I am a Satanist

"I don't believe in God anymore. I am a Satanist."

"I think that's a atheist. Satanist...... do things to goats."

What religion on Earth can possibly be more misunderstood than Satanism?

If you can come up with one, please kindly tell me.

When most people hear the term "Satanism", they think of things like animal sacrificing, digging graves, heavy metal music and teenage fans, or any other ridiculous things they see in the media and movies that they believe is real.

What if I tell you there is a kind of Satanism that the followers are rational and responsible adults, atheistic and do not believe in Satan as a supernatural deity, do not do human and animal sacrifice and harming children as it is explicitly prohibited, do not proselytize their beliefs?

Hard to believe, huh?

What is Satanism anyway?

There are many kinds of Satanism and not all of their followers "do things to goats".

In general, one can separate Satanism into two categories - Theistic and Atheistic.

"Theistic" basically means "belief in a god or gods", hence a theistic Satanist believes that Satan is an actually deity and worships Satan. Theistic Satanism does not have an unified understanding of the nature of Satan and thus is not a single religion.

Atheistic Satanists do not believe in Satan as an entity, but as a symbol or archetype. There are several types of atheistic Satanism.

The kind of Satanism I described previously is called LaVeyan Satanism, which falls under the atheistic category. From this point onwards, "Satanism" means LaVeyan Satanism.

It is called LaVeyan Satanism because it is founded by Anton Szandor LaVey. All Satanist are atheists and strong anti-theistic (but not all atheist are Satanist). The Satanic imagery and symbolism are used for the iconoclastic effect and the semantic meaning of Satan (i.e. the "adversary", "opposition" or the "accuser")

To be continued.

Just in case that you are wondering, I am a proud card-carrying Satanist and I have found out that I am a Satanist four years ago. During these four years, I have been extensively studying Satanism founded by Anton LaVey.

To be clear, I am not a official representative of the Church of Satan. All of my writings about Satanism are my personal opinions and do not represent the views of the Church of Satan or any other organisations.

Further Readings

http://www.churchofsatan.com

Bibliography

1. The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey (1969)
2. The Satanic Scriptures by Peter H. Gilmore (2007)
3. http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanism.htm (Accessed on 4 Apr 2010)
4. http://theisticsatanism.com/ (Accessed on 4 Apr 2010)