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 The UK Church of Satan says it supports a variety of views on abortion. But is the church real?
July 9th, 2013
03:27 PM ET
Satanists square off on abortion (Yes, really)By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN)- Are Satanists for or against abortion? Apparently, there's a hot debate. A group calling itself the "UK Church of Satan" on Twitter says it's open minded, tweeting out "Why Wouldn't Satanism be pro-life?" on July 5. But the High Priest of the New York-based Church of Satan says it's squarely in the abortion-rights corner. How to settle this diabolical duel? Let's back up first. As Texas legislators debated a law last week that would restrict abortions in the Lone Star State, a group of abortion rights protesters tried to drown out a group of anti-abortion protesters at the state capitol by chanting "Hail Satan!" The phrase trended on Twitter. Megapastor Rick Warren rapped our wrists (and The Associated Press's, too) for not covering the "Hail Satan" serenade. Actually, pastor, our man Josh Rubin was on the ball. The UK Church of Satan (assuming it's real) jumped on the trend, tweeting on July 3:
Which raises the question: What does Satanism represent? We asked the New York-based Church of Satan, and we got an earful. First of all, Magus Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, told us, there is no "UK Church of Satan." "I have not authorized any of our UK members to create such a thing claiming to represent our organization, its members and our philosophy," Gilmore said. "So, whoever is behind that feed is committing a fraud." Gilmore's group, which, unlike the UK church, has a website, also keeps a P.O. Box in New York City. (Radio City Station of all places. Watch out, Rockettes.) As a matter of policy, the Church of Satan doesn't give out exact membership numbers, the magus said, but it's in the thousands. "Our organization, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966, is worldwide," Gilmore told CNN in an e-mail, "and we have many members throughout the UK and none of them have heard of any self-proclaimed 'Church of Satan in England.' There was a hoax using a title like this a year or so ago as a political prank." We put the question to the UK Church of Satan, who said, "There is no 'UK' Church of Satan. It's worldwide. We represent and connect those followers 'in' the UK." We've followed up with more questions but haven't heard back yet. To be sure, the UK Satanists' tweets have been surprisingly unsulfurous. Take this one, for example:
Or this sweet-natured nugget:
This is a church that worships the Prince of Darkness? And who in hell is JMG? Getting back to abortion, here's what the supposed UK Church of Satan said:
Yeah, kinda, Gilmore told CNN. But there's much more to it than that. Many Satanists practice "rational birth control," saith Satanism's high priest, leaving matters of personal morality up to individuals. "We generally consider the use of abortion to be the purview of the woman whose body is carrying the child," Gilmore said. "We consider sexual experiences to be an indulgence between consenting adults that should be taken seriously, particularly when the possibility of pregnancy is concerned." But the magus didn't appreciate hearing the name of his lord taken in vain. "Shouting `Hail Satan!' to abortion protesters is both ludicrous and meaningless," said Gilmore, who's led the Church of Satan since 2001. "Only attention-seeking fools would do so." Unsurprisingly, Satanists take a strong stand on separation of church and state, believing the government "should be entirely secular." "So religion should neither force upon nor deny an abortion for any woman, in our thinking," Gilmore said. "Freedom with responsibility is the hallmark of civilized behavior to the Satanist." Now that that's settled, what's the Satanic stance on gay marriage? *** In a follow-up email, Gilmore made it clear that Satanists don't actually deify Satan. In fact, they're atheist, he said, and use Satan as a "symbol of pride, liberty and individualism." "If you chose to mock us, then you should have done so based on what our philosophy actually is, rather than on an assumed `horror film' stereotype," the magus said. Fair criticism. We'll try to improve our coverage of Satanism. Oh, one more thing. Gilmore said the Church of Satan does approve of same-sex marriage.
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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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Can you imagine how big of a fit pat robertson or whatever will have if this gets elected?
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/09/anna-wintour-boosts-hillary-clinton-for-2016/?hpt=hp_t2
I hope you all realize that the church of Satan doesn't even believe Satan exists.....
He's not their leader or anything to them....
look it up
It is a little surprising that the author of this article did so little research. The actual Satanic religion predates christianity, so all of the anti-jesus crap is just that. Back when the norm was polytheism, there were those who worshipped Satan as he is a diety in the torah. They do not expect their god to do everything for them, as some christian cults want to do. They also give themselves credit for making good things happen in their lives instead of thanking a god for all the hard work they put in. In short, it is as valid a religion as any. It has been portrayed as evil by christians and Hollywood, but when has either of those groups cared about the truth?
I’m sure you will all go on with your ignorant remarks (Bill Deacon already has), but I find it disappointing that this article didn’t give the Satanists a fair interview and representation.
