Since I became an atheist about 6 years ago and started talking about my story and experiences
online, one of the most common accusations I've received on a fairly regular basis is
that I'm a Satanist, a devil worshipper, that I just wanted to live a life of sin and follow
my father the devil. And these accusations don't just come from crazy Bible-code conspiracy
nuts who see Monster Energy drinks as Satanic.
Look at your “M” closely. There’s a gap right here in the letter “M.” It’s
never connected. So you go into Hebrew. The letter “vav” is also the number “6.”
Short top; long tail. Short top; long tail. You could have here, in Hebrew: six, six,
six, on the can!!!!
These accusations that I'm a Satanist come from normal everyday Christians and, as far
as I know, some of my family might even think this (or at the very least think I'm a pawn
of the Devil).
It would be really easy to just call them dumb, dismiss it, and respond with a meme
like "If I don't believe in your sky daddy, what makes you think I believe in your basement
troll?" Don't get me wrong, sometimes my frustration with this kind of repeated accusation gets
the better of me, and I do fall to that level and retort accordingly. But I don’t think
it’s the most productive response, and I want to take a little bit of time to unpack
my full answer.
Why am I really not a Satanist, we'll find out right after this intro.
The ironic thing about Satanists is that actual devil worshippers who genuinely believe in
Satan from the Bible almost without exception aren't atheists. Because if you believe that
the bad guy from the Bible actually exists, you probably believe the good guy exists too
(although you might disagree on which one is good and which is evil). Even Christians
know this intuitively and will quote verses like James 2:19. "You believe that there is
one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder."
And these Christians will follow up their accusations with things like, "You're not
really an atheist. You know deep down in your heart that God exists. You're just rebelling
because you hate God." It's like they have this false dichotomy of you can either be
a God-loving Christian or a God-hating Satanist, but are oblivious to the fact that some of
us just really don’t believe in either.
See I'm a naturalist. I don't believe in anything supernatural or paranormal. I think it's utterly
unsubstantiated nonsense. And it’s not like I haven’t put myself out there. The one
time I tried a Ouija board. Ouija board? Luigi board! The one time I tried a Ouija board
the planchet literally just sat there. I spent the night in an allegedly demon possessed
cabin. Nothing happened and I slept like a rock. I’ve been to at least one haunted
prison and multiple haunted houses and even went to a cemetery in Mexico at Midnight on
the Day of the Dead. Do you see all the ghost orbs? I see all the bugs floating in front
of my camera. The bug ghosts? Yeah. The ghosts of bugs past!
Literally every one of those experiences was super chill and unremarkable. But before I
rule out Satanism entirely, I could be a Satanist and believe in the symbolism of rebellion
against oppressive authority while simultaneously not believing in God or the Devil.
We’re not what you think we are.
There are Satanists who, like me, don’t believe in God or Satan - like at all. Whether
it’s the LeVeyan Church of Satan founded in 1966 and its various offshoots or the more
modern Satanic Temple founded by Lucian Greaves.
The Satanic Temple was an idea between a handful of people directly confronting authority.
They both tend to see Satan as more of a symbol of defiance - specifically against the more
backwards aspects of JudeoChristian religions.
We’re non-theistic so we don’t believe in a personal Satan, but it’s still deeply
meaningful to us, having grown up in a Judeo-Christian culture, and this kind of socio-political
counter-myth resonates for us in a way that’s unique. Some of us came out of superstition
ourselves and found it very liberating to be able to embrace the blasphemous - not just
to offend other people but to be liberated from superstition ourselves.
It can be a powerful and incredibly useful symbol - especially when fighting for the
separation of church and state.
For example, when Arkansas erected a giant ten commandments monument outside the State
Capitol, many non-Christians felt that this was a breach of the separation of church and
state. An Arkansas representative responded that they’re not giving special favors to
any particular religion because other religions were welcome to place their monuments there
too. They didn’t expect a giant Satanic statue of Baphomet to come rolling into their
town to take them up on the offer. And in another case, when Oklahoma City fearfully
refused to allow the statue next to their Ten Commandments Monument, the case went all
the way to the State supreme court where the Ten Commandments were ordered taken down because
they violated the first amendment requirement for state governments to stay neutral on religious
matters.
So, if I’m an atheist, I don’t believe in God or Satan, I oppose pseudoscientific
and socially harmful religious ideas, and I myself am rather defiant against the more
backwards aspects of JudeoChristian religions, as this channel has demonstrated, why do I
not identify as a Satanist.
Well, for starters, I don’t care for any kind of organized religion.
But more than that, let’s take a look at the values of LeVayan Satanism first and then
we’ll examine the Satanic Temple. When Anton LeVay founded the Church of Satan, he wrote
out 11 core tenets in his Satanic Bible. The fact that there even are tenets kinda rubs
me the wrong way. Sure, we need laws for society to operate smoothly, but those laws are amended
over time, while religious laws tend to be a little more dogmatic. Most of the moral
frameworks from centuries ago are seen as backwards and often barbaric by today’s
standards because our morality evolves and improves as society progresses. We should
be debating and improving our ethical frameworks through moral philosophy at a global scale-conversation
- not etching them in stone in dogmatic fashion. But let’s take a look at them.
Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
That’s a stupid rule. Don’t tell me what I can and can’t say. If you’re doing something
harmful, I’m going to call you out on it. You lost me at rule one.
But I’ll just go through these real quick. Do not tell your troubles to others unless
you are sure they want to hear them. When in another’s lair, show him respect
or else do not go there. A Lair? What are goblins?
