Right, so. This came up in another thread when I mentioned that I wouldn't care what religion the President of the US was....Satanism included. I didn't want to de-rail that thread, so I decided to start a new topic.

I honestly wouldn't. Religion is of no consequence to me. I know the majority of the US wouldn't elect a Satanist president, but I would vote for him if I thought he'd do his job well.

I'm not a Satanist by any means, but I have had a few friends who are, so I know a bit about it.

If all you know of it is based on urban legends about animal slaughter and the like, then please click here for a rather good article on the subject (in case you decide to not read the article and post in here anyway, animal slaughter isn't a part of traditional religious Satanism...though there are, of course, always groups that differ from the norm).

I don' think it should matter in anyway what religion people are, satanist or what not... i don't know any satanists and i haven't got anything against people that are.

Religion really shouldn't matter, i think it's something personal to that person and shouldn't be important to others, it doesn't affect them (...i don't think) A persons beliefs don't change the way that person is, i don't think people should be judges by their beliefs... i think i'm waffling now sorry.

There are so many different and deverise groups of Santanists it's hard to make the blanket statement that they're all evil. In the end all magic is a manipulation of energy and it is the intent with which the energy is used that's important. Bad things can be done with any type or energy, or magick if you perfer, as can good.

I personally don't think of most things in terms of good and evil when it comes to religion. "Evil", as some would call it, is just another type of energy and it's necessary to maintain balance in the world. It's all in how one chooses to use it.

I don't agree with the philosophies/beliefs of Satanism and I would never become a Satanist. However I also think that everyone should have a right to explore their spirituality(or whatever you want to call it) in their own way.

Personally, I don't care what a person believes in as long as it doesn't harm those around them.

Okay, by Satanism I guess you mean the Church of Satan, in which case, no.

I put no one group is bad or good....cause I dont think anything can be ALL evil or ALL good...

As a Wiccan I believe that "satan" is an invention of the catholic church, who used the image of the God Pan to create a cloven hoofed, horned being. As any mythologically minded people here will know Pan was a God of laughter, love and frolics, whose fun loving and sexual behaviour didn't go down too well with the church, so he became the "devil" as he embodied all that the catholic church thought was wrong.
So no, I don't believe in satan but if people feel so drawn to the image of satanism and want to practice then I have no problem with that.I mean, no one knows what the one true religion is, and we could all be working with deities that don't exist. But I think that if you feel strongly about a belief system and it appears to work for you then go for it.

*grabs choco dipped tara*
I'm with Tara on this one.. although I have a few friends that are satanist.. and honestly their approch to life is to do wahtever you want.. basically a very eat, drink and be merry approch.

Anton LaVey's philosophies are extremely interesting. A lot of them make sense. No, I'm not a Satanist, but I agree either partly or in principal with most of LaVey's ethics.

i agree with Tara! Satan was a creation of the church hence in a way it is another form of christianity (in my obscurity anyway) also, to give a name to something of 'negative' force as satanism and satan is often percieved as giving it power! i think i may have went off at a tanget there, please excuse me! Tara summed it up better than i did.... /me goes and hides under a scarf

sorry for the tangentisms......

Fal xXx

according to the catholic/christian churches...basically if you arent catholic then you are a satanist, so i guess beign a satanist isnt all that bad.

read this article (this guy is clearly a fanatic)
the evils of M:tG. apparetly i am of the occult and must therefore be banished to my satanist ways. satan is simply a belief, and i (being a UU) belive in the inherent worth and dignity of every person and that all people are equal and that everyone is free to search for hwat is true and right in life. therefor i am a satanist (accordint to the christians anwyays)

then again...i do at times tend to be against satin, its so uncomfortable!

According to this guy, Pokemon is evil incarnate.....

lol.i might have to agree with him on a small extent there. j/p. not evil, there is no such thing as evil..lets say pokemon is...misguided

What makes you think Pokemon is misguided? I'm curious..

dont ask me, i didnt say it.

*reads post*

oh...i did...well to sate your curiosity i dont really know to well, at any rate, id prolly say i said that cos im not too fond of(for?) it. im nto saying its wrong or anything, addmittedly i stil have lots of pokemon moichandise (in my garage collecting dust, i swear! ) meh, people have a right to opinion nomatter what the gov't says. if your a pokemon fan i think your one of the coolest people eva! and i respect you totally, not like i dont either way or anything, i was just lettin ya know

and now that ive totally confused myself, ill be off now

You know, I would have thought from the name that Satanism is just pure evil. Or, at least evil from the point of view of the Christianity, which invented it. So I would expect that Satanists have sex frequently with members of both sex, wear clothes made of more than one material, sow more than one type of crop in their fields, and believe that bats are mammals, not birds. Or am I wrong here?

unfortunatelly, the definition of satanism makes its 'evilness' pretty clear.... although i do agree with cand that no group can be all 'bad' or all 'good' so i went with that choice...... stupid dicionary(.com)

My friend (EMILIZA! on these forums!) is a Satanist.

*shrug*

The dictionary is not the be-all and end-all of everything. The dictionary is not definitive. It reflects reality, not the other way round. If reality flatly contradicts the dictionary, reality is correct.

