Note on "satanism"

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"Demon-worship" is not a term used in professional sociology or psychology. It is related to "devil-worship," and is the false belief that God has a real opposite in the form of a superspirit called "satan." This "satan" was originally a common noun, in the ancient documents. It was not a name, and that is why it is spelled here with a lower-case initial letter.

A "satan" was any "resister" of God or God's will. So, a "satan" could be any person of cruelty or insensitivity to Love. But, in time, the word became modified into a proper name. And, in history, this "Satan" became the polar opposite of God.

God is Love, and Love has no real or genuine opposite. But it does have a conceptual (mental) opposite. And this opposite of Love is fear.

But back to the myth of "Satan" as a being: The myth says that he was a kind of superangel named "Lucifer." (This name means "bringer of Light," so it emphasizes how we learn lessons of Light from even "darkness." Since we are pained by the absence of Light, even that can teach us.)

In the myth, this "Satan" convinced a number of "angels" to "follow him in rebellion against God."

The story is a warning against pride, for this was Lucifer's great weakness. The "fallen angels" became "demons." This is a warning that even very powerful and spiritual Mindfactors ("angels") can become the victims of pride.

Some ignorant people, who take this myth for literal history, are especially common among the uneducated and the spiritually naive or unsophisticated. Since they believe that "satan" and "demons" are real and literal creatures or beings, they sometimes "worship" these forces of darkness and ignorance, the energies of fear.

Often, so-called "satanists" are not really serious. Many more modern, or more sophisticated, "satanists" do not even believe in a personal devil. Many are in the cult simply to shock people. They love to poke fun at religion (and they have much historical "ammunition"). So, most are not truly "pro-satan," but simply "anti-God." This was true of the writer of The Satanic Bible, for example, written back in the 1970's. It was almost a work of comedy, and was little more than a dark satire on religion. So, many "satanists" are not at all serious.

They reject, and are often in active rebellion against, the ridiculous idea that "God" is some superbeing, the "ultimate extraterrestrial," a "soldier" in the sky, or that God is a violent, childish, murderous king or law-giver. They laugh at the primitive, often absurd, ideas that God is a torturer, the manager of an everlasting torture-chamber called "hellfire"-- a word never used in the Bible.

But serious, and naive, "satanists" are dead wrong. Those who worship "demons" are on exactly the opposite track of where they should be. They are spiritually backwards and upside-down. Their hatred for an illusory and ludicrous "God" has driven them into spiritual insanity.
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