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June 4th, 2011
01:00 AM ET
Study: How Satanists see deathBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN) - You probably won't hear "Amazing Grace" at a Satanist's funeral, but you just might hear "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. A researcher from Concordia University recently published a journal article with some rare access to high level Satanists exploring what they think about death and dying. Members in the Church of Satan are traced back to Anton LeVey who in 1966 founded the church in San Fransisco. He is also the author of the canon of sorts for the group, The Satanic Bible first published in 1969. Today, the church is based in New York and membership numbers are hard to come by. One of the main tenets of the faith is atheism. Not just a disbelief in God but also in the devil or Satan. Satanists believe God is an invention of man and instead deify themselves.
According to the official website of the Church of Satan: "We Satanists are thus our own 'Gods,' and as beneficent 'deities' we can offer love to those who deserve it and deliver our wrath (within reasonable limits) upon those who seek to cause us—or that which we cherish—harm." Cimminnee Holt, the author of the journal article explains further:
Holt writes that even though the Church of Satan does not believe in a physical afterlife (neither heaven nor hell), their doctrine speaks to a practitioner living on in this world through the life they led.
After a long back and forth between Holt and two high level clergy in the Church of Satan, the two Satanists agreed to speak as official representatives of the church. The Satanists gave the researcher unique insights into how they saw death and their own funerals. Holt writes:
The communications between Holt and the Satanists stretched over four years. Holt said she deliberately left out identifying details, like occupation and geographic location, about the two Satanists. The wall of privacy seems to have helped the Satanists to open up about their thoughts on death. Holt's article appeared in The Journal of Religion and Culture, which is produced by graduate students from the Department of Religion at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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These guys aren't REAL Satanists. They're only glorified hippies who would crap themselves if Lucifer actually DID show up.
They may as well change the name of their self-indulging religion, because it has nothing to do with being evil or worshiping the Devil.
Interesting article – I had no idea, I have been ignorant in this subject – that Satanists don't believe in Satan or worship him. I will read more about it. Not to join in, mind you; just to learn about it because I like to know facts. I was raised catholic and have, since then, rid myself of all that nonsense. I don't care for cults and all organized religion is just that. I believe in me. I guess that makes me an OKEist. I'm fine with that.
Its great to see a fact based story about Satanists on CNN, I would never have expected that. The thing that most people don't seem to get is that Lavey's Satanism stresses the individual and their responsibility for their own actions, and a complete lack of respect for idiots. They choose Satan as their representative symbol because he represents the ultimate rebel in a Judeo-Christian culture, not because he represents evil. They definitely do cloak their rituals in Satanic symbolism, but its mostly hedonism and self-glorification. They do things to offend others whom they consider to be stupider than them. If you have a gut reaction against them just because they are "Satanists", then they really want nothing to do with you as you have been duped into following a religion etc.
Overall its nowhere near as offensive as most people view it, and probably a lot more fun to practice than most religions, if a bit silly most of the time.
"Overall its nowhere near as offensive as most people view it, and probably a lot more fun to practice than most religions, if a bit silly most of the time."
It's true! I went to their website a couple of years ago for a laugh, expecting to see some dramatic heavy metal insanity or some such thing. Instead, it's this quaint little website where they just tell their ideas.
Wow= all these people talking about the afterlife and not a single one has been there. All these people talking about gods and demons and have never seen or measured or quantified one. This is a massive delusion. I don't understand the Satanists having a religion about nothing, though.
So does that mean George Bush is their hero?
Isnt this confusing atheism with satanism? At least throw it in there more plainly where they worship devils... I see it in the text but it should be in the intro at least.
Satanism, as practiced by those who read the notorious Satanic Bible, is a very specific form of atheism. The two terms should not be used interchangeably.
It is, and their doing it on purpose. Its insane that their trying to compare the two. An Atheist doesn't believe in hell or the devil so I dont get it...