Actually the author did get that part right.
He said they were formed by Anton LaVey, which doesn't quite pre-date Christianity...
No JT,
That group was formed by him, not the religion.
Lol... Maybe in 200 BC a group of primitive people celebrated Satan as a deity of life. Today, after thousands of years of exposure to the Bible and the New Testament, society recognizes that Satan is the deity associated classically with incarnation of evil. Wanting to celebrate "evil" under the guise of an anthropomorphic philosophy, is really, just a way for young people to express rebellion and sell bad music albums.
FINALLY.
SOMETHING I CAN ENJOY.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Satan
They don't believe in satan. Or gods. You may untangle your undergarments.
We are still better than them. Colin said so. And he is like god, his opinion is what is fact.
Praises be to mother hope I suppose?
@Skeptic Al – are you always such a douche, or do you come on here to practice?
The douchiest thing I do is post all day long on a faith and belief blog, although I hate faith and belief. I'm a man of science. But I never post on science blogs because I don't understand what they are saying.
Satanists appear as whacky as members of the dead jew zombie vampire cannibal death cult aka christianity but perhaps more entertaining.
A GREAT DAY FOR ATHEISM
There is a story on CNN about how a judge in Wisconsin blocked Wisconsin’s latest abortion bill. I posted the following comment under that story.
“Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's NOT base 21st Century social and medical policy on a collection of ancient Jewish and Christian supersti.tions cobbled together into a book before the Dark Ages.”
As at making this post, the above comment has over 500 “likes” and only 21 “dislikes”. That is a ration of over 25 to 1 !! Check it out, it is still up.
We atheists are having a huge impact in the mind of Americans. We are clearly helping Christians emerge from their childish superst.ition.
It is time for all we atheists to redouble our efforts and put the foot firmly on the throat of Christianity. One day, no child in the USA will be taught supernatural nonsense before they are too young to recognize it for what it is.
There is light at the end of the tunnel…..
Wow, could you be a bigger tool?
Yay! We we we. Me me me. Who needs God when we are so awesome! Yay for us (*me*)!
Yes, if Colin's name was Genoa then Colin would be a bigger tool.
"As at making this post, the above comment has over 500 “likes” and only 21 “dislikes”. That is a ration of over 25 to 1 !! Check it out, it is still up."
I've liked it 300 times, did you do the other 200? Yay for us!
Colin, we are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than them. You should teach a class on arrogance and smugness. And then we can all be more like you. Can I climb up on your high horse with you?
He already teaches that class and it's a violation of the Constiitution but what does Colin care, he's on the inside track.
Al is just oozing with bitterness and resentments today, isn't he?
I took his class. Basically, he insists you try to align your opinion to his. If you question any of his weird statements about the Bible, he refuses to answer and leaves the class. On the final, I just copied and pasted one of the many packaged answers he uses on this blog, and I got an A.
you say "we atheists"... lol.. on an article about Satanism.
🙂 epic
You atheists are in denial about the basics of the universe. Please explain to the christians AND satanists how everything popped out of nothing forever ago..
And don't give me some mumbo jumbo about string theory... saying that OTHER universes existed before our universe... collided and formed our universe.. lol.... which still doesn't explain where THOSE universes came from.
Naturally speaking .. it is impossible for everything to pop out of nothing a long time ago - the only logical explanation is that something BEYOND nature played a role in making everything pop out of nothing.
Beyond Nature - i.e. SUPER-natural.
If you don't believe the bible.. fine.. your choice and belief... but if you deny supernatural origins to all things, then you're just being stubborn / intentionally dense. No offense.. but those are the only options.
There is no such thing as "it was just always there" either.. fyi.
Al, Bill, actually, if you thnk it through, the core theology of the believer is much, much more arrogant than that of the atheist. We take the Universe as we find it and see ourselves as small, mortal and totally insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Your typical Christian believes:
(i) they will live for ever after they die in heaven;
(ii) that the creator of the Universe hears their prayers and reacts to them to change what would otherwise be the course of history to answer them; and
(iii) that all other religions "got it wrong" to the extent they are inconsistent with Christianity.
In claiming immortality, the power to alter history and the parochial comfort that he rest of the planet is wrong in the supernatural sphere, Christains exhibit remarkable arrogance. It has just been bred into them from so young that they don't even recognize it.
Skeptic Al
"As at making this post, the above comment has over 500 “likes” and only 21 “dislikes”. That is a ration of over 25 to 1 !! Check it out, it is still up."
Check it out? Yep. First of all, the word is "RATIO" not "RATION" and it is NOTover 25 to 1, but a hair LESS.
You might want to skip "check it out" comments.
