Bogan, Jesse (9 August 2011). "Inmate says rights were violated; Kevin Halfmann gets his day in court after an Illinois prison wouldn't let him have a copy of 'The Satanic Bible.' ". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Oppenheimer, Mark (July 10, 2015). "A Mischievous Thorn in the Side of Conservative Christianity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2015-07-11. The French Revolution of 1789 dealt a blow to the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church in parts of Europe, and soon a number of Catholic authors began making claims that it had been masterminded by a conspiratorial group of Satanists. [53] Among the first to do so was French Catholic priest Jean-Baptiste Fiard, who publicly claimed that a wide range of individuals, from the Jacobins to tarot card readers, were part of a Satanic conspiracy. [54] Fiard's ideas were furthered by Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier, who devoted a lengthy book to this conspiracy theory; he claimed that Satanists had supernatural powers allowing them to curse people and to shapeshift into both cats and fleas. [55] Although most of his contemporaries regarded Berbiguier as mad, [56] his ideas gained credence among many occultists, including Stanislas de Guaita, a Cabalist who used them for the basis of his book, The Temple of Satan. [57] He spanked me again, even harder, my skin burning under the paddle as I cried out. Some tea spilled over the rim at the force.

Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Although several historical precedents exist, the contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966. Prior to that time, Satanism existed primarily as the subject of accusations by various Christian groups toward perceived ideological opponents rather than a self-identity or expressed religious belief. Satanism, and the concept of Satan, has also been used by artists and entertainers for symbolic expression.I surveyed my ruined homework scattered on his desk, sodden with milky tea, frowning as the Cardinal brought me a fresh cup, having been steeped longer. “Here, dolce. I trust this is more to your liking?” Gardell, Matthias (2003). Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4. I’m sorry,” I said quietly, taking it, “but, my god… sorry, I mean…” I gave up, sighing as I climbed down the steps. “Are you trying to kill me?” eds. (2014). Controversial New Religions (2nded.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-931530-7.

The library really was a magical place. High shelves of books lined the walls, and further shelves filled the room, forming aisles and quiet corners; dim now except for the glow of green banker lamps scattered on end tables and desks throughout. Dark leather armchairs were plunked around, seemingly at random, always with a soft cushion or throw close at hand. A few were still occupied this late, with siblings reading or journaling; some had fallen asleep in the relaxing atmosphere. Scarre, Geoffrey; Callow, John (2001). Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Europe (seconded.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780333920824.Monette, Connell (2013). Mysticism in the 21st Century. Wilsonville, Oregon: Sirius Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-940964-00-3. A number of religious studies scholars have described LaVey's Satanism as a form of "self-religion" or "self-spirituality", [125] with religious studies scholar Amina Olander Lap arguing that it should be seen as being both part of the "prosperity wing" of the self-spirituality New Age movement and a form of the Human Potential Movement. [126] The anthropologist Jean La Fontaine described it as having "both elitist and anarchist elements", also citing one occult bookshop owner who referred to the Church's approach as "anarchistic hedonism". [127] In The Invention of Satanism, Dyrendal and Petersen theorized that LaVey viewed his religion as "an antinomian self-religion for productive misfits, with a cynically carnivalesque take on life, and no supernaturalism". [128] The sociologist of religion James R. Lewis even described LaVeyan Satanism as "a blend of Epicureanism and Ayn Rand's philosophy, flavored with a pinch of ritual magic." [129] The historian of religion Mattias Gardell described LaVey's as "a rational ideology of egoistic hedonism and self-preservation", [130] while Nevill Drury characterized LaVeyan Satanism as "a religion of self-indulgence". [131] It has also been described as an "institutionalism of Machiavellian self-interest". [132] Social Darwinism and the concept of "human nature" are ideas that are prevalent throughout The Satanic Bible. LaVey describes Satanism as "a religion based on the universal traits of man," [78] and humans are described throughout as inherently carnal and animalistic. Each of the seven deadly sins is described as part of human's natural instinct, and are thus advocated. [79] Social Darwinism is particularly noticeable in The Book of Satan, where LaVey plagiarizes portions of Redbeard's Might Is Right, though it also appears throughout in references to man's inherent strength and instinct for self-preservation. [76] [80] LaVeyan Satanism has been described as "institutionalism of Machiavellian self-interest" because of many of these themes. [81] Influence [ edit ]