'At least throw it in there more plainly where they worship devils'
But thats the point. These satanists do not worship anyone, gods or devils.
Jesus is real and unfortunately so is that sly devil that's preaches world government and self godliness. CNN has an article with people arguing what the bible says and on the same page an article on satanism. The devil wants us to be deceived if he gets us to believe that we are the god and that there is no satan. .Then he has nothing left to conquer on his journey to sit on a throne and preside over earth like he has all power and authority. Well I got news for you, Jesus is real, there is a god and even tho satan may have this world in his clutch, the final victory belongs to Jesus, No matter how the snakes in disguise try to discredit the Christian religion.
@burkirman:
BINGO!
CNN is being controlled by the Boogeymen?
"Jesus" is real, because you say so? Well, so is batman because I say so.
If referring to the Christian almighty, its God, not god, and Satan, not satan.. I may play "I did it Yahweh" at my memorial...
And what are Satanists doing for the world, Where are there food banks there shelters, there charity for the poor, You not going to see it in a world where everyone is there own God, why should they, There God they can do whatever the hell they want. The wise man from India who said Heaven is full of dead Christians is absolutely correct, Dead in the flesh anyway, Its the only way to get there no matter what You have cooked up for yourself to believe, I, I, I, Me Me Me thats the world of the satanist. The sad truth is the Satansist will spend eternity in a wooden box, They have that part right.
There is a biological imperative to help one another, evolved over thousands of years of evolution. Helping each other is one thing that makes us human. There is clearly not a huge number of satanists across the country to have foodbanks. this is a silly question.
And what have religious fanatics, Christians included, been doing for the world for 2,000 years? War, war, war! Remember the Crusades? Destruction of North American native populations in the name of Christ? War after war where "God is on our side"? Fifty years of death and destruction in the middle east. . . . The world would have been better off without it all.
This is a great bunch of comments. So much to think about, and I learned that Satanism is a whole lot more than it's name implies.
What else DO we leave behind but the legacy of our deeds and memories in our survivors? Would anyone know who Lincoln was if not for his deeds?
The whole issue with Satanism is this, "SELF". If you know the story of how Satan came to be, As one of the more "beautiful" and important Angels in God's Kingdom, Lucifer (meaning bearer of light) was also in charge of music in Heaven. He was revered by other average Angels and along with his beauty, influence and being in charge of the more important "jobs" in Heaven, that being the producer of music, he exclaimed, "I will be like the most High!". The KEY word being "I". Once God found out about this betrayal, He cast down Lucifer and 1/4th of all of the angels to Earth instantly becoming "Demons" as they were no longer Angels. Lucifer was given a new name, Satan (along with a host of other man-made names- Devil, Prince of Darkness, etc.) Now as Satan, as I understand it, he will do, go, say, teach, mis-inform, and commit his life to the exact opposite of God's teachings and commandments. Everything done in Satanism is the exact opposite of what God would want. It is said that when we see a President in church, yes he is praying but, not to God or Christ. He is saying everything backwards as if to un-ravel what God has made. The point is, God wants YOU to put YOU second to Him. He should be #1 in your life. Not your spouse, children, parents etc. As for Satanism, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that keeps you from putting God first in your life is fine with Satan. For a Satanist, You and your desires are what matter in this life, nothing else. A main "prayer" in Satanism is, "As "I" will, so mote it be". as far as God is concerned, it's up to you as you are not a robot and you have free will. You choose which "side" to be on. Just remember! Be sure you know what you're doing. I have actually seen people go insane from not knowing exactly what they are dealing with.
'The point is, God wants YOU to put YOU second to Him. He should be #1 in your life. Not your spouse, children, parents etc.'
Wow that guy has some ego and jealousy problems.
at the end of the day everyone is responsible for their actions and choices, whether influenced by religion or not. Reasoning is key
This sounds more like what I understand to be atheism. Why do these people call themselves Satanists if they have profess no belief in Satan? It doesn't make sense. Christians believe in Christ, Buddhists follow the teachings of Buddha, and so on. I think there must be some desire to put others off by saying they are Satanists, when the concept of Satan implies a celebration of evil. Why would anyone want to identify themselves like that?
