The Satanic Temple

[vicemag]

Unmasking Lucien Greaves, Leader of the Satanic Temple

VICE: Is the Satanic Temple a satanic, or a satirical group? Doug: That is a common question. I say why can’t it be both? We are coming from a solid philosophy that we absolutely believe in and adhere to. This is Satanism, and to us it couldn’t be called anything other than Satanism. However, our metaphor of Satan is a literary construct inspired by authors such as Anatole France and Milton—a rebel angel defiant of autocratic structure and concerned with the material world. Satanism as a rejection of superstitious supernaturalism. This Satan, of course, bears no resemblance to the embodiment of all cruelty, suffering, and negativity believed in by some apocalyptic segments of Judeo-Christian culture. The word Satan has no inherent value. If one acts with compassion in the name of Satan, one has still acted with compassion. Our very presence as civic-minded socially responsible Satanists serves to satirize the ludicrous superstitious fears that the word Satan tends to evoke.

Reminds me of a darker version of the Yes Men. Yes. Just as the Yes Men use very catching theatrical ploys to draw attention to a progressive agenda, we play upon people’s irrational fears in a way that hopefully causes them to reevaluate what they think they know, redefine arbitrary labels, and judge people for their concrete actions. I believe that where reason fails to persuade, satire and mockery prevail. Whereas many religious groups seem to eschew humor, we embrace it.

Read the whole interview

[thesatanictemple]

Lucien Greaves has been stirring up a lot of controversy due to the 'Pink Mass' he performed over the grave of founding member of the Wesboro Baptist Church, Fr...

[vicemag]

The Satanic Temple, a burgeoning community of worship devoted to the Dark Lord, has performed a “Pink Mass” over the grave of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Jr.’s mother. The Pink Mass is a Satanic ritual performed after death that turns the deceased’s straight spirit into a homo one—it’s not unlike the Mormon practice of baptizing the dead, only much gayer. 

On Sunday the Satanic Temple, which first came into the national spotlight last January when the organizationannounced its support for Florida Governor Rick Scott, went to the Phelps family graveyard in Mississippi to perform the ritual. (Two Pink Masses were performed, one with a female couple and another with men.) I contacted Lucien Greaves, the Temple’s spokesperson and officiator of the ceremony, to find out what exactly the Pink Mass entials. While he didn’t get into specifics, he told told me via email that “there were, in fact, scriptures recited, candles lit, and a ceremonial proceeding that we may eventually post the details of at our website, westboro-baptist.com. That is, if the Pink Mass generates sufficient interest to the point that other responsible parties, respectful of the graveyard, wish to perform their own.”

The idea for the mass came about in April, when the WBC announced their intention to protest the funerals of the Boston Bombing victims. The church never showed up, but later issued a statement saying they were there “in spirit.” As is always the case when WBC does or says anything, both the initial plans and the subsequent statement pissed off everyone in the world, including Satanists. And so, according to a press release, the Satanic Temple decided that a ceremony celebrating same-sex couples “at the gravesite of Fred Phelps’ mother was an appropriate way to meet the Westboro Baptists, ‘in spirit,’ but this time on our terms.”

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[thesatanictemple]

A New York-based temple devoted to encouraging "benevolence and empathy among all people" through the teachings of Satan traveled over the weekend to the Mississippi gravesite of Catherine Idalette Johnston, late mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Jr., in order to perform a same-sex ceremony aimed at turning Johnston's spirit gay.

[vicemag]

The Satanic Temple, a burgeoning community of worship devoted to the Dark Lord, has performed a “Pink Mass” over the grave of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Jr.’s mother. The Pink Mass is a Satanic ritual performed after death that turns the deceased’s straight spirit into a homo one—it’s not unlike the Mormon practice of baptizing the dead, only much gayer. 

On Sunday the Satanic Temple, which first came into the national spotlight last January when the organizationannounced its support for Florida Governor Rick Scott, went to the Phelps family graveyard in Mississippi to perform the ritual. (Two Pink Masses were performed, one with a female couple and another with men.) I contacted Lucien Greaves, the Temple’s spokesperson and officiator of the ceremony, to find out what exactly the Pink Mass entials. While he didn’t get into specifics, he told told me via email that “there were, in fact, scriptures recited, candles lit, and a ceremonial proceeding that we may eventually post the details of at our website, westboro-baptist.com. That is, if the Pink Mass generates sufficient interest to the point that other responsible parties, respectful of the graveyard, wish to perform their own.”