The Satanic ritual abuse hysteria died down between 1990 and 1994. [91] In the late 1980s, the Satanic Scare had lost its impetus following increasing skepticism about such allegations, [102] and a number of those who had been convicted of perpetrating Satanic ritual abuse saw their convictions overturned. [103] In 1990, an agent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ken Lanning, revealed that he had investigated 300 allegations of Satanic ritual abuse and found no evidence for Satanism or ritualistic activity in any of them. [103] In the UK, the Department of Health commissioned the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine to examine the allegations of SRA. [104] She noted that while approximately half did reveal evidence of genuine sexual abuse of children, none revealed any evidence that Satanist groups had been involved or that any murders had taken place. [105] She noted three examples in which lone individuals engaged in child molestation had created a ritual performance to facilitate their sexual acts, with the intent of frightening their victims and justifying their actions, but that none of these child molesters were involved in wider Satanist groups. [106] By the 21st century, hysteria about Satanism has waned in most Western countries, although allegations of Satanic ritual abuse continued to surface in parts of continental Europe and Latin America. [107] Atheistic SatanismAccusations that various groups have been practicing Satanism (in a 'Devil-worship' interpretation) have been made throughout much of Christian history. During the Middle Ages, the Inquisition led by the Catholic Church alleged that various heretical Christian sects and groups, such as the Knights Templar and the Cathars, performed secret Satanic rituals. In the subsequent Early Modern period, belief in a widespread Satanic conspiracy of witches resulted in mass trials of alleged witches across Europe and the North American colonies. Accusations that Satanic conspiracies were active, and behind events such as the development of Protestantism (and conversely, the Protestant claim that the Pope was the Antichrist) and the French Revolution continued to be made in Christendom between the 18th and 20th centuries. The idea of a vast Satanic conspiracy reached new heights with the influential Taxil hoax of France in the 1890s, which claimed that Freemasonry worshipped Satan, Lucifer, and/or Baphomet in their rituals. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Satanic ritual abuse hysteria spread through the United States and the United Kingdom amid fears that groups of Satanists were regularly sexually abusing and murdering children in their rites. In most of these cases, there was no corroborating evidence that any of those accused of Satanism were either practitioners of a Satanic religion or guilty of the allegations leveled at them. The figure of "Lucifer" was taken up by the French ceremonial magician Éliphas Lévi, who has been described as a "Romantic Satanist". [66] During his younger days, Lévi used "Lucifer" in the same positive symbolic manner as the literary Romantics. [67] As he moved toward political conservatism in later life, he retained the use of the term, but instead applied it to what he believed was a morally neutral facet of "the absolute". [66] [67] The shifting concept of Satan owes many of its origins to John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), in which Satan features as the protagonist. [250] Milton was a Puritan and had never intended for his depiction of Satan to be a sympathetic one. [251] However, in portraying Satan as a victim of his own pride who rebelled against the Judeo-Christian god, Milton humanized him and also allowed him to be interpreted as a rebel against tyranny. [252] This was how Milton's Satan was understood by John Dryden [253] and later readers like the publisher Joseph Johnson, [254] and the anarchist philosopher William Godwin, who reflected it in his 1793 book Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. [252] Paradise Lost gained a wide readership in the eighteenth century, both in Britain and in continental Europe, where it had been translated into French by Voltaire. [255] Milton thus became "a central character in rewriting Satanism" and would be viewed by many later religious Satanists as a " de facto Satanist". [249] Anton LaVey, who has been referred to as "The Father of Satanism", [108] synthesized his religion through the establishment of the Church of Satan in 1966 and the publication of The Satanic Bible in 1969. LaVey's teachings promoted "indulgence", "vital existence", "undefiled wisdom", "kindness to those who deserve it", "responsibility to the responsible", and an " eye for an eye" code of ethics, while shunning "abstinence" based on guilt, "spirituality", "unconditional love", "pacifism", "equality", " herd mentality", and " scapegoating". LaVey envisioned a Satanist as a carnal, physical, and pragmatic being. The core values of LaVeyan Satanism are the enjoyment of physical existence, and undiluted naturalism that sees mankind as animals that exist in an amoral universe.