In an aptly named place in San Francisco known as the Black House, the Church of Satan was founded in the April of 1966. Its founder, Anton Szandor LaVey, had been heavily influenced by philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand — rather than promoting evil, LaVey’s Satanism promoted the ideals of strength, pride and raw human nature.
The religion — like a counter-culture — posited itself as a resistance against more traditional, mainstream ideologies, like Christianity and Judaism. Rather than believing in the supernatural, life after death and even Satan himself, Satanists who followed LaVey believed in the amorality of the world and in individualism’s superiority over generosity and egalitarianism.
This isn’t to say that Satanists were necessarily evil. Celebrities like Jayne Mansfield, an actress and model, and Sammy Davis Jr., a singer and actor, were known to associate with LaVey. Satanists simply wanted to live unadulterated, unrestrained lives.
LaVeyan Satanism was highly visible in the late 60’s, with LaVey often hosting public events like a Satanic wedding and Satanic funeral. But as the decades rolled on, infighting amongst the ranks led to several denominations of Satanism, from the Temple of Set which actually believed in the reality of Satan to the First Satanic Church, which resulted from a legal battle.
More recently, Satanists, whether LaVeyan or not, have been attempting to erect Satanic monuments in America. In a small town in Minnesota, the Satanic Temple is sponsoring a black monument at a veterans park, claiming that they have the right to and are not violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution because another monument, one of a kneeling Christian soldier, already exists there.
The Satanic Temple has also attempted to erect monuments at the Oklahoma capitol — but withdrew its proposal after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against a Ten Commandments monument — and at the Arkansas capitol, where the installation of a Ten Commandments monument was approved.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/us/satanic-temple-sponsors-a-veterans-memorial-in-a-minnesota-town.html?_r=1
http://time.com/3973573/satanism-american-history/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-of-Satan
This is a really insightful article! I found it especially interesting how Satanism is not situated in a belief in the supernatural or even in Satan itself, but rather in individualism and Nietzscheanism. However, I'm still concerned about the overarching Satanic ideology that you portray -- a world with only the ideals of "strength" or "raw human nature" and individualism still sounds like a world with a lot of unnecessary violence.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the sentiment that a world governed by Satanic values would be brutal and short. I'm not attempting to defend Satanism here, only provide the perspective that it's not actually about being "evil," but more about being individually strong.
DeleteThis might be true but I think the idea of being "individually strong" creates problems for society, where the each individual desires to be stronger than the other. How do you think this manifest in individuals' actions?
DeleteOne interpretation of Nietzsche would say that all people can equally be individually strong because strength lies in their mental capacity to overcome their own suffering and in their interpretation of how their life continues. Essentially, such a mindset wouldn't actually guide action, but would serve as a sort of ideology with which to evaluate consequences.
DeleteAnother, more archaic, interpretation of Nietzsche would say that not all individuals can become individually strong because not everyone is equal, and there's an inherent hierarchy. Clearly, that would imply that people at the top of the hierarchy are always more free to take any action compared to those at the bottom of the hierarchy.
I agree with you William – I think that in its essence, religion does provide a framework for people to live their lives, and in this portrayal of Satanism there seems to be no measure of morality or compassion for fellow human beings. However, I also believe that that doesn't necessary preclude Satanism as a way for some to live in an amoral way, as Danny said.
ReplyDeleteThis religion seems like a darker alternative to pastafarianism. Which is a unique religion that believes in the flying spaghetti monster. It is a sort of protest religion against the teaching of creationism and other sorts of religious teachings in the public school system the first satanic church seems like a much darker version of the pastafarians.
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