Satanism

Etymology and definitions

Etymology

The term Satan has evolved from a Hebrew term for "adversary" or "to oppose", into the Christian figure of a fallen angel who tempts mortals into sin. The word Satan was not originally a proper name, but rather an ordinary noun that means "adversary". In this context, it appears at several points in the Old Testament. For instance, in the Book of Samuel, David is presented as the satan ("adversary") of the Philistines, while in the Book of Numbers, the term appears as a verb, when Jehovah sent an angel to satan ("to oppose") Balaam.

Prior to the composition of the New Testament, the idea developed within Jewish communities that Satan was the name of an angel who had rebelled against Jehovah and had been cast out of Heaven along with his followers; this account would be incorporated into contemporary texts such as the Book of Enoch. This Satan was then featured in parts of the New Testament, where he was presented as a figure who tempts humans to commit sin; in the Book of Matthew and the Book of Luke, he attempted to tempt Jesus of Nazareth as the latter fasted in the wilderness.

While the early Christian idea of the Devil was not well developed, it gradually adapted and expanded through the creation of folklore, art, theological treatises, and morality tales, thus providing the character with a range of extra-Biblical associations. Beginning in the early middle ages, the concept developed in Christianity of the devil as "archrepresentative of evil", and of the Satanist "as malign mirror image of the good Christian".

The word Satanism was adopted into English from the French satanisme. The terms Satanism and Satanist are first recorded as appearing in the English and French languages during the 16th century, when they were used by Christian groups to attack other, rival Christian groups. In a Roman Catholic tract of 1565, the author condemns the "heresies, blasphemies, and sathanismes [sic]" of the Protestants. In an Anglican work of 1559, Anabaptists and other Protestant sects are condemned as "swarmes of Satanistes [sic]". As used in this manner, the term Satanism was not used to claim that people literally worshipped Satan, but instead that they deviated from true Christianity, and thus were serving the will of Satan. During the 19th century, the term Satanism began to be used to describe those considered to lead a broadly immoral lifestyle, and it was only in the late 19th century that it came to be applied in English to individuals who were believed to consciously and deliberately venerate Satan. This latter meaning had appeared earlier in the Swedish language; the Lutheran Bishop Laurentius Paulinus Gothus had described devil-worshipping sorcerers as Sathanister in his Ethica Christiana, produced between 1615 and 1630.

Definitions

Some definitions of Satanism:

the worship or veneration of the figure from Christian belief known as Satan, the Devil or Lucifer

the "intentional, religiously motivated veneration of Satan"

"a system in which Satan is celebrated in a prominent position" This definition has the advantage of avoiding "assumptions about the nature of religion".

the simultaneous presence of three characteristics:

1) the worship of the character in the Bible whose name is Satan or Lucifer,

2) the organization of these "Satanists" into a group with at least some kind of organization and hierarchy, and ...

3) and has some kind of ritual or liturgical practices [...]

whether the group with these characteristics perceives Satan as personal or impersonal, real or symbolic, does not matter.

But these definitions of Satanism are limited to

figures and groups who identify as Satanists or at least admirers of Satan (Romantic Satanists, hellfire clubs and modern Satanists).

... excluding

figures and groups accused of worshipping Satan and in the process committing horrible crimes (in the middle ages, during the 1980–1994 Satanic ritual abuse moral panic, etc.) but who either appear to have not been satanists or to not have actually existed.

According to Laycock, excluding the second group, you leave out most of the history of Satanism.

Related terms

Because the original concept of Satan came from Judaism and was embraced by Christianity, and because Satanists, almost by definition, oppose the teachings of those religions, people drawn to Satanism will often move on to "post-Satanism", i.e. to a religion that does not declare itself "Satanic", but includes elements of Satanism (e.g. Temple of Set). Others may regards themselves as Satanists but promote mythological figures and traditions outside of Christianity or Judaism. These religions are sometimes called Satanic and sometimes post-Satanic.