Amy, I posted this below: I think they use Milton's vision of Satan, a proud angel who questions and rebels against God's authority, as a metaphor for there pride and rebellion against religious dogma and authority. The dark theatrics seem more like play than actual ritual.
Since they see all of religion as fictional characters, they identified with one that had great power but was cast down for rebelling against what they saw as a dictator. Similarly, these people see the influence of religion as an unjust, dominant authority in the world.
Also, Anton LeVey was a guy who criticized the theatrics of preachers and was versed in carnival barking. He makes similar ploys to mock to the theatrics of many preachers.
Great comment the whole church of Satan has lost its fangs and now is nothing more that atheist why not call it the church of flying spaghetti monster
atheist dont need the church of Satan and the church of Satan has no place or purpose since they dont worship satan
Many years ago a good friend of mine, who was from India, was asked by his kindergarten age daugher what Heaven was. He replied, "It's just a place dead Christians go." That's it. It's just a place dead Christians go.
And to go there a follower must sell his belongings, donate his wealth to the poor, and spend the rest of his life helping the poor.
Since no one but Mother Theresa has been willing to do this lately, it looks like Heaven is a place just a couple of dead Christians go. The rest of the Christians will be joining all those followers of Satan, or other atheists, rotting in a wooden box.
To have everlasting life, all you need to do is believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and died on the cross for us. If you can do that one simple thing – and have faith – to have everlasting life, shouldn't you try to do it?
Atheists, Satanists & Feminists; You all look the same to me.
Well, perhaps you ought to get your vision checked. You seem to be very short sighted.
feminists? lol, you are one strange cookie.
Stop staring!
I guess I am an atheist since I don't believe a god exists. I do believe in being kind to others and I try to lead a decent
life. I do know religion is the scourge of this earth – it destroys and pits one group against another. It is greed that
drives religion. It is control that is the main goal – over your life and pocketbook. I do wonder why people are so stupid
they can't see this.
"Religion" is fallible because it was created and run by man. Man is imperfect. However – don't generalize and stereotype all religions into one bucket – that's the same thing that racists do. You only hear about the bad; there is lots of good out there. Lots of good Christian faith based churches living the preachings of God and Jesus Christ.
why not just call themselves realists or humanists or what not? its like those secular christians that dont go to church, why call yourself a christian if youre only in to cherry pick to the morals you like. you dont need a religion to affirm a set of basic values.
Satanists are really Hedonists and Atheists. They use Satan as an idol just to tick off Christians. That's all.
thank you CNN for putting out an article about satanism that was fact based, not condemning them!
I was raised southern baptist, hellfire and brimstone. Nowadays the white southern baptist church is mostly filled with suits and their families, wanting some do-good services they can add to their resumes so they can make more money. The black southern baptist church is filled with mostly middle-aged women who believe if they pray hard enough, money will be the reward and all their financial woes will end. My daughter is a hard core atheist, Zeitgeist and all that. I am in a huge religious crisis...I definitely understand the atheist stance and I definitely DO believe in science. Yet there is a part of me that desperately wants to believe that this is not all there is. I want to go on to "heaven" so I can continue studying and learning, and find out the answers to mysteries that have driven me crazy. Southern baptist religion is ALL ABOUT guilt and I've been raised that way since birth, its hard to just let all that go. I've kind of decided that neither side is right. I think there is something, but its a whole lot more complex and enriching than organized religion propaganda.
Faith is about wanting something to be true. Christians desperately want there to be a creator, heaven, and for prayer to work, so they believe their god exists, despite all the evidence to the contrary. It's been further corrupted by greed and vanity into the religion you see in America today.
I understand why you need to belive in God. If that's a void in your life, you need to take a "leap of faith" and go with it.