I have faith in Colin's understanding of how the world works. Yes, he wasn't there, so he doesn't know for sure. But he has faith in the theories presented to him. Unlike thousands of years ago when people thought they knew everything, thanks to people like Colin, we do know everything. And we are better than those that are different from us. Way better. And I'm not being arrogant. It is true.
Sincedutch – well, actually, there is such a thing as "was alwyas there". But, if you reject the idea of something being "always there" and insist that everything must have acreator, who created yor creator-god?
Sincedutch
If a man like Colin can't explain, manipulate and control the god, it doesn't sound like a very powerful god, does it?
Christianity
(i) what we do, ultimately matters
(ii) help others and you help God.
(iii) we are spiritual beings having a human experience
TOTALLY ARROGANT DUDE!
I'm not arrogant, look at them.
Don't look at me, look at them.
Look at what is wrong with them. Geez, don't look at me.
Al, "... weird statements about the Bible... "
Can you give some examples?
Looks like Al is off her medication.
Trust in Colin's superiority complex. Not God.
Skeptic Al, thanks for the wonderful job you have done of showing how arrogant Christians are and how stupidly they reason for their faith. I don't know that you should have "faith" in everything about Colin, though. Perhaps you should just learn from him as much as possible and put your own good reasoning and sensible skepticism to work in all areas of your life--including whatever Colin says. (I'm pretty sure that Colin would agree, but you're welcome to ask him).
Again, thanks for making a mockery of Christian arrogance and "faith!" LOL!!! Keep up the great work.
Bill Deacon, why do you lie on this blog? Do you think atheists don't notice it? What about your god? Does he? Wonder what he thinks? Or is your god okay with you lying because your god is YOU?
It's so adorable when people think they have won something when all they did was make the stupid error in trying to apply supposed aspects of an individual to the majority.
sincedutch said, "You atheists are in denial about the basics of the universe. Please explain to the christians AND satanists how everything popped out of nothing forever ago."
No problem, as soon as xians (and all other delusional believers) can explain how god popped out of nothing forever ago.
-–
"There ain't no jesus gonna come from the sky.
Now that I found out, I know I can cry." - John Lennon
Everybody but me is delusional, stupid and completely arrogant.
We we we. Me me me.
"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong."
@ – John Lennon
If you're trying to use this quote as proof that Mr Lennon was not of the atheistic persuasion, then you have failed.
John was demonstrating his agreement with the Humanist philosophy, while denouncing the oppressive religious dogma at the core of xians, buddhists, islamists,and others (who all, BTW, consider Humanists as infidels/non-believers) with the delusion of an almighty sky-daddy.
-–
"There ain't no jesus gonna come from the sky.
Now that I found out, I know I can cry." - John Lennon
I don't trust in John Lennon. The man who sang “imagine no possessions” lived a millionaire’s life in a posh New York hotel.
Nope, you can follow him into despair.
I don't trust god. He says to "love your enemies" and then he fries his enemies forever and ever in a pit of neverending fire and even has the smoke pumped up (that's some wild ductwork!) "before the throne and the Lamb forever and ever."
So he's a hypocrite and the sickest terrorist to ever exist.
@ John Lennon
Really? So, do you trust Benny Hinn, Paul & Jan Crouch (TBN), Marcus & Joni Lamb (Daystar), Mike Murdock, Joel Osteen, T D Jakes, ad nauseam, who all live the life of a millionaire's luxury and build palatial churches on the donations of the desperate?
Two things about John Lennon. He gave away many of his millions. And, unlike the hypocrites listed in the previous paragraph, he paid taxes.
Religion is America's only legal tax scam, which is my only despair.
-–
"There ain't no jesus gonna come from the sky.
Now that I found out, I know I can cry." - John Lennon
Poor atheists, they are stuck trying to get Christians mad by making puerile comparisons to Christianity and Stanism. It'll be fun to see them try to make original comments on this blog.
"Wow, could you be a bigger tool?"
You should do some reading on this subject. You're going to be severely let-down.
Stanism? Is that different than Ollieism?
"Stanism"? Is that the worship of Stan?
Badda Bing, "Ollieism?"
Ok, that made me laugh.
Sorry Twin but Colin has that distinction.
I wonder if CNN knows that this group does not actually believe in Satan?
The article is kind of written 'tongue-in-cheek' but you never know with the excellent writers that CNN employs (wink-wink nudge-nudge)
No one has really advanced a good argument for God's existence. It's painful enough to see people try. But Satan? Angels too?
Worship of any supernatural being is silly until there is some evidence of their supernatural existence.