Diane E. Taub and Lawrence D. Nelson complain that Satanism "is frequently defined either too broadly or too narrowly", with accusers sometimes including non-satanic groups such as Santeria, Witchcraft, Eastern religions as well as Freemasonry; and academics (for example Carlson and Larue) and others sometimes restricting its definition to "recognized Satanic churches and their members", excluding those who "believes in a literal Satan". Taub and Nelson define Satanism as "the literal or symbolic worship of Satan, the enemy of the Judeo-Christian God".

Devil in society

Historical and anthropological research suggests that nearly all societies have developed the idea of a sinister and anti-human force that can hide itself within society. This commonly involves a belief in witches, a group of individuals who invert the norms of their society and seek to harm their community, for instance by engaging in incest, murder, and cannibalism. Allegations of witchcraft may have different causes and serve different functions within a society. For instance, they may serve to uphold social norms, to heighten the tension in existing conflicts between individuals, or to scapegoat certain individuals for various social problems.

Another contributing factor to the idea of Satanism is the concept that there is an agent of misfortune and evil who operates on a cosmic scale, something usually associated with a strong form of ethical dualism that divides the world clearly into forces of good and forces of evil. The earliest such entity known is Angra Mainyu, a figure that appears in the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. This concept was also embraced by Judaism and early Christianity, and although it was soon marginalized within Jewish thought, it gained increasing importance within early Christian understandings of the cosmos.

The Native South American terrible god Tiw is traditionally honored with the syncretic dance and parade Diablada ('Dance of the Devils') that was opposed to the Catholic Church in origin.

Accusations of Satanism

According to author Arthur Lyons, "Satanic religions are as old as monotheism and have their origins in Persia of the sixth century",

and Joe Carter of the conservative ecumenical journal First Things writes that "real satanism has been around since the beginning of history, selling an appealing message: Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God."

On the other hand, religious scholar Joseph Laycock writes that the "available evidence suggests" that Satanism began as "an imaginary religion Christians invented to demonize their opponents".

Confessions of worship of Satan came only after torture or other forms of coercion in early modern Europe. While early stories of satanic activity have been commonly labeled and regarded as propaganda based on falsehood, they also partially shaped the beliefs of what would become modern religious Satanism. Those who absorbed and accepted the tales sometimes began to imitate them (celebrating Black Masses for example), a process known to folklorists as "ostension".

Medieval and Early Modern Christendom

As Christianity expanded throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, it came into contact with a variety of other religions, which it regarded as "pagan". Christianity being a monotheist religion, Christian theologians believed that since there was only one God (the God of Christianity) the gods and goddesses with supernatural powers venerated by these "pagans" could not be genuine divinities but must actually be demons. However, they did not believe that "pagans" were deliberately worshipping devils, but were instead simply misguided and unaware of the "true" God.

Those Christian groups regarded as heretics by the Roman Catholic Church were treated differently, with theologians arguing that they were deliberately worshipping the Devil. This was accompanied by claims that such individuals engaged in acts of evil—incestuous sexual orgies, the murder of infants, and cannibalism—all stock accusations that had previously been leveled at Christians themselves in the Roman Empire. In Christian iconography, the Devil and demons were given the physical traits of figures from classical mythology, such as the god Pan, fauns, and satyrs.

The first recorded example of such an accusation being made within Western Christianity took place in Toulouse in 1022, when two clerics were tried for allegedly venerating a demon. Throughout the Middle Ages, this accusation would be applied to a wide range of Christian heretical groups, including the Paulicians, Bogomils, Cathars, Waldensians, and the Hussites. The Knights Templar were accused of worshipping an idol known as Baphomet, with Lucifer having appeared at their meetings in the form of a cat. As well as these Christian groups, these claims were also made about Europe's Jewish community. In the 13th century, there were also references made to a group of "Luciferians" led by a woman named Lucardis which hoped to see Satan rule in Heaven. References to this group continued into the 14th century, although historians studying the allegations concur that these Luciferians were probably a fictitious invention.

