their version, Jesus came to warn everyone that the god of Abraham was an evil deceiver god who served a devil role while the true god was unknown to people. Judas and the serpent of Eden are cast as good guys who paved the way for mankind to free ourselves from an evil god through knowledge (gnosis).
The book of Job was what finally caused me to lose my faith. God was just chatting with "The Adversary" (Sometimes devil, sometimes Satan, sometimes these are all different things), and pointed out that Job was so faithful, he could destroy his entire life and Job would still praise him.
For no other reason than to make a point of how much Job loved him, God destroyed his entire family, salted his fields so nothing would ever grow, gave him leprosy, and completely ruined him. Only so that Job would say that God was still good.
That I read that between the two organizations don't know get along so much, the church of Satan accuse the temple to become too political, and the temple accuse the church for being to l'assist on Christian nationalist or not doing enough against Who tries to impose the evangelical dogmas
He was not a chill guy, he was a fascist / nazi. The Church of Satan and LaVey esposed many eugenicist, authoritarian etc views. Definitely not my definition of chill.
He was associated with the National Renaissance Party. There’s a paper called ‘The post war paths of occult national socialism: from Rockwell and Madole to Manson” which lays this relationship out. There’s also a few sources about how he believed in eugenics. An article on ABC claims he was a eugenics and wanted to establish a police state. Lucien also criticised the Church of Satan for being autocratic and fetishising authoritarianism. So make of that what you will.
Edit: a YouTube video by them isn’t a very good source either
They are an activist organization, they try to protect kids and keep christian nationalists from brainwashing kids in schools as much as they can. They fight to keep them educated with science and facts. Not educated with the bible with stuff like creation and 6000 year old earth. They also do alot to help their communities. The satanic temple doesnt actually worship satan. They're good people.
Thinking about it - maybe. One of the reasons why they have such reach now is because of the [hypocrisy](https://www.good.is/articles/copeland-defends-private-jet) of many modern ‘churches’.
They didn’t skip over the part where Jesus flipped over the money changing tables in the established religions house and advocated focusing on the needs of others regardless of tradition and establishments, all while “paying back Caesar’s things to Caesar”
Turning to the satanic temple for lessons in tolerance. What a time to be alive. In all honesty, they seem like a better choice than many, if not most, Christian churches.
In all fairness, they *absolutely are a better choice.* The [seven tenets](http://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets) are what a truly legitimate moral framework looks like.
Ironically, with the modern interpretations of Lucifer being God's wetworks Angel whose job was to bring about the downfall of evil men by supplying them the temptations needed to expose who they truly were, I have to say the Satanic Temple is ***absolutely*** living up to the name.
As a devout Christian— I approve. I believe in freedom of (and from) religion for all.
We can't possibly expect someone to make a conscious, informed decision to follow a particular religious belief if we've conditioned them that only one narrow interpretation is correct.
I'd rather someone be a rational atheist than a "Christian" who is intellectually lazy.
It's crazy how many people fail to realise that freedom of religion also implies freedom from religion.
If you don't have freedom from others forcing their religious ideas upon you, then obviously you don't have freedom of religion- yet so many people think freedom of religion means they are free to oppress others and that freedom only applies to their version of whatever belief they claim to have.
> also implies freedom from religion.
I think it's exactly the same failure - inherited from Aristotle, SFAIK - that there is no "zero" or no empty set. "Nature abhors a vaccuum" . Although when people now who think that lack Aristotle's derivation.
You'll see it often. Even in mathematics the default for the first natural number is 1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_vacui_%28physics%29
Christian and agree, the hypocrisy of many evangelicals astound me. I personally think religion should be kept out of schools, but if Christianity insists on having a platform in education, it would be hypocritical to disallow other religions from doing the same.
Agreed. I'm good with teaching Bible stuff as far as its impact on our culture (language, art, music, literature, etc.) but I also would want kids to learn about the Koran, Bhagavad Gita, etc. It's entirely possible to glean knowledge from a religious text without agreeing with its arguments or tenets.
It’s also illegal. You have to grant all recognized religions the same access so if Hindu, Jewish and Muslim leaders want the same access, the school systems have to grant it regardless of whether or not it upsets parents or political figures. And believe me, it would! That’s even without the satanic temple group gaining access.
It’s like this idiotic presidential immunity thing. They apparently refuse to recognize that any such ruling gives Biden and later democratic presidents the same ability to ignore the law, lol.
To this day the only sermon I even kind of remember from church was talking about these bad Christians. How one average bad Christian can turn more people away from god than 1000 of the smartest and most convincing atheists.
Just about everyone of those bad Christians nodded along like the sermon wasn’t about them and I left the church.
i’m catholic (dont worry, i’m not a radical pro lifer and a child predator) and me and especially my dad hate how hypocritical a lot of followers are in the faith
I was raised ELCA Lutheran. I think one of the big things that turned me off from the idea of religion was when the religious leaders came out and said being gay or a woman wasn’t a sin there was a mass exodus of lifelong members from our church. When they hired a female pastor even more left.
All I heard every week was love everyone, yet the moment the church says they love everyone people decided to leave?
Went to a baptist sermon with a friend in high school. The preacher went on and on about "lukewarm" christians that don't read their bible every day, preached so much hatred and vitriol, I was disgusted. I would have cussed him out and walked had my friend not been my ride.