But without faith it is impossible to please HIM, for he who comes to GOD must first believe that HE is, and that HE is a rewarder of those who diligently seek HIM.
@Romans. Please, give me a break. That circular logic is so rediculous that even you must recognize that. There's plenty of good stuff in there, don't select the nonsense that was inserted to convince the uneducated that they had to believe.
Romans 9: 15-18
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Behold. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of GOD; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of GOD:
Every spirit that confesses that JESUS CHRIST has come in the flesh is of GOD,
And, every spirit that does not confess that JESUS CHRIST has come in the flesh is not of GOD. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
*Fools babble religion when the unknown confounds them*
Satan, God, Jesus, Allah, Superman, Batman, Aqua-man, Mr. Freeze and so on. The same rules apply. If you want them to be born then kick in some money. Kids are not free. If you want them to be born you have to help them whether they're part of the 47%, takers instead of makers or whatever you want to call them.
Yawn. To the atheist, Satan is just as much a figment of pre Dark Ages imaginations as God is. What's next, the solicitation of Mickey Mouse's opinion of lab rat experiments?
As I recall, these "Satanists" don't believe in Satan at all. Not sure why they bother, but last I looked into it, they were essentially atheists.
brits call it "having a lark"
“The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist.”
@ Charles Baudelaire
“The greatest trick man ever played was convincing the world that god exists.” - Me
-–
"There ain't no jesus gonna come from the sky.
Now that I found out, I know I can cry." - John Lennon
It's interesting to me that the pentacle is always displayed by chritians as the symbol for the devil. It of course existed before christianity and has absolutely nothing to do with christianity, but what do I know?
If you don't know, who will?
The pentacle has nothing to do with Christianity or it's demi god. It is, in actuality a symbol of protection and predates Christianity significantly.
myweightinwords seems to know 🙂
Don't confuse the Anton LaVey version of Satanism with anything you might find in the bible. It's much closer to a school of thought than people actually worshiping the character as depicted in the bible and dante's inferno.
From churchofsatan.com/Lavey:
Friday night is the big night for Satanists, the night of the High (not Black) Mass. It opens with a lengthy ceremony in the Ritual Chamber, conducted by LaVey in full regalia, complete with a silken horned cap. Organ music and chanting, which has Gregorian overtones, punctuated by the exclamations “Shemhamforash!” and “Hail Satan!” repeated by the entire congregation.
The naked altar girl lays fairly comfortably on a fur rug. After LaVey has emptied the chalice (contents optional) he places the vessel on her belly or pubic region,where it stays for the remainder of the ritual.
Then follows the business part of the evening, but it’s a fair way moved from the orgiastic.
Members come forwards to lay their requests before Satan. Almost in the forms of almost classical maledictions directed at unseen enemies: “Let his rotting dungheap brain writhe in unending agony as hordes of phantom rats gnaw at his diseased spirit for the rest of his life…” Others, in a gentler vein, ask for love, sensual pleasures, business triumphs.
LaVey touches them with his sword, rather as if dubbing them knights, while the congregation joins in a united “willing” of fulfillment, their voices rising in a tremendous “Hail Satan!” to drive their message home.
using Col Klink accent *Hail Satan*
Reading a while back on the Internet it appears that it was said that while dying on his death bed LaVey had prayed to God and Jesus to save him from going into darkness. Now, if true and he accepted Jesus Christ as his LORD and Savior at that last moment, there can be no doubt that he became a Born Again Christian at that very moment thus, was able to enter into Heaven. The same would go for any other non-Believer or atheist who accepts Jesus as their LORD and Savior before their death. That's the way of God. If a person, no matter what he or she did while on Earth asks Jesus for forgiveness, in His great mercy, He will grant it and if they go on to become Saved through Jesus, they will most certainly be able to enter into Heaven but only if they become saved before they die. However, there is only one sin which cannot ever be forgiven according to the Holy Bible. That sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. If that is ever done, then the person cannot be forgiven by God.
Satan.............. mythology... just like jesus.......
Interesting... ignore the actual story but go with one about a group's disagreement with a ficti.tious alter-ego.
It seems to me that Satan would want as many sinners to be born as possible, and according to the bible all one has to do to be a sinner is be born. This leads me to believe that Satan is pro-life.
There you go abortionists. Satan has your back.
Exactly as much as god does.
Bill never passes up an opportunity to make a fool of himself.
The Bible never uses the word "abortion" and there's more in it to support abortion than oppose it.
Christians should actually read a Bible.
i respect you Observer, i'm a Atheist, and even i know there was no mention of abortion in the bible, cause it was written like 2,000 years ago, where no one cared about abortion! and sorry if i'm wrong with the length of time, don't fully wanna go on google