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Religious Satanism, 16th century
Satanism, Satanic Dabbling, etc.

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Overview:

There are probably dozens of different religious belief systems and practices that have been called "Satanism."  Depending upon the precise meaning given to the word, the total number of Satanists in the world can be anything from a few thousand to four billion individuals. Dialog on the topic is almost impossible because there is such variability in the meaning of "Satanism" and "Satanist."

In this section, we describe seven main activities which have been commonly referred to as Satanism: religious Satanism, and six forms of pseudo-Satanism -- practices that either don't exist or are unrelated to any worship of Satan as a deity.

Topics covered in this section:

• Various definitions of "Satanism" and a suggested working definition
  
  
• Two actual forms of religious Satanism
  
  
  • Religious Satanism:
    
    
    • History of religious Satanism
      
      
  • The Church of Satan:
    
    
    • Quotations, overview, founding, & beliefs,
      
      
    • Practices & rules of behavior
      
      
    • Political agenda, organization, attitudes towards other religions, books
      
      
• Pseudo-Satanism -- imaginary, non-existent forms of Satanism
  
  
  • Six forms of pseudo-Satanism
    
    
  • 16th century Satanism
    
    
• Religious intolerance directed against Satanists
  
  
• Mistaken beliefs about Satanists by non-Satanists:
  
  
  • From the media and books
    
    
  • From the Internet
    
    
• Symbols:
  
  
  • Some often confused symbols: pentacle, pentagram, & the Sigil of Baphomet
    
    
  • The meaning of pentacle & pentagram symbols to their users. Dress code conflicts in schools.
    
    
• News report of an alleged Satanic ritual murder

References used:

Some of the information sources used to prepare and update this section are listed below. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups" Department of the Army, 1978-APR. The section on Satanism is available on line at:
2. The Church of Satan has an official home page at: http://www.churchofsatan.com They list web sites of Church of Satan Grottos, Satanic artists, musicians, members and publishers. 
3. The Temple of Set is at: http://www.xeper.org/
4. "Not Like Most" is a "publication of Satanism in Action." They follow the traditions of the Church of Satan. See: http://www.purgingtalon.com/
5. A FAQ list for the Church of Satan is at: http://members.chello.at/
6. Noctuarium: The Pit, is a chat room run by a Church of Satan member. See: http://www.geocities.com/
7. The First Church of Satan of Salem, MA has a web site at:  http://www.churchofsatan.org/

Related essays on this web site:

	The Satanic Ritual Abuse moral panic that never happened
	Ritual abuse
	Allegations of multi-victim, multi-offender abuse in day care centers

Links to some Satanic groups:

Groups (other than well-established groups like the Church of Satan and Temple of Set), appear to have a half-life of about 6 months. It has proven impossible for us to maintain an up-to-date listing. Some useful references are:

1. The Church of Satan, founded by Anton La Vey, has a web page at:  http://www.churchofsatan.com
2. The First Church of Satan, founded by John Allee, is at: http://churchofsatan.tv/
3. The Temple of Set is at: http://www.xeper.org/
4. A non-Satanic group publishes an interesting, anonymous essay "In praise of the devil." It discusses Satan on a purely symbolic level at: http://www.lucifer.com/lucifer.html
5. The Satanic Community maintains a web site at http://www.the600club.com/ with a forum, links, recommended books, a registry, etc.
6. Spiritual Satanism follows the teachings of prophet Sheik Adi in the 12th century CE. See: http://www.joyofsatan.com/ 
7. The 600 Club is a "Community of Satanism & the Occult." They have 20 forums with a total of 43,000 posts by late 2010. See: http://www.the600club.com/
8. The Yahoo search engine listings include:

   	Temple of Set at:  http://dir.yahoo.com/
   	Satanism at:  http://dir.yahoo.com/

You can safely buy the following books from Amazon.com's online bookstore. Some of these books are by Satanists; others are books by conservative Christians about their concept of Satanism:

Not stocked by Amazon is a new book by "Kurz" called "The Little Satanist." It is the first Satanic bedtime story for children. It is the "...story of a young man who realizes he cannot live among the masses and their religious idols. Similar to Hendry David Thoreau, he leaves for the woods and is driven by common sense and reason..." See: http://www.thelittlesatanist.com/

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Copyright © 1997 to 2013 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-MAR-16
Author: B.A. Robinson
Links checked: 2013-JUL-12

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