Within Christian thought, the idea developed that certain individuals could make a pact with Satan. This may have emerged after observing that pacts with gods and goddesses played a role in various pre-Christian belief systems, or that such pacts were also made as part of the Christian cult of saints. Another possibility is that it derives from a misunderstanding of Augustine of Hippo's condemnation of augury in his On Christian Doctrine, written in the late 4th century. Here, he stated that people who consulted augurs were entering quasi pacts (covenants) with demons. The idea of the diabolical pact made with demons was popularized across Europe in the story of Faust, probably based in part on the real life Johann Georg Faust.

18th- to 20th-century Christendom

The Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution changed humanity's understanding of the world. The mathematics of Isaac Newton and psychology of John Locke "left little space for the intervention of supernatural beings". Charles Darwin's theory of evolution undermined the doctrine of the Fall in the Garden of Eden and the role of the diabolical serpent, while also providing an "alternative account of human evil" in the form of "a residual effect of our animal nature". The Industrial Revolution and urbanization disturbed traditional social relations and folk ideas to undermine belief in witchcraft and the devil. Understanding of disorders of the mind undercut demonic possession. But while the hunting and killing of alleged witches waned, belief in Satan did not disappear.

During the 18th century, gentleman's social clubs became increasingly prominent in Britain and Ireland, among the most secretive of which were the Hellfire Clubs, which were first reported in the 1720s. The most famous of these groups was the Order of the Knights of Saint Francis, which was founded circa 1750 by the aristocrat Sir Francis Dashwood and which assembled first at his estate at West Wycombe and later in Medmenham Abbey. A number of contemporary press sources portrayed these as gatherings of atheist rakes where Christianity was mocked, and toasts were made to the Devil. Beyond these sensationalist accounts, which may not be accurate portrayals of actual events, little is known about the activities of the Hellfire Clubs. Introvigne suggested that they may have engaged in a form of "playful Satanism" in which Satan was invoked "to show a daring contempt for conventional morality" rather than to pay homage to him.

The French Revolution of 1789 dealt a blow to the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church in parts of Europe, and soon a number of Catholic authors began making claims that it had been masterminded by a conspiratorial group of Satanists. Among the first to do so was French Catholic priest Jean-Baptiste Fiard, who publicly claimed that a wide range of individuals, from the Jacobins to tarot card readers, were part of a Satanic conspiracy. Fiard's ideas were furthered by Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier de Terre-Neuve du Thym (1765–1851), who devoted a lengthy book to this conspiracy theory; he claimed that Satanists had supernatural powers allowing them to curse people and to shapeshift into both cats and fleas. Although most of his contemporaries regarded Berbiguier as suffering from mental illness, his ideas gained credence among many occultists, including Stanislas de Guaita, a Cabalist who used them for the basis of his book, The Temple of Satan.

Ritual abuse hysteria

At the end of the 20th century, a moral panic arose from claims that a Devil-worshipping cult was committing sexual abuse, murder, and cannibalism in its rituals, and including children among the victims of its rites. Initially, the alleged perpetrators of such crimes were labeled "witches", although the term Satanist was soon adopted as a favored alternative, and the phenomenon itself came to be called "the Satanism Scare". Those active in the scare alleged that there was a conspiracy of organized Satanists who occupied prominent positions throughout society, from the police to politicians, and that they had been powerful enough to cover up their crimes.

One of the primary sources for the scare was Michelle Remembers, a 1980 book by the Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder in which he detailed what he claimed were the repressed memories of his patient (and wife) Michelle Smith. Smith had claimed that as a child she had been abused by her family in Satanic rituals in which babies were sacrificed and Satan himself appeared. In 1983, allegations were made that the McMartin family—owners of a preschool in California—were guilty of sexually abusing the children in their care during Satanic rituals. The allegations resulted in a lengthy and expensive trial, in which all of the accused would eventually be cleared. The publicity generated by the case resulted in similar allegations being made in various other parts of the United States.

