The Satanic Bible
One might expect The Satanic Bible at least to offer a few prancing demons or a virgin sacrifice, but if you hopped this train expecting a tour of the house of horrors, you're on the wrong ride. Far from a manual for conquering the realms of earth, air, fire, and water, The Satanic Bible is Anton LaVey's manifesto of a new religion separate from the "traditional" Judeo-Christian definitions of Satanism. While LaVey rails against the deceit of the Christian church and white magicians, he busily weaves his own deceptions. The Satanic Bible claims the heritage of a horde of evil deities--Bile', Dagon, Moloch, and Yao Tzin to name a few--but these ancient gods have no coherent connection between each other or to Satanism, except that all have been categorized by Christianity as "evil." Calling on these ancient names like a magician shouting, "Abracadabra," LaVey attempts to shatter the classical depiction of Satanism as a cult of black mass and child sacrifice. As the smoke clears, he leads us through a surprisingly logical argument in favor of a life focused on self-indulgence. The Satanic Bible is less bible and more philosophy (with a few rituals thrown in to keep us entertained), but this philosophy is the backbone of a religion that, until LaVey entered the scene, was merely a myth of the Christian church. It took LaVey, and The Satanic Bible, to turn this myth into a legitimate public religion. --Brian Patterson
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What Hacker News says
- What are you talking about? Everybody should read Mein Kempf just so you can understand how populism works.
As for Creationism? It absolutely should be taught in science class to help students distinguish between what is science and what is pseudoscience. You may as well make sure they understand what a scientific theory is while you're at it.
I'd throw in the Satanic Bible too as it actually defines what humanism is. That's useful info for anybody living in a modern democratic society not founded on a religion.
Throw in some Camus and Nietzche and these kids will have the knowledge they need to take on this world head first!
But, those kind of people don't make for docile laborers who are content to work to fulfill the dreams of others. So we make sure they don't have access to these kinds of books.
- It's entirely possible in the UK, it's just simply not very popular anymore as the region has already seen a major push back against overbearing Christian practices and pushed most of them out to the Americas and elsewhere.
Today there are on the order of a 100 or so committed Satanists in the UK according to:
Journal of Contemporary Religion: Satanism in Britain today (1995) - Graham Harvey
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1353790950858074...
https://sci-hub.ru/10.1080/13537909508580747
...This paper discusses the views and activities of self‐identified Satanists in Britain, especially the Temple of Set, the Church of Satan, the Order of the Nine Angles and Dark Lily. It also comments on ad hoc, adolescent and multi‐generational Satanism. Satanism is a series of techniques for allowing individuals to affirm, develop and express themselves, and to do what they wish to do in the context of a spirituality. It does not require belief in the Satan of the Christian pantheon although thriving on the sinister image and the hostility it can evoke in Christians and the media. Satanism is an adversarial form of self‐religion.
Satanic Bible (1969).There are Satanists in Britain. There are six groups who between them have less than 100 members. There are more people who read Satanist magazines or have bought books by Satanists, e.g. Anton LaVey'sAgain they are few in number compared to the scare-estimate. A larger number of people—some adolescents—name themselves Satanists, but belong to no formal or organised Satanist group. - The Church of Satan was on the right track in some areas (such as viewing Abrahamic God as evil and nonexistent), but in others it is clear that it is an incoherent "first attempt" with lots of contradictory statements, such as the belief in magic yet the disbelief in Satan, and its hatred of abortion despite its otherwise Social Darwinist leanings. More damning (no pun intended) is how the Satanic Bible (LaVey's work) simultaneously condemns the authority of "God" yet says that dictators are good Satanists. It was very much the views of a single man, Anton LaVey, which while not entirely without merit and LaVey not being necessarily a completely terrible person, are far off course in my view in many ways.
Anton loved Ayn Rand. Many TST members are appalled at Rand's ethical ideology, or lack thereof, myself especially included.
You'll find that in many areas, The Satanic Temple is diametrically opposed, and represents a much more coherent, logical, refined ideology, and wholly rejects social darwinism as mostly discredited, advocating instead for empathy and compassion, recognizing their evolutionary benefit.
What both organizations have in common is the demand for rationalist thinking, the belief in the immorality of God, the belief in personal freedom, and deriving their ideologies partly from the sciences of their respective time periods.
- Hey deadalus, quick question here: how does all of this compare to Luciferianism and left-hand path kind of stuff? I started reading some of the latter, but I found them to be so ridden with grammar errors that I wish Satan were an English teacher. Perhaps the most decent book I found was Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible, but so far I am finding it too down-to-earth to quench my thirst for the exotic.
By the way, do you have an English translation for the Liber Azerate? I have the original in Swedish, but I have not learned Swedish yet.
- Endorsing Satanism isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you read The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey it can represent a logical construct that rejects blind theology.
- “Satanism advocates practicing a modified form of the Golden Rule. Our interpretation of this rule is: "Do unto others as they do unto you"; because if you "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and they, in turn, treat you badly, it goes against human nature to continue to treat them with consideration. You should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but if your courtesy is not returned, they should be treated with the wrath they deserve.”
― Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Bible