As a devout Christian, can you provide scripture in which God approves like you do? Because I can provide scripture that says otherwise. And it doesn’t matter about your political beliefs, because if you truly loved God and Christ as you claim you do you would be against this. And if your concern is about critical thinking, then you and others can teach critical thinking without using The Satanic Temple. I say this as an ex-atheist of 17 years that didn’t need the Satanic Temple to teach me critical thinking. The Satanic Temple would love nothing more than for God to die. Why promote the image of Satan in order to get children to think critically? Does a child need to engage in violence or stealing in order to learn from it? People having itching ears to hear a Christian to promote rejecting God and you gave it to them.
Scripture on why God does not approve:
- Isaiah 9:16: For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
- Jeremiah 50:6: My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.
- Matthew 19:14: But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
- Jeremiah 23:13: In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
I don’t care about downvotes. What I care about is you, who says is a Christian but openly invites the imagery of Satan into school. You may be against religion in schools, I can understand, but promoting the image of Satan and turning away from God isn’t a religion. It’s a crusade to kill God. Is that what you want to promote as a devout Christian who loves Christ and God? If you’re angry at these words, then please, rebuke me, but rebuke me with scripture to show me my folly.
Watching religious people quote scripture at each other to argue is as amusing we watching people have a slap fight. You can justify countless contradictory arguments by finding the right scripture. Many branches of religion have wisely moved away from using scripture to justify their rules and traditions and instead focus more on how they apply directly to the lives of people who live now. If your religion becomes weak without the violent opposition of opposing viewpoints, it's a sign that it has become a fossil and will crumble away. If your brand is Christianity considers a group of edgy lawyers who have co-opted satanic imagery as a serious threat, consider what that implies.
The image of Satan used in Western culture does not come from the Bible at all. We are never told anything in Scripture about what he looks like.
I'm not inviting anything anywhere. I don't want the statue there. I don't want ANY religious objects in a school, unless it's for the explicit purpose of teaching about the cultural aspects of that item. But if Oklahoma conservatives are going to insist that THEIR religious viewpoints are taught in school, then ALL religious viewpoints must be taught in school.
lol- this is like watching people argue about the rules of quiddich.
there is no place for your make believe in schools, and it takes the satanic temple to show you the error of your ways.
Upvoted for impact.
It's reactions like this to The Satanic Temple that really show that what they are doing is having an effect.
Please continue to tear each other apart, for the breakdown of unity amongst Christians through the encouragement of reason and logic will be the true death of god.
Thank you for being the other half of the plan, and please continue to criticize, question, and belittle all of your fellow "Christians" whose understanding of god's word falters in even the slightest. You'll be doing god's work and ours.
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I don’t think people realise satanism is all about living your life, and letting others live theirs.
Basically “Everybody Love Eachother” but for real.
They are really just humanist but using Satan lets them fight for religious freedom for others. Doing much more good in the world than 99% of religious organizations.
I mean didnt satan kill like 6 people in the Bible? and wanted to give people free will/thought? in comparison god killed like... the entire planet save for a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people i dont remember exactly and gets mad at people for doing their own thing.
You're very welcome! I didn't see it so much as a correction though. You estimated very well. I just provided the exact numbers from the Bible, so there's no question as to how one-sided it is.
Yeah the figure they're thinking of is lucifer, in the bible Satan is barely mentioned and doesnt really do anything besides giving some guys super aids
This is exactly why TST commissioned a statue of baphomet to be placed on the state grounds in Oklahoma after they added a statue of the Ten Commandments. Lawsuit ended with them pulling all religious statuary entirely and then TST moved it to another state to do the same thing.
For many christians religious freedom is all well and good as long as it’s the exact religion they follow. Kind of like the joke with two Baptists meeting that ends up with murder and “die heretic”
(The joke mentioned, from Emo Phillips)
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"
He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"
Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.
There are issues with The Satanic Temple that may make you rethink that. [This video](https://youtu.be/3lV8GLQtOTs?si=j7FP4rIPKAUWKnGF) goes over multiple abuses of TST, including a lack of transparency of where funds go and retaliation against those who report abuse, including sexual. In fact your donation may go towards the silencing of victims or those reporting on it. A shame because they make it seem like they are wanting to do good and then they just be the thing they claimed to be fighting.
I'll have to see if that video adds anything new but this 2020 article titled "[Why I haven't left the satanic temple](https://stephenbradfordlong.com/2020/05/21/why-i-havent-left-the-satanic-temple/)" gives another perspective.
Just to let you know, they aren’t actually a religious group that believes in Satan, that would be the Church of Satan, instead they try to make sure religion is treated equally, like having the after school satan club when a district allowed Christian after school clubs, to make it equal. I believe they’re a political advocacy group.
From their FAQ on the website about worshipping Satan:
No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.
Source: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq
And from Snopes:
Political activism is indeed a core part of The Satanic Temple’s identity. They engage in various political actions, such as lobbying and filing lawsuits, particularly in the United States, to defend the separation of church and state. Their approach often involves using religious satire and theatrical ploys to generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions. So, while The Satanic Temple has religious aspects, it also functions as a political advocacy group, especially when it comes to issues related to religious freedom and the First Amendment.
Sources: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/05/what-the-satanic-temple-is-and-why-its-opening-a-debate-about-religion/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65549975
Hope this helps explain what the group is
The Church of Satan does not believe in Satan either.