Crillie, I also was grown in that southern baptist element. To me, religion, and the use of religion depends solely on the people who believe in it.It isn't the religious text that create religion, it is the interpretation of that text and how it aids us in our daily lives that become the backbone for our religion. I don't like the word atheist. It suggests there is an element to being close minded. Human beings are naturally emotional creatures. We don't act on logic, but we make it seem like we do. Labels are there to divide people. It is our responsibility as acting, willful living beings to act in accordance with our own standards and take everything that we can that will aid us. Life isn't fire and brimstone. Life is too short to worry about what one weak group of people think the end of the world is going to be. The end of the world is believing that there is an end. Your mind, your beliefs are what create or destroy the world. Not some religion.
Crillie, I can certainly understand the difficulty you might have accepting the idea that there is no god or Heaven. Especially if you've spent your entire life with a church and around other believers.
The idea of an ideal afterlife is very appealing. It can be hard to comprehend the end of our own existence. So, it can be very comforting to cling to the belief that there's this great place we go to after we die; where we're young again, we're with all our lost loved ones, and where we'll never know any kind of suffering again.
To people afraid of death, that can definitely sound much more pleasant than the idea that when we die, we're just gone for good.
Crillie, Don't worry. We all "die." We are mortal beings, and therefore, subject to mortal ails. I believe our energy travels on after "death." Science kind of backs me up on that. I don't know if we have consciousness, but I think we do, but on a different level. I'm not going to worry about it, I've got too much to do right now. When the time comes, I feel I will be comfortable with letting go. Let me warn you: any organized religion that teaches fire and brimstone, denies a loving god. Any organized religion that preaches that humanity must defend it by killing or terrorizing none believers is false. The first rule of any religion should be "Do no harm." Best wishes to you.
Thanks for these honest replies. Thanks for going easy on me too! LOL I guess the real crisis is just reconciling the southern baptist heaven with what pretty obviously can't be true from a logical standpoint. With religion, its "if you don't believe, you don't receive." I listen to my daughter the atheist and realize all she says is rooted in pure logic and science. Then I think about my mother and imagine her shaking her head and crying if I were to tell her of my doubts. My family would disown me if they knew the things in my mind.
Let's just say I very much admire you people that have your mind MADE UP and are living according to what you believe.
Sorry, it should have been NON-believers, not none believers.
"Crillie
Thanks for these honest replies. Thanks for going easy on me too! LOL I guess the real crisis is just reconciling the southern baptist heaven with what pretty obviously can't be true from a logical standpoint. With religion, its "if you don't believe, you don't receive." I listen to my daughter the atheist and realize all she says is rooted in pure logic and science. Then I think about my mother and imagine her shaking her head and crying if I were to tell her of my doubts. My family would disown me if they knew the things in my mind.
Let's just say I very much admire you people that have your mind MADE UP and are living according to what you believe."
I would suggest you do some light "Research" to get yourself started, if you're feeling conflicted.
I don't necessarily mean diving into books about Science, philosophy, and theology. For example, I'd suggest taking a trip to youtube.com and searching for videos related to The Atheist Experience. Or perhaps the youtube channel of user Thunderf00t. Richard Dawkins is great if you're curious about Evolution and Atheism. Christopher Hitchens is...well, he can be a bit abrasive.
If you'd be interesting in something light, with a comedic touch, I would highly recommend looking into Julia Sweeney's 'Letting Go of God'. It's a very simple show of Julia Sweeney describing how she became an Atheist, the effects it had on her life, how her family responded, etc.
Ok, "The meek shall inherit the Earth". The Earth remains forever, but all the harmful elements will be removed, Ps. 37: 9,10,11 Rev 21:3,4. Just pray to yourself for the truth, it will knock on your door.
