How Is The Satanic Temple Centrally Misunderstood?
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/03/01
I am doing this as a brief public service announcement for The Satanic Temple. So, Lucien Greaves, you’re welcome! We’re all in the same fight.
I see this, read this, a lot. I note the difficulties for many people within the public who do not believe in the god concept. God simply isn’t for them. Although, a multitude of believers think sincerely and believe god is for them.
What do we do? That’s a question for people coming out of religion and not wanting to take part in the social conventions of passive acceptance of the god concept. People impose their religion on you, when it is super annoying or condescending.
Some choose to join activist groups using the same imagery of the Christian religion in which they were indoctrinated. Yet, they use the reverse image and inverse emphasis of figural signification. Which is to say, they focus on the Devil as non-real, as non-theists, rather than God and Satan as a liberatory myth instead of a supernatural oppressor.
Even when they do this, and even when The Satanic Temple clearly states their beliefs on the matter, that Satan is a figure of metaphor rather than taken as literal. They focus on Satan as a figure in whom they can emphasize as a reminder of liberation from arbitrary authority.
Even with that, they get painted as believers and worshipers in a literal Satan. The Church of Satan has a little bit of that. But The Satanic Temple has none of that. Even funnier in the misapprehension, when believers want to demonize or conservative pundits want to sound smart, they will spout off on The Satanic Temple’s actual beliefs as if a proper understanding is some condemnatory discovery.
They were open the entire time about their beliefs, but these ninnies sincerely believe that a discovery of what is stated on their website and by their spokespersons is revelation of a hidden, dark truth. It’s not. They are activists who argue for equality and individualism.
Is that hard to discover? No. Are they open about their beliefs? Yes. Will these annoying misunderstandings about non-theist Satanists continue? You bet.
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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