The idea for the mass came about in April, when the WBC announced their intention to protest the funerals of the Boston Bombing victims. The church never showed up, but later issued a statement saying they were there “in spirit.” As is always the case when WBC does or says anything, both the initial plans and the subsequent statement pissed off everyone in the world, including Satanists. And so, according to a press release, the Satanic Temple decided that a ceremony celebrating same-sex couples “at the gravesite of Fred Phelps’ mother was an appropriate way to meet the Westboro Baptists, ‘in spirit,’ but this time on our terms.”

Continue

[thesatanictemple]

The Satanic Temple Performs Ceremony at Westboro Baptist Church Family Gravesite

The Satanic Temple Performs Ceremony at Westboro Baptist Church Family Gravesite

Posted July 17th, 2013 by Lucien & filed under News.

Satanic Temple Performs Same-Sex Union-Celebrating “Pink Mass” at Grave Site of Westboro Baptist Church Founder’s Mother

This past Sunday, July 14, top officials from the New York-based Satanic Temple travelled to the grave site of the mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps in order to stage a formal ceremony celebrating same-sex unions. Photos of the ceremony are publicly available on the new Satanic Temple-operated website, www.westboro-baptists.com, where The Satanic Temple encourages other same-sex couples to submit their own photos from similar pilgrimages to the Mississippi cemetery.

Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves officiated the ceremony while two same-sex couples celebrated their homosexuality at the gravesite.

The Satanic Temple supports freedom and the pursuit of happiness for all people, thus they support same-sex couples’ legal equality. The Satanic Temple claims that the mass was conducted as an affirmation of those values, and claims that the action is meant to convey a message of love in the face of hate.

The Westboro Baptists, famed for their bombastic “God Hates Fags” anti-homosexual activism, raised the ire of the Satanic Temple months previous. “The idea for the Pink Mass ceremony and website came during the aftermath of the tragic Boston Marathon bombings, during which time the WBC were threatening to protest the funerals of the bombing victims,” explains Greaves. “Members of The Satanic Temple were in Boston, waiting for them, but they failed to show. Later, the WBC issued a statement that they had been present ‘in spirit’. We decided that a same-sex couple celebrating ceremony at the gravesite of Fred Phelps’s mother was an appropriate way to meet the Westboro Baptists, ‘in spirit’, but this time on our terms.”

Explaining the ceremony itself, Greaves continues, “The Satanic Temple now believes that Fred Phelps must believe that his mother isnow gay, in the afterlife, due to our Pink Mass… And nobody can challenge our right to our beliefs.”

This revelation of The Satanic Temple’s graveyard ritual comes fast on the tail of the Westboro Baptist Church’s announcement that they intend to picket the death of 31 year-old “Glee” actor, Cory Monteith.

The Satanic Temple is hoping their recent action will draw attention to the organization’s efforts to raise funds so that they may participate in the New York City Department of Transportation’s Adopt-a-Highway program. More information on the campaign can be found at: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-satanic-temple-adopt-a-highway-campaign?c=home

[growupandleaveforever-blog]

[thesatanictemple]

Much has been written regarding a recent confrontation in Texas between activists on both sides of the abortion debate in which Pro-Choice advocates chanted “Hail Satan” in response to a Pro-Life life mob singing out Amazing Grace. While a good deal of commentary from both ends of the spectrum has thoughtlessly denigrated the “Hail Satan” faction, we feel that their message was both salient and clear: religious rationales used to justify certain views to some hold no currency whatsoever to scores of others. While neither the Old nor New Testaments have anything directly to say about the issue of abortion, interpretations of those texts, construed into a Pro-Life stance, mean nothing to those of us who do not contextualize our lives within the framework of those mythologies.

Thus, chanting “Hail Satan” was an effective way of saying, “You are going to have to argue your point on rational grounds. We do not subscribe to your Religion.”

While various commentary has focused on the legitimacy of the activists’ Satanic loyalties, we would submit that the concentration on the question of whether or not Satanism is Pro-Life or Pro-Choice misses the point entirely. Surely, there are Christians who consider themselves ‘Pro-Choice’ just as there are Satanists who, following their own conscience, consider themselves ‘Pro-Life’.

(That said, The Satanic Temple believes “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” Devoid of the presence of a supernatural ghostly essence (soul), the Will is necessarily the product of a developed nervous system, which arguably gives the authority of inviolability to the mother over the fetus.)

The fact is, arguments based upon some notion of religious primacy aren’t going to resolve this debate, nor should they have any place in the argument at all.

We fully support the “Hail Satan” activists in Austin, Texas, and we applaud their courage in reminding the world that ours is a Nation of religious pluralism.

Hail Satan