I also suggest you do some research using YouTube; however, my intent would be to help you see that there is life after death and hence, maybe even a God. Do a search for "Near Death Experiences" (NDE) and watch what people encountered after being declared clinically dead. Pay particular attention to the NDE described by Howard Storm in a series of videos posted there. Then, arrive at your own conclusion as to the existence of God...
Crillie,
keep seeking! The truth will set you free.
"Grimaldi
I also suggest you do some research using YouTube; however, my intent would be to help you see that there is life after death and hence, maybe even a God. Do a search for "Near Death Experiences" (NDE) and watch what people encountered after being declared clinically dead. Pay particular attention to the NDE described by Howard Storm in a series of videos posted there. Then, arrive at your own conclusion as to the existence of God..."
Are you serious? A man hallucinates/dreams vividly while he's unconscious in a hospital and you mean to use that as evidence of an afterlife? If you'd check Storm's own wiki page, you'll find that even he concedes that there's nothing to suggest that he ever actually died.
NDE's are, at best, unfortunate self-delusion regarding a vivid hallucination and at worst a con-job being perpetuated by people with crappy books to sell.
Wait....Satanists don't believe in the existence of Satan???
I love Satanists. And all the people commenting here who think Satanists "believe in God and Satan and choose Satan" are just exposing their ignorance of the subject. Go read LaVey's Satanic Bible, read it thoroughly and read it to comprehend it. You'll learn that LaVeyan Satanists have nothing to do with Christianity. But the bonus is that the name Satanism keeps the Christians out of the club... They're too scared to even open the book.
I think calling themselves satanists is a big mistake. Sure, the name discourages intrusion by fundamentalist Christians, but it also confuses and frightens those who might be on the fence, who would see the truthful logic of atheism, if they were not discouraged from hearing what these people really believe. They're atheists. They don't believe in ANY supernatural being, so they may as well call themselves SantaClausists for all the sense their name makes.
I don't think it IS a mistake to call themselves that.
What they're doing is, effectively, weeding out those that won't think for themselves but instead regurgitate dogma that had been forced down their throats.
If someone cannot think for themselves, then the Satanists don't WANT them. They want reason. They want rationality. They want thought. Consideration.
Mind, I'm not sure I agree with them, but they ARE being logical and reasonable about it.
Satan is responsible for BILLIONS of deaths, who would want to be associated with such a monster?
@aginghippie: I think they use Milton's vision of Satan, a proud angel who questions and rebels against God's authority, as a metaphor for there pride and rebellion against religious dogma and authority. The dark theatrics seem more like play than actual ritual.
"Monte
Satan is responsible for BILLIONS of deaths, who would want to be associated with such a monster?"
Name one.
@aginghippy: You can be an atheist without being a Satanist. For instance, I'm an atheist but I don't know or care about Satanists. Calling themselves to keep the Christians out is understandable, though - I put a flying spaghetti monster on my car in an effort to warn away some of the missionaries who make it a point to bug me ever few months.
@Monte: So is God, if you attribute the actions of God's followers to Him. Take, for instance, the crusades and the modern jihads. As near as I can tell, they both believe in the same god (though the jihadis seem to think they're on the first name basis with the guy). And, yet they and a bunch of evangelicals in the US military seem to use god as a justification to kill each other. No Satan required. [shakes head] If I were a Believer and didn't think that religious people are all a little nuts, then this would be something that I'd have to "pray about" deeply. I have a much easier answer, though - there is no god, and people hate each other for earthly reasons and use whatever religion they have handy as a weapon in these conflicts.
Quick follow up in my comment: I didn't mean to imply that evangelicals who use religion to justify killing people are more than a small minority in the military, but they do exist. I have a number of friends in the military who are normal people who signed up to serve their country.
Yeah, sure. The christians would be knocking the doors down if this group called themselves the Atheist Society. You bet.
Frankly, it's closer to the opposite. The use of the term 'Satanist' guarantees Christians will pay attention to you AND misunderstand you.
When I was a kid, I got the Satanic Bible for xmas one year! 😀