A key claim by the "anti-Satanists" of the Satanic Scare was that any child's claim about Satanic ritual abuse must be true, because children do not lie. Although some involved in the anti-Satanism movement were from Jewish and secular backgrounds, a central part was played by fundamentalist and evangelical Christians, in particular Pentecostal Christians, with Christian groups holding conferences and producing books and videotapes to promote belief in the conspiracy. Various figures in law enforcement also came to be promoters of the conspiracy theory, with such "cult cops" holding various conferences to promote it. The scare was later imported to the United Kingdom through visiting evangelicals and became popular among some of the country's social workers, resulting in a range of accusations and trials across Britain.

In the late 1980s, the Satanic Scare had lost its impetus following increasing skepticism about such allegations, and a number of those who had been convicted of perpetrating Satanic ritual abuse saw their convictions overturned. In 1990, an agent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ken Lanning, revealed that he had investigated 300 allegations of Satanic ritual abuse and found no evidence for Satanism or ritualistic activity in any of them. In the UK, the Department of Health commissioned the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine to examine the allegations of SRA. She noted that while approximately half did reveal evidence of genuine sexual abuse of children, none revealed any evidence that Satanist groups had been involved or that any murders had taken place. She noted three examples in which lone individuals engaged in child molestation had created a ritual performance to facilitate their sexual acts, with the intent of frightening their victims and justifying their actions, but that none of these child molesters were involved in wider Satanist groups.

QAnon

Another Satanic conspiracy theory arose in the United States by 2017, with unsubstantiated allegations of organized Devil-worshippers in prominent positions committing sexual abuse, murder, and cannibalism. The source of such claims began within a far-right political movement, made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q", which were relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. The central QAnon claim purports that a global child sex trafficking ring made up of Democratic politicians, Hollywood actors, high-ranking government officials, business tycoons, and medical experts, were kidnapping, sexually abusing and eating children, but that (then-President) Donald Trump would round up the cabal and bring them to justice in a climactic event known to supporters as "the storm". With the lack of any evidence of child abuse or harm, and failure of the prophesized "storm" to appear before the inauguration of a new president, the conspiracy has waned but not entirely disappeared.

Precursors of modern Satanism

Literary

From the late 1600s through to the 1800s, the character of Satan was increasingly rendered unimportant in western philosophy, and ignored in Christian theology, while in folklore he came to be seen as a foolish rather than a menacing figure. The development of new values in the Age of Enlightenment (in particular, those of reason and individualism) contributed to a shift in many Europeans' concept of Satan. In this context, a number of individuals took Satan out of the traditional Christian narrative and reread and reinterpreted him in light of their own time and their own interests, in turn generating new and different portraits of Satan.

The shifting concept of Satan owes many of its origins to John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), in which Satan features as the protagonist. Milton was a Puritan and had never intended for his depiction of Satan to be a sympathetic one. However, in portraying Satan as a victim of his own pride who rebelled against the Judeo-Christian god, Milton humanized him and also allowed him to be interpreted as a rebel against tyranny. In this vein, the 19th century saw the emergence of what has been termed literary Satanism or romantic Satanism, where in poetry, plays, and novels, God is portrayed not as benevolent but using His omnipotent power for tyranny. Whereas in Christian doctrine Satan was an enemy of not only god but humanity, in the romantic portrayal he was a brave, noble, rebel against tyranny, a friend to other victims of the all powerful bully, i.e. humans. These writers saw Satan as a metaphor to criticize the power of churches and state and to champion the values of reason and liberty.

This was how Milton's Satan was understood by John Dryden and later readers such as the publisher Joseph Johnson, and the anarchist philosopher William Godwin, who reflected it in his 1793 book Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Paradise Lost gained a wide readership in the 18th century, both in Britain and in continental Europe, where it had been translated into French by Voltaire. Milton thus became "a central character in rewriting Satanism" and would be viewed by many later religious Satanists as a "de facto Satanist".

