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>in no way is an upright pentagram 'Satanic'. Broadly speaking, though I think it does depend on context. For instance, if practicing Satanists have attached a

>in no way is an upright pentagram 'Satanic'. Broadly speaking, though I think it does depend on context. For instance, if practicing Satanists have attached a sacrificial victim to an upright pentagram, in order to worship Satan, then even if there may be a symbolic error on their part, that particular upright pentagram could safely be called Satanic and Satan would probably overlook the oversight.

lostgame 7y ago
But...Satanists don't worship Satan. The Church of Satan doesn’t believe in the devil. It doesn’t even recognise ‘Satan’ as a physical or spiritual being. As far as the Church is concerned, there is no such thing as heaven or hell. And human sacrifice? Like, that kind of thing might happen in the Highest Orders of the Left-Hand Path, the Skull and Bones-type societies George W. Bush was a part of - so conspirators claim - like, I want to be expressly clear that suggesting Satanists make human sacrifices is akin to saying all Muslims are terrorists. Seriously. You're just discrediting a group of people who have enough troubles being recognized as valid to start. I assure you, I have visited branches of the Church of Satan, and they are actually filled generally with very good people, whose philosophy is mostly that of self-love and not taking any bullshit, combined with the dogmatic practice of Ceremonial Magick. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I have enjoyed more of what I've seen from Thelemic orders, which do not identify as Satanic.
- inflatableDodo 7y ago
  The Church of Satan is just a way of selling libertarian humanism to the dissaffected children of middle class Christians, by inverting some biblical tropes and going woo a lot though. I tend to think of actual Satanists to be more like the mental ones found in European royalty during the medieval period.
  - lostgame 7y ago
    Hey - not my cup of tea, either, as I said - but I am saying lumping Satanists and human sacrifice together is like lumping Muslims and terrorism together. Sure, it might happen, in only the most extreme cases, but it's certainly not the norm, and it makes people who try to take their faith seriously - even if, yes, LaVeyan Satanism is simply libertarian humanism combined with, quite honestly, a fairly weak system of Ceremonial Magick, if it makes them happy, let them do it. I don't agree with Catholicism, either, but I'm not running around saying all priests rape little boys, even though there is far more evidence of that, than actual human sacrifice in Satanism.
    - inflatableDodo 7y ago
      I think the clearest distinguishing line that can be broadly drawn, is between followers of theistic and non-theistic Satanism. The latter do tend towards being the awfully nice people you've been describing, who are always making sure that everyone is fine in the mosh pit. The former, however, can conversely tend towards the type of person who is far too enthusiastic about the technical details of the blood gutters in their unnervingly large collection of ceremonial knives.
      - lostgame 7y ago
        In my years of practicing Ceremonial Magick, in and out of various Orders, and my studies of Satanism, I have never met such people, would consider them an extreme rarity, and again, would draw the Musilms are terrorists parallel. There are plenty of theistic Satanists I know who are also great people.
- ralusek 7y ago
  I know that HackerNews isn't reddit, but I couldn't resist. https://i.imgflip.com/392ehi.jpg https://i.imgflip.com/392ehi.jpg

lostgame 7y ago

But...Satanists don't worship Satan. The Church of Satan doesn’t believe in the devil. It doesn’t even recognise ‘Satan’ as a physical or spiritual being. As far as the Church is concerned, there is no such thing as heaven or hell. And human sacrifice? Like, that kind of thing might happen in the Highest Orders of the Left-Hand Path, the Skull and Bones-type societies George W. Bush was a part of - so conspirators claim - like, I want to be expressly clear that suggesting Satanists make human sacrifices is akin to saying all Muslims are terrorists. Seriously. You're just discrediting a group of people who have enough troubles being recognized as valid to start. I assure you, I have visited branches of the Church of Satan, and they are actually filled generally with very good people, whose philosophy is mostly that of self-love and not taking any bullshit, combined with the dogmatic practice of Ceremonial Magick. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I have enjoyed more of what I've seen from Thelemic orders, which do not identify as Satanic.

inflatableDodo 7y ago
The Church of Satan is just a way of selling libertarian humanism to the dissaffected children of middle class Christians, by inverting some biblical tropes and going woo a lot though. I tend to think of actual Satanists to be more like the mental ones found in European royalty during the medieval period.
- lostgame 7y ago
  Hey - not my cup of tea, either, as I said - but I am saying lumping Satanists and human sacrifice together is like lumping Muslims and terrorism together. Sure, it might happen, in only the most extreme cases, but it's certainly not the norm, and it makes people who try to take their faith seriously - even if, yes, LaVeyan Satanism is simply libertarian humanism combined with, quite honestly, a fairly weak system of Ceremonial Magick, if it makes them happy, let them do it. I don't agree with Catholicism, either, but I'm not running around saying all priests rape little boys, even though there is far more evidence of that, than actual human sacrifice in Satanism.
  - inflatableDodo 7y ago
    I think the clearest distinguishing line that can be broadly drawn, is between followers of theistic and non-theistic Satanism. The latter do tend towards being the awfully nice people you've been describing, who are always making sure that everyone is fine in the mosh pit. The former, however, can conversely tend towards the type of person who is far too enthusiastic about the technical details of the blood gutters in their unnervingly large collection of ceremonial knives.
    - lostgame 7y ago
      In my years of practicing Ceremonial Magick, in and out of various Orders, and my studies of Satanism, I have never met such people, would consider them an extreme rarity, and again, would draw the Musilms are terrorists parallel. There are plenty of theistic Satanists I know who are also great people.
ralusek 7y ago
I know that HackerNews isn't reddit, but I couldn't resist. https://i.imgflip.com/392ehi.jpg https://i.imgflip.com/392ehi.jpg