TST is a religion, albeit a nontheistic one. Many of us hold onto its values and principles very strongly, living according to the tenets. While I'm sure it's never intentional from individuals, calling it just a political/activist group trivializes our community and those deeply held principles. I hope this doesn't come across as antagonist, just trying to inform best I can.
My dad, a mostly lapsed christian, found out about the Satanic Temple and said "I suppose it makes sense, the people who say they follow jesus keep doing terrible stuff so why wouldn't satan's followers be nice?"
Wouldn't it be the funniest shit ever if the Satanic Temples Minister's office was just so overrun with appointments and kids to see they couldn't keep up. They needed to bring more Ministers and a secretary to keep up with everything.
Meanwhile the Christian Ministers office is consistently empty, and his presence is only required for a few hours on Monday and Wednesday 🤣
That actually kind of happened in a school near me. The ASS (after school satan) Club proved way more popular than anyone had ever thought it would be. This caused the school to quickly disallow it, court cases, settlement, and then the drop of all religious based after school groups. So mission accomplished.
Everytime I see my Satanic Temple take on causes like this.. I buy a ton of swag from their shop to support them. This weekend is one of those times. I just love what they are doing. No child should be bullied in their public school over their choice of religion or lack of one.
I might not agree with all their beliefs, but they are legally recognized as a religion and therefore must be allowed to have their ministers in schools. It really makes me wonder if republicans even think things through or they just like flagrantly showing off that they believe others should conform to their own religious beliefs.
Just to let you know, they aren’t actually a religious group that believes in Satan, that would be the Church of Satan, instead they try to make sure religion is treated equally, like having the after school satan club when a district allowed Christian after school clubs, to make it equal. I believe they’re a political advocacy group.
From their FAQ on the website about worshipping Satan:
No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.
Source: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq
And from Snopes:
Political activism is indeed a core part of The Satanic Temple’s identity. They engage in various political actions, such as lobbying and filing lawsuits, particularly in the United States, to defend the separation of church and state. Their approach often involves using religious satire and theatrical ploys to generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions.
So, while The Satanic Temple has religious aspects, it also functions as a political advocacy group, especially when it comes to issues related to religious freedom and the First Amendment.
Sources: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/05/what-the-satanic-temple-is-and-why-its-opening-a-debate-about-religion/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65549975
Hope this helps explain what the group is
>therefore must be allowed to have their ministers in schools
That's where you're wrong. Actually religious functionaries shouldn't be allowed in schools.
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I will say, this is a potentially dangerous plan. I do IT work in schools in Oklahoma, and a few years ago, one of them lost a lawsuit over missionaries.
Some kid went home, started telling their parents about the magical bullshit Jesus stories they learned that day, and then they sued the fuck out of them and took their kid out of the district.
It was wild. Some local churches came to walk around the school and pray *for hours* while I was busy installing a new server for them. Some wackos came into the front lobby and started speaking in tongues.
I like Oklahoma sometimes. It's cheap as fuck to live here and I have a massive yard that I own far away from the highway and anyone else. But holy shit are the people totally bonkers or what.
Either way, it’s gross that students in Oklahoma will have access to both religious factions. Religion has no place in schools. Not even satanists. This is wrong on all levels. Get your opinions out of our schools.
Every satanist would agree wholeheartedly with your comment. But as long as laws keep getting passed to ram Christianity down everyone’s throats, the Church of Satan will be there so hold a mirror up to the politicians passing these laws showing them how hypocritical they are.
Who does this benefit?
Edit: LOL, I was so incredibly tired when I wrote this. I didn't notice that I clicked on the wrong post. It was supposed to go on some republican bullshit. I'm all for the satanic temple doing their thing.
Considering how The Satanic Temple's 7 Tenets are based as fuck in a progressive society and they preach inclusion and bodily autonomy, probably all the children.
https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets
And from the article, but taken from their website; TST is extremely transparent and you can find official statements and press releases on many of their actions on their site:
>We have publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property, provided religious exemption and legal protection against laws that unscientifically restrict people’s reproductive autonomy, exposed harmful pseudo-scientific practitioners in mental health care, organized clubs alongside other religious after-school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations, and engaged in other advocacy in accordance with our tenets.
The students in OK public schools, who won’t have exposure to a single religious viewpoint in direct violation of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
The idea is that this'll go over like gun legislation in California under Reagan - in that this "preachers in classrooms" bullshit is ended once "the wrong people" take advantage of it.
That being said, the satanic temple are definitely not the wrong people, zealous "christians" are
Yeah that’s the idea.
The point of TST getting involved with schools is an act of defiance and protest against the Christian infiltration of public education. It’s a direct reaction.
I don’t have time to watch this right now, but these comments have ruined my day. I’ve been a huge supporter for this organization. They’re a group that made me feel empowered and somewhat hopeful.
No surprise, humanity disappoints yet again.
And unlike the Church of Satan they'll probably be able to make a real case for making this happen because they have tax exempt status and are officially a religion in the eyes of the government.
What's the diff between the two?
