For those unfamiliar, The Satanic Temple is an atheistic organization. Here are its tenets. I often ask people what they disagree with and get very little in the way of meaningful response.
THERE ARE SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL TENETS
I
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV
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.
V
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.
VI
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.
VII
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.
https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets
DO YOU WORSHIP SATAN?
No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.
https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/faq
She’s 13. Does anyone know if she’s allowed to become a member? The website isn’t clear on that.
I think I would ask, if you deliver justice to one, but weaken an institution that materially helps thousands, is that actually justice?
I mean, probably, right? Justice is generally transactional (he stole my cow, he gets me a new one), while institutions are more generally following overall utilitarian policies.
I can’t really think of any real overlap scenarios here where literally just one person could meaningfully damage the system other than “you are the only one immune to the zombie plague, we have to remove your brain to become immune because science”
I would say that it could be. Justice and utilitarian results are not necessarily synonyms. It is intuitively unjust to allow a ruler to get away with literal murder, yet the dissolution of their rule could mean the deaths of many thousands. An institution may lead to the death of an individual through negligence, but the resulting dissolution of the institution, should it be revealed, could lead to the deaths of many more, ironically, through further negligence.
Obviously, in functioning modern societies, these are less concerning, as there is a much greater capacity for reforming or remaking institutions, or diverting resources until an alternative can be found; institutions and their effects are generally robust and can handle whatever scandals are revealed, and thus it is a duty, rather than a question, to reveal abuses as openly and loudly as one can.
But in principle, in the abstract, they’re valid questions to be asked.
Definitely valid questions, good things to think about