According to Ruben van Luijk, this cannot be seen as a "coherent movement with a single voice, but rather as a post factum identified group of sometimes widely divergent authors among whom a similar theme is found". For the literary Satanists, Satan was depicted as a benevolent and sometimes heroic figure, with these more sympathetic portrayals proliferating in the art and poetry of many romanticist and decadent figures. For these individuals, Satanism was not a religious belief or ritual activity, but rather a "strategic use of a symbol and a character as part of artistic and political expression".

Occult

In 17th-century Sweden, a number of highway robbers and other outlaws living in the forests informed judges that they venerated Satan because he provided more practical assistance than Jehovah, practices now regarded as "folkloric Satanism".

The figure of "Lucifer" was taken up by the French ceremonial magician Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875), who shocked convention by turning the traditional figure of evil into a brave rebel against tyranny. Lévi has been described as a "Romantic Satanist", a Romantic literary movement that formed no organizations and did not worship Satan, but did make a crucial break away from the traditional Christian figure of the "Lord of Darkness" doomed to failure and punishment for his wickedness. They reimagined Satan as an enemy of God the powerful, but not of the weak and mortal human race. In other words, a figure humans could sympathize with.

As Lévi moved toward political conservatism in later life, he retained the use of the term, but instead applied it to what he believed was a morally neutral facet of "the absolute".

Lévi was not the only occultist who used the term Lucifer without adopting the term Satan in a similar way. The early Theosophical Society believed that "Lucifer" was a force that aided humanity's awakening to its own spiritual nature; the Society began publishing the journal Lucifer in 1887.

The first person to promote an explicitly "Satanic" philosophy was the Polish writer Stanisław Przybyszewski (1868–1927), a "decadent Bohemian" who based his ideology on Social Darwinism of the 1890s, publishing The Synagogue of Satan in 1897.

Danish occultist Carl William Hansen (1872–1936), who used the pen name Ben Kadosh, listed "Luciferian" as his religious affiliation in answer to the Danish national census (his wife and children were listed as Lutheran), making him among the earliest "self-declared Satanists".

Hansen sought to spread a cult of Satan/Lucifer, and was involved in a variety of esoteric groups, including Martinism, Freemasonry, and Ordo Templi Orientis, drawing on their ideas to establish his own philosophy. He provided a Luciferian interpretation of Freemasonry in a 1906 pamphlet, although his work had little influence outside of Denmark.

Contemporary tendencies and groups

"The intentional, religiously motivated veneration of Satan" is the "working definition" of Satanism of historian of religion Ruben van Luijk, comes in different forms. Satanism has been called a "new religious movement", and other times judged too diffuse to merit that description and been called instead a "milieu" (Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen), united by "family resemblance", and the fact that most of them were self religions. Some of the resemblances in this Satanic milieu are:

the positive use of the term Satanist as a designation,

an emphasis on individualism,

a genealogy that connects them to other Satanic groups,

a transgressive and antinomian stance,

a self-perception as an elite, and

an embrace of values such as pride, self-reliance, and productive non-conformity.

A minority of Satanists have some type of association with the political far-right.

Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen argue that the groups within the Satanic milieu can be divided into three groups: reactive Satanists, rationalist Satanists, and esoteric Satanists.

Reactive Satanism (they believe) encompass "popular Satanism, inverted Christianity, and symbolic rebellion" and situates itself in opposition to society while at the same time conforming to society's perspective of evil.

Rationalist Satanism is used to describe the trend in the Satanic milieu which is atheistic, skeptical, materialistic, and epicurean. According to Joseph Laycock, "most contemporary Satanists" are nontheistic.

Nontheistic Satanism

Satanism as "a self-declared religion" began in 1966 with the founding of the Church of Satan (CoS) by Anton Szandor LaVey. Religious scholars have called the Church not only the oldest, continuous satanic organization but the most influential, with "numerous imitator and breakaway groups".