Looking it up, it seems the dictionaries are behind the times. "Profound wickedness" may be accurate IF you take a strictly conservative Christian view of "wickedness" - and even then it's iffy, as Satanists certainly do not sacrifice children or animals, or even bother people who don't bother them. If you leave a Satanist alone, she will leave you alone. It's in the Satanic Bible - do unto others as they do unto you. That doesn't sound like "profound wickedness" to me.
Nor is Satanism the worship of Satan (please note that I'm taking Satanism as the Church of Satan - theatrical Satanism, the worship of Satanism, sacrifice of children et al was an invention of the Catholic Church). Satanists worship nobody but themselves.

satanism is just as evil as all other religions. that is my opinion anyway.

After reading that informative article, I now believe Satanists to be more evil than before. But maybe that's because I'm naive, or something...

Ah, religion is a wonderful thing...

So far as i can tell Satanists dont particularly differ from the followers of any other religion... Why should they be singled out as evil because the deity they attribute their beliefs to is the opposite pole to other peoples? *shrug*

Besides, if you do believe tem to be evil, then that should be a good thing because without evil, there canbbe no concept of good. I know i keep saying that, but its true...

And at least they pay their taxes...

(or so Commie tells me and ive never seen him wrong so...)

Fancy justifying that? With anything? At all?

i agree with Tara and a couple other people here... everyone has their beliefe's and are entitled to their own opnion... it doesnt bother me if someone is a satanist, it doest bother me if someone is a christian, as long as someone doesnt force their religion on me and try to change me, i am perfectly ok.. i also agree with Liz, nothing can truley be EVIL or GOOD....

i dun belive in satan... but whatever floats your boat is kool with me... wow i sound dumb ah screw it

just want to bring up the issue sweeping the US and the uk at the moment,gay priests-whats all the conundrum about?whatever floats his boat,if he still teaches jesus' will,then what does it matter?gay,straight,black or white.that's another point-you notice that in a lot of films/tv shows,they cast a black president?i think they're trying to make a point.

*rant over*

What i dont get bout that is the fact that preists dont have partners anyway so how is it relevent... married to god and all that jazz...

QUOTE (CommieBastard @ Oct 20 2003, 07:02 PM)

Anton LaVey's philosophies are extremely interesting. A lot of them make sense. No, I'm not a Satanist, but I agree either partly or in principal with most of LaVey's ethics.

Yes after reading the SB I found that I understood where Anton was coming from, and found his philosophies extremely interesting

Well I’ve never come into contact with a Satanist but iv done a bit of research into the matter and once you really delve into the whole concept of Satanism you really come to understand that its not what its made up to be. People have stereotyped it and society has rejected it based on what religion has taught, there are many misconceptions that need to be put right the whole Evil thing is getting a little old

Before making judgements about Satanism people should do a little bit of research so they know what their talking about and not just spew up all the misguided crap that they have been taught

(I’m not sure if this is completely relevant but I thought id say it anyway)

dude-can priests not marry?cos Reverand John,down the road,....................................never mind.

Satanism as a religion is completely fine in my opinion, if said satanist actually knows what they are claiming to believe.

But what about those "gothy" kids who like to say they're satanists, or wiccans, or pagans simply to make themselves look cool or hardcore in the eyes of other people?

I know somebody like that. Sort of. She likes the idea of Satanism and the concept... *shrug*

I don't have anything against Satanism as a religion. It's not something that I'd want to take part in, but that goes for pretty much any religion. It does bother me when kids pretend to be Satanists for shock value when they really have no idea what the religion consists of, though.

In my mind, they're grouped with people who think they're vampires, over there in the Idiots pile.

RIght-Ceri's mystical moment-

I was at an Ozzfest 2002 (you have to go,its friggin excellent!!!!!) and if you saw me in the crowd you'd think,bloody hell,she's lost!I'm so not a stereotypical rocker-no chains or blackness or funky hair (well,i like to think my hairs funky) and i design a load of my own clothes.(don't worry,there is relevance to this tale)...........
So anyways,we're waiting for the next act,and this group of 4-5 "satanists" comes barging through the crowds,all dressed out in black,crosses round their necks,fig knows how many extra holes in their faces,and they're all F**K EVERYBODY!F**K JESUS!OZZY IS PRINCE OF DARKNESS!then they come up to me and my group going YOU WILL ROT IN SATANS KINGDOM,YEAH,F**K YOU!and we were like excuse me?M ymate said "so i suppose you think you're well hard satanists then?" and they were like yeah bitch!so i asked,"what is it that you believe in then?go on.what are the satanist ways of life?" and they paused,turned around and........................ "F**K JESUS!GO OZZ!" and i just thought hmmm PATHETIC!

Bugger,completely missed the point there!These wannabe satanists are bringing down the religion for those who really follow it,with all this b******s about "screw jesuse,bla bla bla" that's not all satanists believe in!(hopefully,not being one myself,am not sure!)

Yeah, I hate to stereotype but a lot of "younger" folk seem to ignore the camp comedy value of someone like Ozzy and just focus on all the symbolism that appears to go hand in hand with metal/goth. I've been on the goth scene for 13 years and I find amusing even now when I see all these baby goths skulking around with their inverted crosses and "vote satan" t shirts....

"Vote Satan" t shirts?! That's freaking great!! I want one now...

We must always remember the words of Count von Sexbat: "We didn't fight the punk wars just so you lot could dress up like vampires!"

Hee hee,i egged them on halloween cos they scared my little friends losers.

p.s-Ozzy?CAMP????!!!!!!!!!