What is Satanism

Dictionary.com defines Satanism as the worship of Satan. But The Satanic Temple explains it differently, "We believe in the pursuit of knowledge and freedom of Will. We believe in our Seven Tenets" It sounds as though this specific group is just a group of intelligent politically active athiests. "Materially, we believe in nothing that is not demonstrably true, and hold to even those beliefs with an understanding that they, too, must remain open to revision in the light of new scientific understandings." But this quote makes them comprable to agnostics, who believe there may be outside forces they do not understsand.

But what are the seven tenets and how do they compare to the beliefs of other major religions? We examine each tenet below in detail, but overal, these tenets are the satanic temples version of the ten commandments. But where the commandments focus on what not to do, the tenets focus on what to do. But they both are based on simple morals.

"One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason." This is fairly simple, you should respect all living things. Very similiar to the "Golden Rule", treat others how you want to be treated". Ironically the ten commandments do not have anything about compassion or empathy to living things.

"The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions." This tenet reminds them to vouch for freedom, a very American idea.

"One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone." In essence this tenet says that humans are strong and independent.

"The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forego your own." Similair to the first and second tenet. Saying that because you have freedom, others deserve it to. Funnily enough, it says "including the freedom to offend" saying that if your opinion is offensive to others there is nothing stopping you from telling them. Very much like the freedom of speech-first ammendment of the United States Constitution.

"Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs." They are a very scientific, intelligent group of individuals that are aware that science and our understanding is constantly changing. And they have devided not to lie to themselves about scientific fact in order to prove themselves right. A good example of this is evolution, the Satanic Temple acknoledge evolution instead of creationsim.

"People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused." Very different from the catholic idea of asking for forgiveness, they "resolve any harm" they may have caused, going directly to the problem instead of dodging the problem like a majority of us tend to do.

"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." “So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord." (Leviticus 22:31) The bible says that these are the commandments and you must do them forever. The Satanic Temple say the tenets are a guide and clearly state that there are some instances where common sence and compassion will override the tenets.

The tenets and Ten commandments are very different but yet the actual morals of the religions are fairly similiar. Keep in mind that The satanic Temple does not worship the devil, or even acknoledge the existance of anything supernatural, they appear to be a group of very moral scientific individuals.

#satanic #satanism #tencomandments #satan #tenets #conflict #religion #God