The church was founded in San Francisco, California, in an era when there was much public interest in the occult, witchcraft, and Satanism. A "gigantic media circus" developed around Anton LaVey, "the Father of Satanism" and his Satanic aesthetics. LaVey shaved his head, wore a goatee, performed Black Masses with nude women serving as altars. He was invited on national talk shows and mingled with celebrities attending his satanic parties. As an entrepreneur, he saw an opening for a new religion in the spiritual void of a secularizing post-Christian West.

But LaVey also promoted his ideas and his 1969 Satanic Bible as "the best-known and most influential statement of Satanic theology". It sold nearly a million copies. These had "very little" connection with "either Satan or the worship of Satan", but were based on the Romantic literary concept of Satan, not as a symbol of evil, but as a rebel anti-hero, defying God's tyranny with charisma and bravery. Together with the romanticism, "humanism, hedonism, aspects of pop psychology and the human potential movement" were woven together by LaVey, and publicized with "a lot of showmanship". Philosopher Ayn Rand, who argued that "selfishness" is a virtue in that "unfettered self-interest is good and altruism is destructive", was a major influence. According to both LaVey and sociologist of religion James R. Lewis, Ayn Rand's thought was a cornerstone of his philosophy, along with "ceremony and ritual" or "ritual magic".

Other influences were Friedrich Nietzsche, who celebrated the Ubermensch, proclaimed "God is dead", and preached against the 'slave's morality' of mercy, charity, and helping the weak; English occultist Aleister Crowley, famous for the axiom "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the [moral] Law"; and Arthur Desmond, who strongly associated with Social Darwinism and the expression "the survival of the fittest".

LaVey used Christianity as a "negative mirror" for his new faith, rejecting the basic principles, theology and values of Christian belief, along with other major religions and philosophies such as humanitarianism and liberal democracy—which he saw as negative forces. Instead of idealism, humility, abstinence, self-denigration, obedience, herd behavior, spirituality, and irrationality; he praised the seven deadly sins (i.e. pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth), as virtues, not vices. LaVey went beyond discouraging sexual inhibitions and feelings of guilt and shame over fetishes, calling for a celebration of, and indulgence in, humanity's animal nature and its desires, which Christianity sought to suppress. Human beings should seek out the carnal rather than the spiritual; satisfying the ego's desires enhanced an individual's pride, self-respect, and self-realization. Hate, and aggression were necessary and advantageous for survival, victims should not "turn the other cheek" but take an "eye for an eye".

Theistic Satanism

Theistic Satanism, otherwise referred to as spiritual Satanism, or devil worship, is a form of Satanism with the primary belief that Satan is an actual deity or force to revere or worship. Other characteristics of theistic Satanism may include a belief in magic, which is manipulated through ritual, although that is not a defining criterion, and theistic Satanists may focus solely on devotion.

The First Church of Satan (FCoS), a splinter group that separated from LaVey's Church of Satan during the 1970s, attempts to rediscover the teachings of Aleister Crowley and believe that Anton LaVey actually was a magus in the early days of the Church of Satan but gradually renounced his powers, became isolated and embittered. Furthermore, the First Church of Satan strongly criticizes the current Church of Satan as a pale shadow of its former self, and they strive to "maintain a Satanic organization that is not hostile or manipulative toward its own members".

Pekka Siitoin founded the satanist group called the Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences (Turun Hengentieteen Seura) on September 1, 1971. The society stated its founding principles as "promot[ing] nationalist patriotic activity [and] development of Aryan spirituality". The society also stated opposition to capitalism, communism and "the Jewish religion based on Jehovah's tyranny." Siitoin believed in neo-Gnosticism and Theosophy and combined these with antisemitism and satanism. The society allegedly performed satanic orgies which researcher of religion Pekka Iitti opined might not be "far off from the truth". Several of the perpetrators of the Kursiivi printing house arson in November 1977 were members of the society.