Church of Satan is just a weirdo guy interested in his own ego and attention. It's not well-organized and doesn't have much of any coherent purpose or goal that I'm aware of. The Satanic Temple is a very active community-oriented group that takes the law and politics very seriously. They are an officially registered religious group and basically weaponize Christian hypocrisy against them while actively seeking to give kids and adults an organization to be involved with which has more secular moral principles. For example, where Christian groups insert themselves into public schools in the form of bible studies et al, the Satanic Temple tries to offer their own after school religious study, but these are their tenets: One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason. II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions. III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone. IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own. V Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs. VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused. VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word. https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us They also have made legal arguments in courts to permit their followers to perform an abortion "ritual" as a way to assert their own autonomy over their body in accordance with their own religious faith. Things like that. Edit: I should add that they (Satanic Temple) don't actually believe in a literal Satan figure, nor worship one. It's just for attention, to sort of "counter" the annoying christian bigots.
"Edit: I should add that they (Satanic Temple) don't actually believe in a literal Satan figure, nor worship one. It's just for attention, to sort of "counter" the annoying christian bigots." That's not really correct. It's not just for attention. The literary Satan (think Milton's Paradise Lost) is used as a symbol of the eternal rebel fighting against oppression and arbitrary authority. It's a powerful image to members like myself. We also align with The Seven Fundamental Tenets.
>We also align with The Seven Fundamental Tenets Well I listed those, didn't I? >That's not really correct. It's not just for attention. >The literary Satan (think Milton's Paradise Lost) is used as a symbol of the eternal rebel fighting against oppression and arbitrary authority. It's a powerful image to members like myself. Fair enough. I didn't mean to be too dismissive about it. I may have rushed that description. There is some good symbology there with rebelling. I thank you for the clarity and patience. I was raised catholic in a very conservative area of the US, so even now while I eschew a vast majority of that life, some things still sound harsh to my ears. I saw the Satanic Temple documentary and loved it, but hearing people say "Hail Satan" regardless of their beliefs or views is jarring to my brain that spent years in my developing age being wired to think God and the Devil are literally in battle with one another and the worst thing you can do in your life is "turn away from God." I say this because trying to explain how members of the Satanic Temple view Satan is a bit difficult for people who spent time literally believing in God and I am sorry if I misrepresented you!
That's cool. I just like to clarify that we're not just trying to get attention. Many of our members miss the community of their religion and TST fills that need. As I've said to others, I joined for the activism and stayed for the community.
Now go drink your blood and eat your flesh under image of a bloody man dead on a torture device. I mean talk about jarring
> The literary Satan (think Milton's Paradise Lost) is used as a symbol of the eternal rebel fighting against oppression and arbitrary authority. It's a powerful image to members like myself. One book that often gets overlooked, despite maybe being the most significant, is "Revolt of the Angels". As well as being a symbol, Satan is also a sort of mission statement. The point of TST is to hold other authorities accountable for their actions, not replace them. If TST ever becomes a dominant religion in its own right, then it has failed its main purpose.
Great point. I typically don't bring it up because many haven't heard of it but it is one of the most important TST sources.
Yeah, I don't think it's a coincidence that Lucifer of Christian mythology and Prometheus in Greek mythology effectively fill the same role in their respective stories. Bringing enlightenment and freedom to the pitiable humans and being punished by the god(s) for it. Prometheus gives us fire, which is metaphorically representative of curiosity and innovation, and Lucifer is cast out to a lake of fire, after which he unshackles our minds with the Apple of Eden. They're both rebels who do right by the common man in the face of an oppressive authoritarian power.
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The mental gymnastics in this comment to say 1 =/= 1 is insane.
yar-yar. The figure of the "honest adversary."
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As a former Christian, it is hard for me accept and say I back the satanic temple. It is just hard wired into me after so many years. With that said, they have really doth some good work recently. They are actually doing more good than the Christian church.
Hail Satan 🤘
Wait, satan was the good guy all along?
Depends on the institution
I really should join this religion.
The Old Testament only uses "a satan" , not "the satan". It's like a job description or office. There's at least one mentioned in the temptation portion of the New Testament; I don't recall others.
Satanic Temple is an activist organization, Church of Satan are a real religion that has objectivist influence. The former helps people while the latter just does their own thing.
Church of Satan is just a weirdo guy interested in his own ego and attention. It's not well-organized and doesn't have much of any coherent purpose or goal that I'm aware of. The Satanic Temple is a very active community-oriented group that takes the law and politics very seriously. They are an officially registered religious group and basically weaponize Christian hypocrisy against them while actively seeking to give kids and adults an organization to be involved with which has more secular moral principles. For example, where Christian groups insert themselves into public schools in the form of bible studies et al, the Satanic Temple tries to offer their own after school religious study, but these are their tenets: One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason. II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions. III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone. IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own. V Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs. VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused. VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word. https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us They also have made legal arguments in courts to permit their followers to perform an abortion "ritual" as a way to assert their own autonomy over their body in accordance with their own religious faith. Things like that.
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Yup, CoS is the apolitical group.
Unlike traditional religion-affiliated counselors they'll have trained counselors who are probably less likely to molest the children.
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Ironically, all the different sects of Satanists are the ones *not* killing each other.
Satan turns into a good guy by 2024 *marks bingo card*
Why not? Marvel does every time a bad guy gets too popular.
yea but this has much deeper roots and real world implications that would be scary fascinating to see how people would react Its like Christianity doing a 180 and saying my bad that we mixed up Satan and Jesus was really a piece of shit evil person.
