What to Make of the Satanists' Abortion Ritual


The Satanists have filed a lawsuit against the Texas anti abortion law. I've seen only one effort to seriously analyze what the case is about. The link author wrote a book about the Satanic Temple which was published by the academic press, Oxford. He interviewed 50 people including Satanic Temple members, opponents and constitutional attorneys. 

The case Satanists are making challenges the notion the term "religion" is about the famous supernatural gods that people have worshipped since written history. People have mostly moved on since the Greek gods and now worship gods in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and many others. The Satanic Temple does not worship Satan but has a spiritual element that some say appears to provide a solid challenge to existing concepts of what defines "religion."

People might be tempted to say that for beliefs to be "religious" they must have ancient origins. This is not the case. The Freedom of Religion case centered on the use of Peyote. Native people testified peyote gave them a spiritual experience they required. This spiritual experience was noticed only a few decades before and was not known to have been practiced until recent times. 

The Satanic Temple has been going for a couple decades now and claims over 100,000 members. It has four churches in Texas, home of the "heartbeat bill." The persona of God came from writers who had heard about it from earlier generations, not first hand. The persona of Satan came from poet John Milton who saw Satan as a powerful symbol of rebellion against authority. Have we not heard repeatedly that Christians think of themselves as outsiders who must persevere against doubters?

The Satanic Temple has seven tenets. A couple of them will no doubt be brought up if they are successful in getting into court. It is "One's body in inviolable, subject to one's will alone." This may sound familiar, those who resist vaccinations say something similar.

But those who resist vaccinations do not conform to another tenet of the Temple: "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."

I'm not predicting the success or failure of the Satanic Temple. It just seems that if peyote can make it as a religion Satan can too. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more