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Topaz27
Member
So I, and the satanic temple, use the term satan as more symbolic then literal. Most of us have christian backgrounds, which is why we use a christian demon. I definitely wouldn't call us pagan, but there are some similarities. For example we celebrate some of the same holidays, and some of our rituals are inspired by paganism. We're a lot more structured then paganism, and we don't believe in anything supernatural at all.
But yeah we don't exactly consider Baphomet an idol, but we do have little statues to buy if you want lol. We really only use baphomet to show how ridiculous some people's beliefs are. For example when I say I'm a Satanist, some people will completely disregard what I have to say, simply because they assume im in some antichristian satanic cult kind of thing. Which can't be further from the truth. We actually score lower on most cult tests then the Mormons, the catholic churchand even the us military. Plus most of us just like the spooky aesthetic lol.
But we use satanic iconography because of the symbolism behind it. Satan originally meant the opposer, which is what we are. A kind of foil to the catholic church. Thanks to us you can get an abortion in any state, you need to represent all religions equally/not at all, and you don't have to look at an ultrasound before you get an abortion. Which somehow was a thing in some states.
Topaz27
Member
Yeah so I'm only gonna speak about the satanic temple, because that's the religion that I'm in. There are many different kinds of satanism. We have seven fundamental tenets. About Us These pretty accurately describe out religion. But we also believe in religious pluralism. So basically if christian prayers are allowed in schools, so should muslim, hindu, satanist, pagan etc. as well.
We also do not believe in a literal satan, just a symbolic one. We believe in nothing supernatural, we promote skepticism, curiosity, and rational thought.
Cooky
Veteran Member
That, to me, removes a lot of what would otherwise be interesting, and makes it seem very boring and unexciting.
The Satanic Temple was basically just started to troll fundie Christians who were trying to violate the separation of church and state, and they use shock imagery (well, shocking to a pearl clutching grandma in Idaho, I guess) to make a point. But it's really just secular humanism. They don't have anything to do with the occult, ritual practices, magick, etc. I mean, that's fine but I agree that it's a bit boring. A lot of other Satanists don't like them, honestly.That, to me, removes a lot of what would otherwise be interesting, and makes it seem very boring and unexciting.
Cooky
Veteran Member
So basically undercover atheists having fun with imagery.
Topaz27
Member
I can 100% why you think that, because we definitely do troll extremely bigoted conservative christians. But we do more then that. We have after school clubs, fundraiser, a sense of community. I would say we definitely focused on keeping christians in check, and while that's definitely still one of our biggest focuses. We've evolved to be much more then just that. We also don't hide that we are secular humanists, it's just that were more then just that.
But yeah most satanists don't like that we don't believe in things that have no evidence behind them. Like magik and spirits, and stuff like that
Topaz27
Member
We're definitely not undercover. We identify as an atheistic religion after all. If you watch our "leader" Lucian Greaves talk, he almost always mentions that we're atheists. And we're definitely not just "having fun with imagery" it's a core part of our belief system, and influences many of our rituals
Topaz27
Member
Haha yeah, if you look up baphomet statue, and you'll probably find it pretty quickly. But that's actually the exact picture the sculptor used to create the statue. We used Baphomet because that's how modern media portrays satan. One goaty boy
That's not the image of Baphomet they used. They used a design that removes the androgynous features, which actually defeats the entire meaning of the Baphomet figure.
But what?
I read his post. Personally I think that statue is ugly and ruins the meaning of Baphomet, but that's just me.
Topaz27
Member
So we removed the androgynous features in fear of the statue being taken down, just because it had female breasts. So we solved the issue by adding a young boy and girl at each side of the seated baphomet. Did we want to do it? No. But there's a good chance it would've been declined if we hadn't changed it slightly