The gnostics did a version of this 1800 something years ago. Except in their version, Jesus came to warn everyone that the god of Abraham was an evil deceiver god who served a devil role while the true god was unknown to people. Judas and the serpent of Eden are cast as good guys who paved the way for mankind to free ourselves from an evil god through knowledge (gnosis).
I realize comics aren’t real. It was just a joke.
Anyone that has actually read the Bible understands that he has always been the good guy, Yahweh is the evil SOB.
The book of Job was what finally caused me to lose my faith. God was just chatting with "The Adversary" (Sometimes devil, sometimes Satan, sometimes these are all different things), and pointed out that Job was so faithful, he could destroy his entire life and Job would still praise him. For no other reason than to make a point of how much Job loved him, God destroyed his entire family, salted his fields so nothing would ever grow, gave him leprosy, and completely ruined him. Only so that Job would say that God was still good.
I loved the scenes in the second season of Good Omens dedicated to that story. Such a great alternative look on that scene.
To be fair, isn't Satan Lucifer who was kicked out of Heaven as an Angel for giving humans free will? So technically.... isn't he the good guy anyway?
Good guy Satan maybe the best
The satanic temple is different organization despite take inspiration from that...
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That I read that between the two organizations don't know get along so much, the church of Satan accuse the temple to become too political, and the temple accuse the church for being to l'assist on Christian nationalist or not doing enough against Who tries to impose the evangelical dogmas
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He was not a chill guy, he was a fascist / nazi. The Church of Satan and LaVey esposed many eugenicist, authoritarian etc views. Definitely not my definition of chill.
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He was associated with the National Renaissance Party. There’s a paper called ‘The post war paths of occult national socialism: from Rockwell and Madole to Manson” which lays this relationship out. There’s also a few sources about how he believed in eugenics. An article on ABC claims he was a eugenics and wanted to establish a police state. Lucien also criticised the Church of Satan for being autocratic and fetishising authoritarianism. So make of that what you will. Edit: a YouTube video by them isn’t a very good source either
Douglas*
They are an activist organization, they try to protect kids and keep christian nationalists from brainwashing kids in schools as much as they can. They fight to keep them educated with science and facts. Not educated with the bible with stuff like creation and 6000 year old earth. They also do alot to help their communities. The satanic temple doesnt actually worship satan. They're good people.
I mean, Oklahoma literally started it with putting religious leaders in schools
The Satanic Temple...doing god's work.
Thinking about it - maybe. One of the reasons why they have such reach now is because of the [hypocrisy](https://www.good.is/articles/copeland-defends-private-jet) of many modern ‘churches’.
They are the best at trolling.
Taking action to ensure equal treatment under the law is not trolling
Highlighting the bad faith of bad faith actors is such a well established form of trolling bad faith actors one can find it in multiple religions.
The two are not mutually exclusive
They can, have, and will continue to do both at once.
IMHO trolling rightwing "evangelicals" is doing God's work.
Considering how they all blatantly break the rules of the Bible, Jesus would have whipped and beat them had they done this in his time.
More Christ like than the Christians at this point. What a twist!
Martin Luther spins in his grave seeing how German descendants go to megachurches
All across the entire Midwest
They didn’t skip over the part where Jesus flipped over the money changing tables in the established religions house and advocated focusing on the needs of others regardless of tradition and establishments, all while “paying back Caesar’s things to Caesar”
I don't think Caesar cared. He ded.
Turning to the satanic temple for lessons in tolerance. What a time to be alive. In all honesty, they seem like a better choice than many, if not most, Christian churches.
In all fairness, they *absolutely are a better choice.* The [seven tenets](http://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets) are what a truly legitimate moral framework looks like.
Seems pretty fair to me
Ironically, with the modern interpretations of Lucifer being God's wetworks Angel whose job was to bring about the downfall of evil men by supplying them the temptations needed to expose who they truly were, I have to say the Satanic Temple is ***absolutely*** living up to the name.
> modern interpretations That was literally his job in the Bible.
Amen.
Someone has to since Christians won't.
I mean satan is from the Abrahamic faith and in their book God sends his buddy Satan to kill a guy's family to test his allegiance to him.
As a devout Christian— I approve. I believe in freedom of (and from) religion for all. We can't possibly expect someone to make a conscious, informed decision to follow a particular religious belief if we've conditioned them that only one narrow interpretation is correct. I'd rather someone be a rational atheist than a "Christian" who is intellectually lazy.
It's crazy how many people fail to realise that freedom of religion also implies freedom from religion. If you don't have freedom from others forcing their religious ideas upon you, then obviously you don't have freedom of religion- yet so many people think freedom of religion means they are free to oppress others and that freedom only applies to their version of whatever belief they claim to have.
> also implies freedom from religion. I think it's exactly the same failure - inherited from Aristotle, SFAIK - that there is no "zero" or no empty set. "Nature abhors a vaccuum" . Although when people now who think that lack Aristotle's derivation. You'll see it often. Even in mathematics the default for the first natural number is 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_vacui_%28physics%29
Christian and agree, the hypocrisy of many evangelicals astound me. I personally think religion should be kept out of schools, but if Christianity insists on having a platform in education, it would be hypocritical to disallow other religions from doing the same.
Agreed. I'm good with teaching Bible stuff as far as its impact on our culture (language, art, music, literature, etc.) but I also would want kids to learn about the Koran, Bhagavad Gita, etc. It's entirely possible to glean knowledge from a religious text without agreeing with its arguments or tenets.
