Satanism and UU

Today our service was on the beliefs of Satanism. When people hear Satanism, they may think of people being malicious and passing it on as some how a belief system. However, our wonderful speaker outlined the core beliefs of Satanism and compared them to the UU principles. The 7 principals of Satanism are:

• 1: One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
• 2: The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
• 3: One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
• 4: 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.
• 5: 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.
• 6: 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.
• 7: 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.

All of these have similar themes as UU. Satanists have been involved in pushing for religious freedoms, as well as separation of Church and government. In 2018, a group from the Satanic Temple constructed a Baphomet statue in a truck in response to Ten Commandments statue being constructed in Arkansas. The ten commandments statue was removed, as was Baphomet. A few years later, Baphomet moved to Iowa, which allows for religious displays during certain holidays. In 2023, the statue was damaged beyond repair.

Our lovely speaker also recommends the documentary Hail, Satan? To learn more about Satanism.