Speak of the Devil: How The Satanic Temple is Changing the Way We Talk about Religion

"So this book takes us up to the present day and today’s take on Satanism. In my book, I do talk about some earlier Satanists, but most scholars think that the Church of Satan, which was founded in 1966, was really the first full-fledged, modern Satanic religion. Then, later on, in 2013, the Satanic Temple was founded. There are also individual Satanists who don’t associate with any particular type of Satanism, they do their own practice, but those are the two main organizations today. Both are non-theistic and nonviolent. They have similarities in that they stand up for individuality and non-conformity and for scientific, critical thinking . But there are also differences. The Satanic Temple has political and social engagement. That’s quite a new element in Satanism, engaging in activism—campaigns for separation of church and state, advocating for reproductive and LGBTQ rights—or even community good works like clothing drives. That’s all discussed in Speak of the Devil , which is a book that follows the founding of the Satanic Temple and how it led to what they do today. Certainly not commandments, because it’s always about thinking for yourself. But Anton LaVey, who founded the Church of Satan, did release certain—I guess you could call them—central convictions. In his The Satanic Bible (1969) he has Nine Satanic Statements, and there are also the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth. The Satanic Temple has Seven Tenets, which I included in my book. They’re quite democratic, humanistic values, there are no ‘thou shalt’ or ‘thou shalt nots.’ When people read them, they often realize, ‘Oh, actually, I agree with this.’ They’re about respecting bodily autonomy and making sure your beliefs conform with the best available science. So this book, Speak of the Devil , goes through that. It’s just so interesting to see how a religion is founded and how it evolves. Absolutely. They really pointed out the hypocrisy out there. A lot of the times, people don’t even question it. We’re ‘one Nation under God.’ People assume the United States is a Christian nation but that’s not the case. If you look at the Constitution, there should be equal representation in public spaces for all religions. We’re not just talking about Satanists but Hindus, Buddhists, everyone should be able to have their monuments outside in the grounds of courts or Capitols or public memorials. But often it’s the Christians who put up a Ten Commandments tablet or a cross and no other religion can have their own symbols there. The Satanic Temple has succeeded in really pointing out that hypocrisy saying, ‘Well, if you can do this under the law, then so can we.’ Then, when they’re told they can’t, doesn’t that point out that there’s something wrong there? That’s a very important part of it too. There are all these elements that, ironically, you might expect of a Christian organization: there are community gatherings and celebrations of Satanic holidays throughout the year. There’s community good work—people getting together to do beach cleanups or clothing drives. Starting last year there’s SatanCon , an annual conference. There are congregations in different cities where people can gather. Even if there’s no belief in a deity that doesn’t mean it’s not a religion or there isn’t a community that has shared values and shared missions. The Buddhist community also doesn’t necessarily believe in a deity and could be seen as a non-theistic religion. Those are very much congregations as well."