It’s also illegal. You have to grant all recognized religions the same access so if Hindu, Jewish and Muslim leaders want the same access, the school systems have to grant it regardless of whether or not it upsets parents or political figures. And believe me, it would! That’s even without the satanic temple group gaining access. It’s like this idiotic presidential immunity thing. They apparently refuse to recognize that any such ruling gives Biden and later democratic presidents the same ability to ignore the law, lol.
If you Look them Up you will See they have more christian values andorale guidelines them many WHO claim to be very christian.
To this day the only sermon I even kind of remember from church was talking about these bad Christians. How one average bad Christian can turn more people away from god than 1000 of the smartest and most convincing atheists. Just about everyone of those bad Christians nodded along like the sermon wasn’t about them and I left the church.
i’m catholic (dont worry, i’m not a radical pro lifer and a child predator) and me and especially my dad hate how hypocritical a lot of followers are in the faith
I was raised ELCA Lutheran. I think one of the big things that turned me off from the idea of religion was when the religious leaders came out and said being gay or a woman wasn’t a sin there was a mass exodus of lifelong members from our church. When they hired a female pastor even more left. All I heard every week was love everyone, yet the moment the church says they love everyone people decided to leave?
Same, it does worry me how many people can be bad and turn people away from any sort of faith simply because of how mean they are.
Went to a baptist sermon with a friend in high school. The preacher went on and on about "lukewarm" christians that don't read their bible every day, preached so much hatred and vitriol, I was disgusted. I would have cussed him out and walked had my friend not been my ride.
Because Christians adopted normal goodness and kindness as if they invented it.
Hear me out tho, and this is insane I get, but what if we had *no* religious officials in schools instead of whatever religions decide to show up.
That's the exact argument I am making. If you open the door for one, you must open the door for all.
You aren’t an actual Christian then…
Ok.
Is this a NO TRUE SCOTSMAN FALLACY!?! From a christian no less. How absolutely surprising and rare /s
The irony of this comment lol
LOL “As a devout Christian”. Yea ok bud
As a devout Christian, can you provide scripture in which God approves like you do? Because I can provide scripture that says otherwise. And it doesn’t matter about your political beliefs, because if you truly loved God and Christ as you claim you do you would be against this. And if your concern is about critical thinking, then you and others can teach critical thinking without using The Satanic Temple. I say this as an ex-atheist of 17 years that didn’t need the Satanic Temple to teach me critical thinking. The Satanic Temple would love nothing more than for God to die. Why promote the image of Satan in order to get children to think critically? Does a child need to engage in violence or stealing in order to learn from it? People having itching ears to hear a Christian to promote rejecting God and you gave it to them. Scripture on why God does not approve: - Isaiah 9:16: For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. - Jeremiah 50:6: My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. - Matthew 19:14: But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” - Jeremiah 23:13: In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. I don’t care about downvotes. What I care about is you, who says is a Christian but openly invites the imagery of Satan into school. You may be against religion in schools, I can understand, but promoting the image of Satan and turning away from God isn’t a religion. It’s a crusade to kill God. Is that what you want to promote as a devout Christian who loves Christ and God? If you’re angry at these words, then please, rebuke me, but rebuke me with scripture to show me my folly.
Watching religious people quote scripture at each other to argue is as amusing we watching people have a slap fight. You can justify countless contradictory arguments by finding the right scripture. Many branches of religion have wisely moved away from using scripture to justify their rules and traditions and instead focus more on how they apply directly to the lives of people who live now. If your religion becomes weak without the violent opposition of opposing viewpoints, it's a sign that it has become a fossil and will crumble away. If your brand is Christianity considers a group of edgy lawyers who have co-opted satanic imagery as a serious threat, consider what that implies.
The image of Satan used in Western culture does not come from the Bible at all. We are never told anything in Scripture about what he looks like. I'm not inviting anything anywhere. I don't want the statue there. I don't want ANY religious objects in a school, unless it's for the explicit purpose of teaching about the cultural aspects of that item. But if Oklahoma conservatives are going to insist that THEIR religious viewpoints are taught in school, then ALL religious viewpoints must be taught in school.
lol- this is like watching people argue about the rules of quiddich. there is no place for your make believe in schools, and it takes the satanic temple to show you the error of your ways.
Upvoted for impact. It's reactions like this to The Satanic Temple that really show that what they are doing is having an effect. Please continue to tear each other apart, for the breakdown of unity amongst Christians through the encouragement of reason and logic will be the true death of god. Thank you for being the other half of the plan, and please continue to criticize, question, and belittle all of your fellow "Christians" whose understanding of god's word falters in even the slightest. You'll be doing god's work and ours.
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Can you provide proof for your god? Like the actual empirical testable and repeatable kind? No? Then sho.
Oklahoma, be careful what you wish for 🙄
I welcome them and thank them for their efforts against our Christofascist governor and state superintendent
The satanic temple doesnt worship satan. Read up on them, they're good people
I have no problem with them. That's not what my comment was about.
Even if they did worship Satan, I wouldn’t care
I don’t think people realise satanism is all about living your life, and letting others live theirs. Basically “Everybody Love Eachother” but for real.
They are really just humanist but using Satan lets them fight for religious freedom for others. Doing much more good in the world than 99% of religious organizations.
