#seven tenets

[queersatanic]

I don’t mean this as a “gotcha” or anything, I’m just a genuinely confused Abrahamic Pagan.

Why *are* the tenants of….whichever Satanic organization not seen as common sense?

Like “your body is your own, don’t be a dick to others” seems to be the basis of each one. Be it the church of Satan, satanic temple, or global order or Satan.

Why is it associated with satanism of all things? Im episcopal and I agree with the tenants.

I also just have trouble wrangling with satanic imagery, but that’s admittedly a me problem.

I grew up evangelical and I still vibe with Jesus and the Saints who notoriously are…not on friendly terms with Satan. And I do know that the way y’all go about satanism is not *actual* Satan The Devil(tm) worship, but it still gives me a knotty feeling that I don’t know how to deconstruct, no matter how much I want to keep an open minds

Well, the tenets of the Church of Satan, Satanic Temple, and Global Order of Satan are all somewhat different.

Like, the Eleven Satanic Rules of Earth really aren't just common sense.

Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.

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.

If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.

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.

Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.

Do not harm little children.

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.

The Nine Satanic Statements and Nine Satanic Sins even more so, and then Pentagonal Revisionism is both "reactionary" and "weird as hell".

You're right when it comes to the Seven Tenets of the Satanic Temple, but we'd argue that they are anodyne by design other than the places they couldn't help themselves ("the freedom to offend" as a concept and winking reference to Might Is Right with "nobility in action and thought"). The whole point is that its appeal is spicy Unitarian Universalism. The Global Order of Satan's Six Pillars are an outgrowth of that, but as far as we can tell, done a bit more sincerely and with a commitment to being organized along those principles rather than a grift.

But you don't have to be a Satanist, and we would in fact encourage no one to be.

Why You Should (Not) Become a Satanist

(A case against) Identifying with Satanism in the modern world and what value that has, from some queer Satanists who ought to know better b

But, that also should explain the appeal it has to those people who Satanism in a non-problematic way does appeal to.

[littlemxsatanist]

[helmyirng]

I designed myself a chest tattoo to commemorate joining The Satanic Temple. 🖤 THERE ARE SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL TENETS

One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

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.

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.

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.

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[queersatanic]

After looking at all the evidence and considering things , i decided to forgo becoming an official member of The Satanic Temple, but i still closely relate to and appreciate their values and tenets. In your opinion, is it morally sound for me to use these tenets as a guiding tool in my life and also consume media from people supporting them (buying books for information, watching videos, etc.)? I'm not considering myself a member, but i am heavily influenced.

Short answer: No, you should not.

The Seven Tenets are the intellectual property of a shit organization owned by shit people who do shit things, and you should not support them.

If you are drawn to the idea of specifically Satanic moral guidance, give the Global Order of Satan's six pillars a gander.

Long answer going into more about the intellectual property stuff below.

First of all, the Seven Tenets aren’t really anything special.

You can see in their history how the different things The Satanic Temple has been has shaped what now are the “Seven Fundamental Tenets”, and like lots of things, the fact that Cevin Soling and Doug Misicko control what TST is and ever will be is a fatal flaw that can’t be got around.

This latest version of the tenets aren’t necessarily bad, and if they weren’t proprietary intellectual property of two specific men, you would want to have various local chapters/congregations come together to revise them collectively every so often to—by consensus—create principles that spoke to the people actually involved and doing the work.

In another world, in a better version of TST that recognized it had become more than a prank documentary and stumbled into a genuine religious movement, and rather than trying to enclose as much of the commons as possible and profit as much as possible, the founders could actually have stepped aside and created a federation more like the Quakers/Society of Friends to grow beyond their control.

But we live in this world instead.

The Seven Tenets of The Satanic Temple.

Type of Work: Text

Registration Number / Date: TXu002170560 / 2019-10-24

Application Title: The Seven Tenets of The Satanic Temple.

Title: The Seven Tenets of The Satanic Temple.

Description: Electronic file (eService)

Copyright Claimant: The Satanic Temple. Address: 64 Bridge Street, Salem, MA, 01970, United States.

Date of Creation: 2013

Authorship on Application: The Satanic Temple, employer for hire; Domicile: United States; Citizenship: United States. Authorship: text. Rights and Permissions: The Satanic Temple, 64 Bridge Street, SALEM, MA, 01970, United States

Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence.

Names: The Satanic Temple

Now, it’s not clear whether they mean the for-profit corporation or the tax-exempt church here.