If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
Or how about: be a bigger person and don’t stoop to their level.
Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person
and he cries out to be relieved. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have
employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having
called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
Yeah, that’s straight up supernatural hogwash right there.
Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
Do not harm little children. Ok.
Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop.
If he does not stop, destroy him.
Like this whole series feels like it was written by a troglodite with the IQ of a potato trying
desperately to be edgy.
Compared to the Church or Satan, the tenets of the Satanic Temple are significantly better.
And as I understand it, they made them incredibly vague deliberately so they can apply to a
wide swath of circumstances across time.
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance
with reason. - Sure. Sounds good. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and
necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
OK, in theory, but who determines what’s just and not? On its own, this is incredibly
incomplete and without guidance tends towards anarchy.
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone. - Good. The Ten Commandments
could have used a clause like this, or at least said, “Don’t get rapey.” One caveat,
perhaps I’m misreading it, but what about scenarios where someone is a menace to society
and needs to be locked up for crimes against humanity?
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. - I guess for
the most part I’d agree with this. 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. Again this one is great in theory, but is a bit naive when it comes
to cognitive psychology. Most people, including flat earthers and young earth creationists
genuinely think that their beliefs are conforming to the best scientific understanding of the
world. They just suffer from logical fallacies and self delusions like falling prey to confirmation
bias and the backfire effect. 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.
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. I actually really like this last one, because it helps safeguard against these
principles being used dogmatically.
On the face of it, most of these are fine. Even if you’re a Christian, Muslim, Jew,
etc. if you heard any of these tenets on its own without realizing they were from the Satanic
Temple, you’d probably have no issue with them whatsoever. But while I don’t have
any serious objections to these principles and I respect the political spectacles the
Satanic Temple engages in to advocate for religious equality, here’s why I gravitate
away from the Satanic Temple.
They love spectacle. They love flair and have a knack for the theatric - going over the
top with symbolic ceremonies involving satanic symbols, blood, fire, and nudity representing
a cognitive and sexual liberation from archaic repressive ideas. While they don’t believe
in a literal devil, they intentionally go over the top and reach for the shock value,
because they know that Christians are terrified of Satan - a long fanged enemy who prowls
about like a roaring lion waiting to devour you. Hell, when I was a Christian I was scared
to death of the devil. The mere thought of Satan strikes fear into the hearts of believers
and can be a powerful political tool. But my goal isn’t to terrify, it’s to connect.
And while Satanic imagery is shocking, it doesn’t bring people closer together, it
kinda shuts them off and throws up walls. I don’t fear the devil or hell any longer
- but at least for now, I don’t really have any need for picking up this mantle and adopting
this approach.
For too long atheism has been considered a dirty word in a largely religious world where
it bears negative connotations with either Communism or Satanism. But I’m neither a
Communist nor a Satanist. I just don’t believe in God. I’m a humanist. I care about humanity
- human rights and equality. I love technology and progress and think we can all work together
to make this shared world better. But when it comes right down to it, I’m just a normal
guy. The kind of person you’d bump into at a museum or sit across from in the library
- who you might go up against in bar trivia or grapple with at a martial arts tournament.
I vote and pay my taxes, I don’t dress provocatively. I don’t usually. And I work way too hard
to drink anything but socially. And while I did actually legally smoke pot in California
with the founder of the Satanic Temple once, I don’t ever do hard drugs - although I
don’t judge people who do. I rarely cuss on my channel, and I don’t even have any
tattoos or piercings.
My goal is to reach people. And if Satanism comes coupled with all of the baggage of the
Satanic Panic and peoples’ ideas of what it means based off of their religion - if
it comes coupled with ideas and notions (false or not) of Satanic ritual abuse - then those
ideas are simple a hurdle and a stumbling block that get in the way of me being able
to connect with people about stuff I’m passionate about like science and how the world actually
works and how we can tell if something is true or not.
When I was religious, I saw videos by atheists like Aron Ra (who I don’t even think is
a Satanist). I had a hard time hearing what he had to say, because I couldn’t get past
the fact that he looked like everything I had been warned against as a Christian. Was
I wrong in my judgement. Absolutely. But leaving your faith is already hard. And it’s easy
to feel alone or scared.
It can be incredibly powerful, when you’ve been taught that atheism is just a bunch of
Satanists who look a particular way, to realize that it’s not that, and you were wrong about
that stereotype. You start to question other things that you’ve been told about atheism.
The demographic of people who identify as non-believers is the fastest growing in America.
And if I can make that transition a little easier by shattering the stigma surrounding
atheists - by normalizing it to the world - by showing that I’m just a normal atheist
dude - then that’s what I’m going to do. If other atheists want to go all out and over
the top. I love y’all and support it 100%. Go for it. And who knows, maybe in a few years
I’ll be covered in tattoos and piercings making theatrical political statements and
we’ll look back at this video and laugh. But when it comes right down to it, I’m
just a missionary kid who grew out of my faith.
I love science, and like most people recently deconverting from their religion, I’m not
doing it because I hate God or I’m rebelling or looking to make a statement. I just want
to know what’s true.
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Thank you so much for watching and for your ongoing support. It means the world to me.
And as always. Dare to be curious, but don’t drink the Koolaid!
Even if the “M” was not the issue, you cannot deny that that is a cross. And what
is witchcraft? When the cross goes upside down! Bottoms up! And the Devil laughs.