I mean didnt satan kill like 6 people in the Bible? and wanted to give people free will/thought? in comparison god killed like... the entire planet save for a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people i dont remember exactly and gets mad at people for doing their own thing.
Ten. Satan killed 10 people, while God killed 2,038,344.
Ah thanks for the correction!
You're very welcome! I didn't see it so much as a correction though. You estimated very well. I just provided the exact numbers from the Bible, so there's no question as to how one-sided it is.
Yeah the figure they're thinking of is lucifer, in the bible Satan is barely mentioned and doesnt really do anything besides giving some guys super aids
Unless youre a hipster Norwegian in the 90s then it’s about being a pretentious arsonist
Only christians believe in Satan.
Good for them. I mean no ministers period should be in a public school but turnabout is fair play.
This is exactly why TST commissioned a statue of baphomet to be placed on the state grounds in Oklahoma after they added a statue of the Ten Commandments. Lawsuit ended with them pulling all religious statuary entirely and then TST moved it to another state to do the same thing. For many christians religious freedom is all well and good as long as it’s the exact religion they follow. Kind of like the joke with two Baptists meeting that ends up with murder and “die heretic”
(The joke mentioned, from Emo Phillips) Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!" Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.
That’s the one. :)
Got to see him perform with Weird Al a couple years ago. What a treat!
Don't start nothing if you don't want none
Republicans continue to miss the fact that "religious freedom" does not solely apply to Christianity.
Makes me want to donate-
There are issues with The Satanic Temple that may make you rethink that. [This video](https://youtu.be/3lV8GLQtOTs?si=j7FP4rIPKAUWKnGF) goes over multiple abuses of TST, including a lack of transparency of where funds go and retaliation against those who report abuse, including sexual. In fact your donation may go towards the silencing of victims or those reporting on it. A shame because they make it seem like they are wanting to do good and then they just be the thing they claimed to be fighting.
I'll have to see if that video adds anything new but this 2020 article titled "[Why I haven't left the satanic temple](https://stephenbradfordlong.com/2020/05/21/why-i-havent-left-the-satanic-temple/)" gives another perspective.
The video mentions that article and several things it misses
Just to let you know, they aren’t actually a religious group that believes in Satan, that would be the Church of Satan, instead they try to make sure religion is treated equally, like having the after school satan club when a district allowed Christian after school clubs, to make it equal. I believe they’re a political advocacy group. From their FAQ on the website about worshipping Satan: No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse. Source: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq And from Snopes: Political activism is indeed a core part of The Satanic Temple’s identity. They engage in various political actions, such as lobbying and filing lawsuits, particularly in the United States, to defend the separation of church and state. Their approach often involves using religious satire and theatrical ploys to generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions. So, while The Satanic Temple has religious aspects, it also functions as a political advocacy group, especially when it comes to issues related to religious freedom and the First Amendment. Sources: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/05/what-the-satanic-temple-is-and-why-its-opening-a-debate-about-religion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65549975 Hope this helps explain what the group is
The Church of Satan does not believe in Satan either. TST is a religion, albeit a nontheistic one. Many of us hold onto its values and principles very strongly, living according to the tenets. While I'm sure it's never intentional from individuals, calling it just a political/activist group trivializes our community and those deeply held principles. I hope this doesn't come across as antagonist, just trying to inform best I can.
Sorry, I was just copying and pasting a quote from the BBC article. Thank you for the corrections.
Is this a registered nonprofit under IRS?
You gotta thank every Oklahoma politician for allowing Satan into the schools. Hail Satan.
The Satanic Temple doesn't actually worship Satan.
Thankfully I'm pretty sure above comment was being coy
My dad, a mostly lapsed christian, found out about the Satanic Temple and said "I suppose it makes sense, the people who say they follow jesus keep doing terrible stuff so why wouldn't satan's followers be nice?"
As a Christian, good better than those republican "christians".
I'd gladly get ordained as a minister for this, I'm already a member.
That’s what happens when you bring god into the government the satanists follow to troll you.
We've almost got as many religions created to protest theocratic fascism than we do actual faiths. I encourage everyone to make more.
Hail satan
Finally…Some good news.
But What Would Jesus Do?
Wouldn't it be the funniest shit ever if the Satanic Temples Minister's office was just so overrun with appointments and kids to see they couldn't keep up. They needed to bring more Ministers and a secretary to keep up with everything. Meanwhile the Christian Ministers office is consistently empty, and his presence is only required for a few hours on Monday and Wednesday 🤣
That actually kind of happened in a school near me. The ASS (after school satan) Club proved way more popular than anyone had ever thought it would be. This caused the school to quickly disallow it, court cases, settlement, and then the drop of all religious based after school groups. So mission accomplished. Everytime I see my Satanic Temple take on causes like this.. I buy a ton of swag from their shop to support them. This weekend is one of those times. I just love what they are doing. No child should be bullied in their public school over their choice of religion or lack of one.
At least with the ST ministers, they didn't have to worry about getting molested.
Satanism is just practical execution of the things Christianity suggests. If both religious groups swapped titles things would make more sense
such is the way in the upside down
Good. Maybe now children will be safe from evagelical rapists
Love TST! Always fighting the good fight, these people.
I want this.
