Conclusion: Speak of the Devil

The final chapter considers the idea that Satanism is a sociopolitical counter-myth that counters and compliments the myth of America as a Christian nation. The idea that America is a nation favored by God has historically inspired those who feel they have been treated unjustly to side with the devil. This response is true not only in the modern era but can also be traced to the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. Furthermore, modern American Satanists have argued that their values are truly American ones, while it is their conservative Christian opponents who have betrayed the founding principles of the nation. Ultimately, for groups like The Satanic Temple, Satan is a symbolic placeholder for a more abstract set of contested values and identity claims.

The Satanic Reformation

Members of The Satanic Temple have presented themselves as “nice” Satanists who advance the values of compassion and social justice. This move has earned them scorn from some more traditional Satanic groups, notably the Church of Satan founded by Anton LaVey, which has accused The Satanic Temple’s members of being fake Satanists and plagiarizing everything that LaVey built. This chapter suggests that there is no objectively authentic form of Satanism and that Satanism is better understood as what Benedict Anderson called “an imagined community.” Thus a variety of sources can be invoked to form models of what Satanism is or ought to be. In redefining Satanism, The Satanic Temple and other socially engaged Satanic groups have looked past LaVey to the Satan portrayed by nineteenth-century Romantics. They argue that works by Byron and Shelley represent an older mode of Satanism that is compatible with their values of compassion and egalitarianism.

Origins and History of The Satanic Temple

This chapter provides a historical overview of The Satanic Temple from its foundation as a political action held in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2013 to the formation of a National Council with a physical headquarters and a system of chapters throughout the United States and abroad. The chapter describes the formation of the religion’s creed (The Seven Tenets), its campaign to prevent corporal punishment in public schools, its campaign to implement an After School Satan Club (ASSC) in schools throughout the United States, and its attempt to install a Satanic monument to honor military veterans at a park in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

Satanic Bake Sales

Many of The Satanic Temple’s campaigns invoke the idea that Satanists are perceived as evil and attempt to leverage this perception toward their political ends. This chapter analyzes three different strategies through which The Satanic Temple invokes and challenges conventional notions of evil. One strategy is performance art that seeks to reframe old debates about topics such as abortion through transgressive street theater. A second strategy involves demanding the same access in public schools and other government institutions that Christians enjoy. Often, the presence of Satanists in these spaces is so intolerable that Christians would rather forfeit their own access rather than share it with Satanists. A third strategy is engaging in philanthropy such as charity drives or adopting highways. The Satanic Temple’s critics seemed disturbed by Satanists doing charitable work precisely because such activity threatens traditional models of good and evil.

Religion or Trolls?

Many of The Satanic Temple’s political campaigns and legal actions depend on invoking their religious rights. However, critics have responded that The Satanic Temple is not a “real” religion but merely “trolls” who only pretend to have sincerely held beliefs. These critics typically point out that The Satanic Temple do not believe in a literal Satan or any supernatural force. This argument featured prominently when The Satanic Temple sued the state of Missouri over its abortion laws. This chapter makes several theoretical interventions into this controversy. First, the category of “invented religions” is helpful for thinking about how The Satanic Temple can be sincere despite lacking supernatural beliefs. Second, it is argued that The Satanic Temple possesses characteristics common to more familiar religions. Finally, it is suggested that the very act of invoking religious liberty has caused Satanists to think about their worldviews differently.

“Taking Equality Too Far”

This chapter considers two areas where The Satanic Temple has attempted to participate in institutions that nominally promote religious pluralism and tolerance: a 2014 black mass hosted through a cultural studies club at Harvard University and attempts to lead prayer invocations before city councils, following the 2014 Supreme Court decision Greece v. Galloway, which ruled that sectarian prayers may be offered provided no religion is excluded. In both cases, tremendous efforts were made to block The Satanic Temple from participating in these institutions. Several city councils passed new laws restricting prayer invocations rather than let The Satanic Temple participate. The Satanic Temple’s opponents did not frame their response as intolerance; rather, they claimed that The Satanic Temple is engaged in hate speech and must be censored. Analysis examines these responses and considers whether these institutions practice the values of tolerance and religious pluralism as they purport to.

Satanic Schisms

This chapter analyzes controversies within The Satanic Temple that led to a series of schisms in the summer of 2018. The schisms reflected larger national issues that have divided progressive groups, including disagreements about how best to respond to dangers posed by the “alt-right” movement, disagreements about the nature and value of free speech, and different philosophies of how to advance social justice. The author suggests that religious schisms are a normal part of a religious movement’s development. In this case, the schisms were likely inevitable as The Satanic Temple lacks organizational features that sociologists have shown tend to discourage religious schisms.

The Day Satan Came to Oklahoma

This chapter begins with a summary and legal analysis of attempts to install monuments of the Ten Commandments on capitol grounds in Oklahoma and Arkansas and The Satanic Temple’s offer to erect a statue of the Satanic deity Baphomet next to these monuments. The author frames battles over the Baphomet statue as part of a larger pattern of “socially engaged Satanism” in which Satanists are increasingly taking their activities into the public square. The rise of socially engaged Satanism is attributed to demographic changes associated with the decline of white Christian hegemony in America. This decline has inspired state actions such as erecting Ten Commandments monuments meant to re-enforce the claim that America is a Christian nation. These actions have triggered a backlash from Satanists. In closing, the chapter argues that religious Satanism should be studied because Satanists affect our national conversation about such topics as religion and religious freedom.