The Friendly Satanist

BDiv. MDiv. Systematic & Historical Theology | Ph.D. Religion Studies student | Religion, Spirituality & Sexuality Scholar | Counselor | Member of TST ⛧ 

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Light the Jack-o'-Lanterns: It's Satan's birthday!

Light the Jack-o’-Lanterns: It’s Satan’s birthday!

Yes, the title is definitely clickbait. I’m sorry, I just have to stay true to my knack for controversy… – well, to be quite fair, nobody reads my musings on here anyway (unless they have to). So, I suppose I’m just writing this for future reference to maintain my status, CEO of “I wrote an article on this”. Anyway, before I start mumbling on unnecessarily, this is not about Satan’s birthday –…

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Satan Speaks: Krugersdorp, Devilsdorp and the Satanic Panic...

Satan Speaks: Krugersdorp, Devilsdorp and the Satanic Panic…

When many of us hear the words ‘Satanic panic’, our minds automatically retrace back to the 1960’s and 70’s, during which a myriad of murders and crimes were committed, and immediately attributed to the mythological Christian adversary ‘Satan’ and his legion of demons. Yet, this enigmatic misconception, however, seems to continually rear its ugly head every so often when ordinary people are…

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A Catholic Church Is Burning Down...

A Catholic Church Is Burning Down…

Church burning?! Where? When? – It has become headline news in recent weeks, since before the celebration of Canada Day on 1 July 2021 that about a dosen churches on indigenous land in Canada, have consecutively been burned to the ground, after the recent discoveries of more than 1000 unmarked graves of indigenous children at former Canadian residential school grounds… In the early 19th century…

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Toss A Coin To Your (Online) Stripper!

Toss A Coin To Your (Online) Stripper!

Let’s talk about pornography and online sex work, shall we? And I know you might be thinking to yourself right now: “*gasp*! He said the ‘p’ word!” – yes, yes I did. Just deal with it. As this is a crucial and very relevant topic I have been wanting to write about for very long (as per usual), but once again, had to find the correct (or rather appropriate) angle to position it: so, when it comes…

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Christianity: Because You're So Awful You Made God Kill Himself!

Christianity: Because You’re So Awful You Made God Kill Himself!

Lately, more and more people have asked to share the story of my deconversion (from Christianity) and I thought this is an apt moment to encapsulate the pinnacle, ‘the straw that broke the Camel’s back’ rather. For the rest, as they say, is history… My story brings to mind a quote by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi (whether authentically by him or not isn’t really important) but it states, “I like your…

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I Watched A Man Die...

I Watched A Man Die…

I have always wondered what it would be like to see someone die. Not particularly because I was romanticising death, but because of the immense psychological impact it can have on the witness. I mean, we all read about people dying in the news, but they’re unfamiliar names on paper – sometimes with a photo attached, but more often than not: strangers. Accidents are a norm in South Africa and even…

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Deliver Us From White Supremacy

Deliver Us From White Supremacy

One of the many thingshe many things that vexes me about the South African continent (and the United States in particular) is their overbearing presence of conservatism, white nationalism and supremacy. Whenever I open my social media or news apps, I am occasionally overcome with feelings of nausea and utter disgust at the views people project in comment sections when people of colour are…

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Not Just Sacks Of Meat!

Not Just Sacks Of Meat!

When it comes to issues of the body, extreme sensitivity is usually advised. However, as you might know – if you’re an avid reader of my writs on here – I don’t necessarily believe in dressing my ‘controversial realities’ with a nice red bow and a “thank you” card. Rather, with the diversity of people I have as friends and acquaintances, I don’t believe many of the thoughts we commonly agree upon…

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Our Societal Sex-Conundrum...

Our Societal Sex-Conundrum…

As I started staring at this title; trying to ruminate about how I’m going to fill your screen with some fresh controversy, I realised just how desensitised I’ve become to sensitive topics. I mean, I’m not even joking when I’m saying this, because I constantly find myself in a state of shock and sheer confusion at the reactions of ‘ordinary’ people (for lack of a better term), when they hear or…

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666 The Number Of The...

666 The Number Of The…

Here we go again: Another Christian ‘old wives tale’ that I should sit behind a desk, and write about; debunking the panic-driven myths of some modern Antichrist (which changes every now and again), bringing about the end times, micro-chips and all the paranoid delusions accompanying it, because (some) people are incapable of thinking for themselves. Or maybe it’s just because I spend so much…

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Love In The Time Of Corona

Love In The Time Of Corona

Finally! It feels so good to be back behind the keyboard again, writing something informal. I haven’t written in so long and so much in my life has changed since then. Today, I got challenged with a very valid concept, what exactly is love? Now when someone asks me such a question, my immediate response would be “baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more…” -if you don’t catch the reference, you…

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Mitigating 21st-Century Relationships!

Throughout the history of discourse, what continues to astonish me the most in this era of open-source information and technological accessibility, is the lack of dialogue(especially in some church contexts) had on things that aren’t necessarily found within the Biblical framework. Topics that would oft be labelled as ‘secular’ or ‘unbiblical’, yet crucial to human existence are side-swiped for…

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Theology with Interest...

Theology with Interest…

Someone once told me, “if you want to be rich and not pay taxes, build a church.” I couldn’t help but think they were right. This is a topic I have been wanting to cover for a while now, but I haven’t quite thought of a good angle. That is, until now… If we take a look at history, we see a lot of things driven by money. Many atrocities have been done in the name of it and most of the time they…

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Socrates in the Streets!

Socrates in the Streets!

When it comes to the practical aspect of philosophy, there is much to be desired. As I mentioned previously in my two preceding articles, in this philosophy series about Nietzsche’s God is Dead?! And Kearney’s Inviting the Stranger: We find ourselves in a society continuously facing social crises like injustice and ignorance, in Nietzsche’s case we are madmen with lanterns seeking God, only to…

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Inviting the Stranger.

During my final year (2019) completing a Bachelor of Divinity Honours in Theology, my favourite subject of all time was Dogmatics and Christian Ethics. We had such excellent and thought challenging lecturers. They guided us into the most fascinating discussions on Theology and Biblical ethics, and their wisdom would stay with me for the rest of my life. Because they all had one thing in common –…

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God is 'dead'?!

Here we go again… Another controversial article, but hey that’s hardly news is it? It’s a new year and a new millennium, and yet we still have the issues, nonsense and cognitive misery we’ve been entertaining since the dawn of humanity’s existence. We claim to be an intelligent species, yet we still don’t possess the ability to ‘read between the lines’or separate ideas from identities (if I can…

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On Abortion And Life...

On Abortion And Life…

If there’s one thing I am getting tired of, it’s having to listen to conservative and opinionated Christians who presume to think that they know anything about the sensitivity of a situation like unwanted pregnancy and abortion, when shouting their heated judgement of condemnation to women who – in fact – have made a decision to go through with abortion. Shouting insults like “You are killing an…

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