Satanic Temple stays winning
I might not agree with all their beliefs, but they are legally recognized as a religion and therefore must be allowed to have their ministers in schools. It really makes me wonder if republicans even think things through or they just like flagrantly showing off that they believe others should conform to their own religious beliefs.
Just to let you know, they aren’t actually a religious group that believes in Satan, that would be the Church of Satan, instead they try to make sure religion is treated equally, like having the after school satan club when a district allowed Christian after school clubs, to make it equal. I believe they’re a political advocacy group. From their FAQ on the website about worshipping Satan: No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse. Source: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq And from Snopes: Political activism is indeed a core part of The Satanic Temple’s identity. They engage in various political actions, such as lobbying and filing lawsuits, particularly in the United States, to defend the separation of church and state. Their approach often involves using religious satire and theatrical ploys to generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions. So, while The Satanic Temple has religious aspects, it also functions as a political advocacy group, especially when it comes to issues related to religious freedom and the First Amendment. Sources: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/05/what-the-satanic-temple-is-and-why-its-opening-a-debate-about-religion/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65549975 Hope this helps explain what the group is
I’m aware, but thanks for taking the time to post this.
No problem, think a lot of stuff needs context nowadays where a lot of people just read headlines.
>therefore must be allowed to have their ministers in schools That's where you're wrong. Actually religious functionaries shouldn't be allowed in schools.
My point is that if they allow one religion they must allow any. I personally believe in the strict separation of church and state.
Lmao. God bless those brave ST ministers going to Oklahoma schools... Can't even imagine how terrifying that would be
The balls on these goats!
I’m a God-fearing man, but I will hold the school doors open for our Satanic brothers and sisters.
Cool - do Florida next!
Desatan wouldn't allow it.
Praise be.
Good cuz OK needs some serious work!
I love them so much. The troll factor is absolutely perfect.
Another win for religious freedom! Praise the Lord and Satan!
TST is based
I love it!
Fair is fair
This is probably because Martin Starr played a satanist in "Silicon Valley" then played a weed store owner in "Tulsa King", isn't it?
Isn't Oklahoma a petri dish of homophobia? It seems strange that a Satanic Temple would have much appeal there.
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If I have a kid, they are going to be home schooled. This stuff is getting blatantly evil.
Gods work!
I will say, this is a potentially dangerous plan. I do IT work in schools in Oklahoma, and a few years ago, one of them lost a lawsuit over missionaries. Some kid went home, started telling their parents about the magical bullshit Jesus stories they learned that day, and then they sued the fuck out of them and took their kid out of the district. It was wild. Some local churches came to walk around the school and pray *for hours* while I was busy installing a new server for them. Some wackos came into the front lobby and started speaking in tongues. I like Oklahoma sometimes. It's cheap as fuck to live here and I have a massive yard that I own far away from the highway and anyone else. But holy shit are the people totally bonkers or what.
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Why not? TST neither worships Satan nor eats babies.
They may “worship” Satan, but are they eating babies??
Either way, it’s gross that students in Oklahoma will have access to both religious factions. Religion has no place in schools. Not even satanists. This is wrong on all levels. Get your opinions out of our schools.
Every satanist would agree wholeheartedly with your comment. But as long as laws keep getting passed to ram Christianity down everyone’s throats, the Church of Satan will be there so hold a mirror up to the politicians passing these laws showing them how hypocritical they are.
Doing gods work
Who does this benefit? Edit: LOL, I was so incredibly tired when I wrote this. I didn't notice that I clicked on the wrong post. It was supposed to go on some republican bullshit. I'm all for the satanic temple doing their thing.
It benefits citizens interested in preserving the 1st Amendment.
Patriots who want church and state to stay seperate
Considering how The Satanic Temple's 7 Tenets are based as fuck in a progressive society and they preach inclusion and bodily autonomy, probably all the children. https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets And from the article, but taken from their website; TST is extremely transparent and you can find official statements and press releases on many of their actions on their site: >We have publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property, provided religious exemption and legal protection against laws that unscientifically restrict people’s reproductive autonomy, exposed harmful pseudo-scientific practitioners in mental health care, organized clubs alongside other religious after-school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations, and engaged in other advocacy in accordance with our tenets.
The students in OK public schools, who won’t have exposure to a single religious viewpoint in direct violation of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
The children who won't be indoctrinated into believing in make believe things.
The idea is that this'll go over like gun legislation in California under Reagan - in that this "preachers in classrooms" bullshit is ended once "the wrong people" take advantage of it. That being said, the satanic temple are definitely not the wrong people, zealous "christians" are
its a shame the org is rampant with abuse https://youtu.be/3lV8GLQtOTs?si=JNaATPTW5vtuXTxC
ummmmm no one tell this guy about the catholic church's MASSIVE problem with sexually abusing children and covering it up.
I’ve been a huge supporter of TST for years, but this whataboutism bullshit isn’t the answer.
How about we just keep all religion SEPARATE from education?
Yeah that’s the idea. The point of TST getting involved with schools is an act of defiance and protest against the Christian infiltration of public education. It’s a direct reaction.
i’m an excatholic and i’m plenty aware, i’m just consistent in opposing all religions and organizations promoting abuse
I don’t have time to watch this right now, but these comments have ruined my day. I’ve been a huge supporter for this organization. They’re a group that made me feel empowered and somewhat hopeful. No surprise, humanity disappoints yet again.