Put simply, The Satanic Temple is a relatively new atheistic religion (without belief in an actual Satan) with core beliefs in the seven tenets as listed below:

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.

Check out https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us for more info.

Hope all is well! Hail Satan!

  • @dingusOPMEnglish
    7•1 year ago

    So I’m by no means an expert in the nuances of modern liberal Satanism, but I’ll do my best to give my own viewpoint.

    That “Freedom to offend” was weird. Is that not a contradiction, a paradox of sorts? Certaintly, I have the freedom to be respected and not being bullied. If someone offends/bullies me, he is violating that freedom, no?

    First and foremost, TST promotes respect between individuals, as it’s the first tenet. But sometimes you are going to do something that inadvertently offends someone else. Like if you are a woman out and about in a heavily fundamentalist Muslim country. Showing too much leg skin would be offensive to many (and quite frankly unwise due to safety concerns, but that’s besides the point). But she is simply exercising her own freedom of expression which is not actually harming anyone.

    I will say I do agree that it is a bit of an odd tenet, but I see why it’s on there. Satanism may offend many religious individuals, but we are just out here trying to live our lives the best we can.

    Forgive me, as I’m not the best with words.

    Also, “Struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit”. It would be nice to have a definition of “justice”. Is killing/torturing someone for a crime they committed seen as justice in the TST?

    The nice thing about the tenets is that there is room for nuance. TST was never designed to be a rigid set of unwavering core beliefs without any room for discussion. I would say your question would be more of a personal one in nature, and not a question for TST themselves. However, I would say that most of TST members do not seem to support capital punishment.

    The reason that tenet exists in the first place is that TST was borne out of an attempt to fight against religious oppression, which is a very real issue. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we advocate for mowing down people with AK-47s, just that we believe in fighting for human rights.

    • @witEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      Thank you for the insightful reply. I agree with the example you have given in the “freedom to offend” case. However, in the example you have given, I don’t believe that it was “targeted offense”. For non targeted offenses, I would agree that freedom to offend is a good tenet. However, one can also construct an example in which “freedom to offend” would sound horrible, like this one I did in a previous reply:

      Imagine a scenario in which removing oneself from the situation is hard. Say a school. Should student A be free to offend student B? It is my view that student B should feel safe in school. He/She should not have to wake up and dread going to school.

      The difference being that in the school example, it is more targeted hate/bullying/offense.

      • @dingusOPMEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        Yeah I mean there’s a big difference in offending others by simply existing and trying to live your own life and actively going out of your way to harm others.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•1 year ago

      Here’s my best understanding as an example!

      You have the personal freedom to abort your own pregnancy for any reason. Christians say things like, “God doesn’t like that!” or “my God’s dead version said something once which, taken out of context, says you’re a piece of shit and now I hate you!”

      Without that seemingly oxymoronic statement, their offensive actions and words that come from them being offended could enable you to say “I’m offended by your offense and now our squabble shall escalate!” Instead, you implement a logical break so that when you living your life offends another to the point that they feel the need to offend you, you can deescalate the situation by saying “okay,” and then going to get your rightful abortion.

      Or kiss someone whose genitalia matches yours Or change your genitalia Or change your name Or try to stop a racism Or try to reduce sexual assault Or try to learn…