The Order of Nine Angles, claiming to have been established in the 1960s, rose to public recognition in the early 1980. This movement expressed the idea that groups like Church of Satan were "too benevolent and law-abiding" to be true Satanists. This notion grew, particularly among musicians and fans of extreme heavy metal music, where being more extreme meant being more authentic. These antinomian and amoral Satanic (or post-Satanic) groups are sometimes called the "sinister tradition" of Satanism.

The O9A describe their occultism as "Traditional Satanism". The O9A's writings not only encourage human sacrifice, but insist it is required in Satanism, referring to their victims as opfers. According to the Order's teachings, such opfers must demonstrate character faults that mark them out as being worthy of death. No O9A cell has admitted to carrying out a sacrifice in a ritualized manner, but rather, Order members have joined the police and military to carry out such killings.

Luciferianism

Luciferians reportedly revere Lucifer not as the devil, but as a destroyer, guardian, liberator, light bringer, and/or guiding spirit to darkness, or even as the true god, as opposed to Jehovah.

Personal Satanism

In contrast to the organized and doctrinal Satanist groups is the personal Satanism of individuals, who identify as Satanists due to their affinity for the general idea of Satan, including such characteristics as viciousness and/or subversion.

Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen used the term reactive Satanism to describe one form of modern Satanism. They described this as an adolescent and anti-social means of rebelling in a Christian society, by which an individual transgresses cultural boundaries. which tends to fall into two tendencies:

"Satanic tourism"—characterized by the brief period of time in which an individual was involved;

"Satanic quest"—typified by a longer and deeper involvement.

The researcher Gareth Medway noted that in 1995 he encountered a British woman who stated that she had been a practicing Satanist during her teenage years. She had grown up in a small mining village and had come to believe that she had psychic powers. After hearing about Satanism in some library books, she declared herself a Satanist and formulated a belief that Satan was the true god. After her teenage years she abandoned Satanism and became a chaos magickian.

Some personal Satanists are teenagers or mentally disturbed individuals who have engaged in criminal activities. During the 1980s and 1990s, several groups of teenagers were apprehended after sacrificing animals and vandalizing both churches and graveyards with Satanic imagery. Introvigne stated that these incidents were "more a product of juvenile deviance and marginalization than Satanism". In a few cases, the crimes of these personal Satanists have included murder.

In 1970, two separate groups of teenagers—one led by Stanley Baker in Big Sur, and the other by Steven Hurd in Los Angeles, killed a total of three people and consumed parts of their corpses in what they later claimed were sacrifices devoted to Satan.

The American serial killer Richard Ramirez claimed that he was a theistic Satanist; during his 1980s killing spree he left an inverted pentagram at the scene of each murder and at his trial called out "Hail Satan!".

Demographics

A survey in the Encyclopedia of Satanism found that people became involved with Satanism in many diverse ways and were found in many countries. The survey found that more Satanists were raised as Protestant Christians than Catholic.

Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen observed that from surveys of Satanists conducted in the early 21st century, it was clear that the Satanic milieu was "heavily dominated by young males". They nevertheless noted that census data from New Zealand suggested that there may be a growing proportion of women becoming Satanists. In comprising more men than women, Satanism differs from most other religious communities, including most new religious communities. Most Satanists came to their religion through reading, either online or books, rather than through being introduced to it through personal contacts. Many practitioners do not claim that they converted to Satanism, but rather state that they were born that way, and only later in life confirmed that Satanism served as an appropriate label for their pre-existing worldviews. Others have stated that they had experiences with supernatural phenomena that led them to embracing Satanism.

