Atheistic Satanism

The past few months I have done a lot of thinking on my own beliefs and observing how they interacted with the way I lived my life. After a lot of "soul-searching", I suppose, I landed on the realization that I have never truly interpreted the world as being under the rule of any divine beings. I was raised an atheist, and while I did previously hold more "religious" beliefs, those were born of a very, very desperate and hopeless time of my life, where the idea of the divine was all I had. I clung to that, and, as a result, it has been very difficult to move away from it, even as I had been slowly realizing that I no longer felt a strong connection to the gods that I had prayed to in my time of struggle. I am no longer in that dark place, and I realized that my fading beliefs were only a way of clinging to the past. Thus, I did more research, and found a more accurate label to the way I live my life without struggle. Some may chime in that You don't always need a label, just be yourself! and to that I would have to disagree. Labels are soothing and affirming to me. This is the one I feel content with.

What does that mean, really?

Atheistic Satanists view Satan as a powerful symbol rather than a divine being, representing traits like independence, the pursuit of knowledge, rebellion, and opposition to religious dominance. This branch of Satanism was founded by Anton LaVey in 1966. However, LaVeyan Satanism has roots in totalitarianism and Nazi sympathies, based on it's creators ambivalent relationships with far-right figures, and was run by an individual who preached personal freedoms while micromanaging his followers.

The more modern branch of Atheistic Satanism under The Temple of Satan (TST) was founded in 2012 by Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jerry. It has been called Seven-Tennent Satanism, due to the 7 tennets that base the religion. This branch is the seperate, progression version of it's predecessor, and emphasizes personal and political lobbying for the seperation of church and state, bodily autonomy (right to abortion and gender-affirming care), LGBTQ+ rights, egalitarianism (the political and ethical belief that all humans are equal in worth and status), and secularism.

What are these "Seven Tennets?"

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
5. Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
7. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.