LaVeyan Satanism
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LaVeyan Satanism is a religion based upon the philosophy of Anton LaVey as outlined in The Satanic Bible and other works. It has an extremely egoistic bent, viewing the self as the most important entity in the universe.
Philosophically, it could be described as heavily influenced by the writings of Aleister Crowley, Niccolò Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn Rand, and a few others; "Satan" is appropriated as a positive symbol of this worldview, and is not considered to exist in a literal fashion. Theologically, each individual Satanist is viewed as his or her own god; its rituals are essentially magick in the original sense given by Crowley, with an eye towards furthering the Satanist's ends.
History
The seeds for LaVeyan Satanism were planted in the 1950s, when LaVey and several others formed a group known as the Order of the Trapezoid; the group worked with a combination of magick and LaVey's hedonistic, egoistic philosophy. Seeking to change the world with his ideas, LaVey later decided that only a religion, and not a mere philosophy, would be sufficient to do so; with this in mind, he founded the Church of Satan in 1966. Three years later, in 1969, the Satanic Bible was published.
Organizations
There are two primary organizations based upon this type of Satanism, which tend to be at odds with each other despite their shared basis: the Church of Satan, founded by LaVey and now administered by Peter Gilmore, and the First Satanic Church, administered by LaVey's daughter Karla. These are not the only organizations based upon LeVeyan Satanism; furthermore, there are many individual LaVeyan Satanists who do not affiliate with any religious organization.
The LaVeyan organizations do not have (nor do they seek) the tax-exempt status normally granted to religious organizations in the United States. The religion as a whole does, however, enjoy the same legal protection afforded any other religion in the United States by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Philosophy
Satanism is often mistook as being a religion that encourages cruelty and irresponsible behaviour, but LaVey's brand is very different. Central is the idea inherited from Nietzsche that an individual must enforce his own meaning on life and rise above the conformity of the masses. The Satanist is equivalent to Nietzsche's Uberman in that LaVey claims that "Satanists are born, not made" and that "[Satanists] have a disease called independence that needs to be recognised just like alcoholism". There is a libertarian element here in that diversity is encouraged and everyone is to discover their own sexuality, their own personality and decide their own ambitions in life without being told what to do by others. In this stress on individuality, Satanism is considered part of the Left Hand Path; most major religions are seen as encouraging dull conformity.
There is also a belief in man's carnal nature and an encouragement of indulgence. This comes more from Aleister Crowley's idea of "Do What thou Willt" than Nietzsche's self-controlled ethics. Guilt is rejected as a sympton of weakness. Animals and children are celebrated in Satanism as embodiments of guilt-free love of life and indulgence. It may be surprising to some that Satanism prohibits bad treatment of animals, whilst Christianity does not. The seven deadly sins are all seen as leading to pleasure and psychological satisfaction and are thus encouraged. Christianity, along with Eastern religions like Buddhism, are described frequently by Satanists as being "masochistic" and are looked down upon for their ethics of abstinence from pleasure. Religions like Judaism and Islam are looked on much more favourably in this regard.
In addition to these ideas runs a sometimes polemic misanthropy, which looks down on the bulk of the human population. Anton LaVey was known for saying that society should be "ghettoised" into castes where the elite can be protected from the "locusts" of common people. Democracy, the welfare state and feminism are all looked down upon. LaVey did not directly say that women were inferior, but he insisted on them exploiting their "femininity" to gain power and pleasure, rather than what he saw as the feminist mentality of "hating your femininity". Satanists are forbidden from revealing their feelings and opinions to anyone that may not appreciate them and everyone is told to be responsible for themselves. "Do onto others as they do onto you" is the replaced motto for the Christian "do onto others as you would have them to do onto you", so that you are only to give compassion and sympathy to those who would do the same for you. LaVey felt that intelligent and strong people spent too much time caring for "psychic vampire" - weak individuals who always demanded attention and care, yet would never give any back.
As time has gone on, the magic and anti-Christian element of Satanism has become less and less prevalent compared to the misanthropic element.
The Black Mass
The "Black Mass", a symbolic inversion of Catholicism, is often attributed to LaVeyan Satanism; this "mass" is merely an elaborate prank played on occasion by various Satanists for the media. Various theatrical elements are intentionally incorporated into the performance in order to elicit labels of blasphemy from Christians.
The first Black Mass performed by the Church of Satan took place in 1968.
Criticisms
Satanism clams to be indivualistic, yet many members seem to conform to a stereotype. Although they claim to be an "alien elite" who are superior to common people, there are no special tests for joining other than paying the large $100 membership fee.
There are only three magic spells and the church does not appear to research further into the occult and magic, as other occult organisations do.
It has become increasingly unclear in recent times whether Satanists' main enemy is Christianity or the traditional targets of the political right - criminals, welfare check receivers, feminists, etc. Whilst they claim that criminals should be dealt with harshly for their lack of moral fibre, they condemn Christians for being "guilt-ridden" and "weak" in their display of moral fibre. LaVey sometimes tried to link his targets together in less than convincing ways - Christianity became to blame for everything from fashion to women's liberation to the deteriation of the environment to overpopulation to the increase in suicide rates. These were all fairly baseless assertions.
Satanists do have an ethical code in their 9 statements and 11 rules, yet they do not explain why these should be universal ethical principles nor why they are any more valid than those ethics put forward by other religions. The fact that they take consideration for others to a point as obligatory, then stop and say that any further compassion is "weakness" seems arbitrary.
"Love of life" is said to be the motto of the Satanist as opposed to the abstinence of Christianity, yet there frequently appear pessimistic statements in Church of Satan literature about the angst of life and how intelligent people have to suffer from their awareness. Ironically, this contradiction can also be found in Nietzsche's work.
Membership in the Church of Satan is usually short-lived, which suggests that members lose interest after a while. There is not even a Satanic funeral ceremony.