The surveys revealed that atheistic Satanists appeared to be in the majority, although the numbers of theistic Satanists appeared to grow over time. Beliefs in the afterlife varied, although the most common beliefs about the afterlife were reincarnation and the idea that consciousness survives bodily death. The surveys also demonstrated that most recorded Satanists practiced magic, although there were differing opinions as to whether magical acts operated according to etheric laws or whether the effect of magic was purely psychological. A number of Satanists described performing cursing, in most cases as a form of vigilante justice. Most practitioners conduct their religious observances in a solitary manner, and never or rarely meet fellow Satanists for rituals. Rather, the primary interaction that takes place between Satanists is online, on websites or via email. From their survey data, Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen noted that the average length of involvement in the Satanic milieu was seven years. A Satanist's involvement in the movement tends to peak in their early twenties and drops off sharply in their thirties. A small proportion retain their allegiance to the religion into their elder years. When asked about their ideology, the largest proportion of Satanists identified as apolitical or non-aligned, while only a small percentage identified as conservative. A small minority of Satanists expressed support for Nazism; conversely, over two-thirds expressed opposition or strong opposition to it.

2021 Canadian census

The 2021 Canadian census states that 5,890 Canadians identify as Satanist, representing 0.02% of the population.

Compared to the general population, Satanists are more likely to be male, aged in their 20s or 30s, and not a member of any recognized minority group, although the Japanese are an exception (with the Japanese comprising 0.3% of both Satanists and the population as a whole).

Legal recognition

In 2004, it was claimed that Satanism was allowed in the Royal Navy of the British Armed Forces, despite opposition from Christians. In 2016, under a Freedom of Information request, the Navy Command Headquarters stated that, "we do not recognise satanism as a formal religion, and will not grant facilities or make specific time available for individual 'worship'."

In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States debated in the case of Cutter v. Wilkinson over protecting minority religious rights of prison inmates after a lawsuit challenging the issue was filed to them. The court ruled that facilities that accept federal funds cannot deny prisoners accommodations that are necessary to engage in activities for the practice of their own religious beliefs.

In 2019, The Satanic Temple was granted religious 501(c)(3) status.

Metal and rock music

During the 1960s and 1970s, several rock bands— namely the American band Coven and the British band Black Widow, employed the imagery of Satanism and witchcraft in their work. References to Satan also appeared in the work of those rock bands which were pioneering the heavy metal genre in Britain during the 1970s. For example, the band Black Sabbath made mention of Satan in their lyrics, although some of the band's members were practicing Christians, and other lyrics affirmed the power of the Christian God over Satan. In the 1980s, greater use of Satanic imagery was made by heavy metal bands such as Slayer, Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction. Bands active in the subgenre of death metal—among them Morbid Angel and Entombed, also adopted Satanic imagery, combining it with other morbid and dark imagery, such as that of zombies and serial killers.

Satanism would come to be more closely associated with the subgenre of black metal, in which it was foregrounded over the other themes that had been used in death metal. A number of black metal performers incorporated self-injury into their act, framing this as a manifestation of Satanic devotion. The first black metal band, Venom, proclaimed themselves to be Satanists, although this was more an act of provocation than an expression of genuine devotion to Satan. Satanic themes were also used by the black metal bands Bathory and Hellhammer. However, the first black metal act to more seriously adopt Satanism was Mercyful Fate, whose vocalist, King Diamond, joined the Church of Satan. More often than not musicians associating themselves with black metal say they do not believe in legitimate Satanic ideology and often profess to being atheists, agnostics, or religious skeptics.

In contrast to King Diamond, various black metal Satanists sought to distance themselves from LaVeyan Satanism, for instance by referring to their beliefs as "devil worship". These individuals regarded Satan as a literal entity, and in contrast to Anton LaVey, they associated Satanism with criminality, suicide, and terror. For them, Christianity was regarded as a plague which required eradication. Many of these individuals, most prominently Varg Vikernes and Euronymous, were involved in the early Norwegian black metal scene. Between 1992 and 1996, such people destroyed around fifty Norwegian churches in arson attacks. Within the black metal scene, a number of musicians later replaced Satanic themes with those deriving from Heathenry, a form of neopaganism.