It's probably the for-profit because most TST stuff is registered under United Federation of Churches LLC dba “ ‘The Satanic Temple’ ”.

However, the above entry is registered only as “The Satanic Temple”, full stop, which was also the previous name of the church before they renamed it “The Satanic Temple, Inc.” and still appears on lots of documents that way.

Along with the use of pseudonyms on official documents and other instances of perjury, it ought to be a red flag to supporters of TST about the two owners and their business practices but so far largely hasn’t been.

"Oh, all religions do this."

We can assure you they do not, and it's not just some box they needed to check. Per Joseph Rose of the Hail Satan Podcast, The Satanic Temple threatened to sue him over him selling something with the Seven Tenets on them. Forget which episode.

But imagine the Catholic Church suing someone over selling a pamphlet with the Nicene Creed or Ten Commandments. It's ludicrous, but TST is, among other things, a for-profit corporation and its owners want their money.

[queersatanic]

hey, i’m a queer atheist satanist of color. i just wanted to say, i’m glad you guys here have been open about TST’s actions. i thought they were an alright group to associate myself with, but because of the information you shared, i’ve learned their true nature. thank you so much for doing that, genuinely.

i had a question for you all here. are there any satanic organizations i could look into as a satanic leftist? i hate how much fascism and anti-equality there is in places like CoS and TST, and i want to find an organization that’s actually a good place to associate myself with. i hope this question makes sense haha

You probably shouldn't be a Satanist, if you can avoid it. That would be our standing advice.

On average, it's not even clear we're better than the average Christian, we just have less power (as Satanists) to oppress people than they do (as Christians). Our common texts and culture remain gross and problematic.

Additionally, for historical reasons that mainly stem from Anton LaVey and his biases, Satanism was always an extremely white community, and it remains that way. As you know, white communities end up having white priorities.

You're probably going to have to build your own community regardless, but some other organizations to look into or connect with might be:

Capital Area Satanists

LORE NYC

The Luciferian Dominion

Global Order of Satan

Ordo Sororitatis Satanicae

Satanic Portland

Satanic Australia

Noosa Temple of Satan

That's not exhaustive. They're just groups who are worth investigating.

If the main thing that drew you to The Satanic Temple was the Seven Tenets, GoS has "six pillars", Satanic Australia has "six principles", and so on. Additionally, some have a focus on writings to undergird your Satanism intellectually; others are on organizing and taking actions, rituals, including trolly protests, counter-protesting street fascists, and even community gardening.

Depending on what specifically interests you in nontheistic satanism, you may end up building your own out of parts of some/all/none of them.

Everyone's religion is built like that really, Satanism isn't any different.

[queersatanic]

How do you feel about TST's Fundamental Tenets? I related to them so much when I first found them, but through your blog and other sources I've come to see that Mesner/Misicko is kind of a shit person and the organization is a mess. Do you think the Tenets are worth looking at, or do you just throw the whole thing out because of where they originated?

If you were to use them as part of any communal/organizing activity, there’s a good chance you’d be sued by them under accusations of forming a rival group or using their intellectual property or whatever.

If The Satanic Temple were trying to create a horizontally organized religion where a bunch of different local communities were working together to define what Satanism meant to them, it might make sense to have some central principles like the Universalist Unitarians have to keep everyone on the same basic page.

But looking at the history of TST’s tenets (and Reason Alliance Ltd.’s values), and comparing how the founders/high leadership live to what accountability other people have, it’s tough to see what value is actually there that people aren’t bringing for themselves and imbuing the tenets with.

Global Order of Satan has their Six Pillars and I know Capital Area Satanists (D.C.) are actively working as a community to come up with central values with the understanding they’ll revise them as a community going forward. That seems worthy of some more investigation or communication with.

Clearly we’re biased by, ya know, being sued.

But also because of that, don’t undersell the threat of TST suing you if it views you as competition, even if that’s entirely based on their own insecurities.

[hissynixxietelsm]

The Seven Tenets of the Satanic Temple if they were written by an occultist in the pre-modern times of Christendom.

[grimoire-or-manifesto]

The Seven Fundamental Tenets of The Satanic Temple

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.

These were not foundational in the formation of my beliefs, but they are important to me and reflect a lot of what I've come to on my own. I am a member of the Satanic Temple. They are not as important to me as my pagan beliefs and ways, but I do aspire to these tenets also.