politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
I think it's both. The Satanists I have known had sincere belief in the tenants of the Satanic Temple and built community and ceremony around their participation in it, just like any other religion.
Mmmm.... when I say religion, I mean traditional/common religion. I know religion is a broad term, and its easy to get into the weeds. But for all intents and purposes, Satanism is not devoted to worshipping supernatural, texts, etc. It has tenants, and some other features so as to grant them the role as a religion, as part of the activism. Very different from what you see with Judaism, Islam, Christianity, etc.
Ehhh, I hear what you are saying but it's coming from a very specific view of religion. Confusionism is considered a religion, as is Taoism, and they are more about tenents than supernatural beliefs (although that may be present).
I think Satanism is a bit confusing to talk about because they do sincerely believe in the tenents, but self freedom is such a strong value that it's not going to look the same as the big religions that are more about following authority.
I think we're on the same page ultimately. Just didn't want anyone to confuse traditional/popular religion with what the Temple seemingly seeks out to do - thats all.
I think we are mostly, but I think that where I may disagree is that the Temple's political aims are not it's primary reason for existence. They're most well known for their political strategies because ... their whole strategy is to gather attention, but there are people who are involved who are not involved in the activism. I think this is something that is not obvious from TST's online presence, but something I have observed in local community (San Francisco - which I admit may be a huge outlier given SF's history with LeVeyan Satanism).
Right, there are chapters and one chapter may differ slightly from another’s
What do you believe your chapters primary reason for existence is? Do they lean more heavily on the religious/ideological side?
Not sure, I'm not involved, just have friends who are! They talked about the national activism but never talked about being involved with that, only rituals, so I think for them it's about having a space to participate in ritual activities that are ideologically aligned as they are very much atheists.
Same here - however I will note that rituals do not have to be in a congregation, lots of people do solo ritual and practice as well. A lot of these practices really could fit under the broader Pagan umbrella.
For the Satanic Temple, however, these are largely just symbolic and aren’t supernatural or anything else like that really (from what I’ve learned from friends, coworkers, etc)
Satanists don’t even believe in satan (uuuusually, LaVeyans are atheistic but thesistics literally believe, so there’s some nuance there - as is for most religions)
Yes, there are many rituals ... the ritual of graduation ceremonies comes to mind as one that is secular, and broadly recognized ... also weddings. These are separate from the legal and institutional paperwork that formalizes getting a degree or marriage, but still important for individuals and their communities.
I was not trying to imply that rituals are always supernatural, or that the Satanic Temple rituals are. It is good you pointed that out because it's common people don't really understand what rituals are, especially when you're talking about paganism or Satanism, where "ritual" can be used in this nefarious, chic-tract way 🙃
That doesn't make them less of rituals, same with the Satanic Temple. What is interesting about the Satanic Temple is that they very explicitly address the topic of rituals. It's like, yes people need rituals, but a lot of the time it's tied to the belief in a supernatural power. But the embodiment of a belief or will or intent or whatever through the form of ritual can be psychologically extremely powerful, and they explicitly name that that's what they are doing.
Couldn’t agree more - humans are very much so ritualistic beings. I find that most people just white-wash the word ritual with “routine” instead.
Thanks satanic panic!