A Mischievious Thorn in the Side of Conservative Christianity

[cbayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/us/a-mischievious-thorn-in-the-side-of-conservative-christianity.html?_r=0

JULY 10, 2015


The men who call themselves Malcolm Jarry, left, and Lucien Greaves of the Satanic Temple, which has 20 chapters. Credit Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

By MARK OPPENHEIMER

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — It is hard to know what to hope for when meeting a couple of Satanists. Horns? Sulfurous fumes? Faint strains of organ music? But when they sit down in an organic food cafe and order plates of fettuccini Alfredo, it’s hard to take them seriously as worshipers of the Dark Lord of the Underworld.

Nevertheless, the men who call themselves Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jarry — pseudonyms for the two co-founders of the Satanic Temple — have done more for the Satanic brand than anyone since Anton LaVey, the San Francisco carnival worker who wrote “The Satanic Bible” (Avon, 1969). With only a website, some legal savvy and a clever way with satire, the two Bostonians’ new, mostly virtual religion has become a sharp thorn in the brow of conservative Christianity.

Their religion, or anti-religion, has about 20 chapters and 20,000 Facebook followers, they say. With no full-time staff, the Satanic Temple has in three years achieved the kind of social media exposure usually reserved for pets in distress.


The Satanic Temple’s clay sculpture of Baphomet, which was used successfully in a lawsuit filed in Oklahoma. Credit Mark Porter and Jessie Wakeman, via Associated Press

Last month, the Satanic Temple claimed victory after a court ordered that a monument to the Ten Commandments be removed from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds. Although the Satanic Temple was not a plaintiff in the lawsuit, they say their plan to place a statue of Baphomet, a goat-headed deity of occult legend, beside the monument, on freedom-of-religion grounds, may have forced the court’s hand.

more at link

[safeinOhio]

1. Conservatives should love the book

due to it's birth from Ayn Rand'a Objectivism.

http://www.churchofsatan.com/satanism-and-objectivism.php

Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, is an acknowledged source for some of the Satanic philosophy as outlined in The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. Ayn Rand was a brilliant and insightful author and philosopher and her best-selling novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead continue to attract deserved attention for a new generation of readers. I am a strong admirer of Ayn Rand but I am an even stronger admirer of Anton LaVey for the vital differences between the philosophies of Objectivism and Satanism.

First, Objectivism holds that metaphysics, that branch of philosophy which concerns itself with the nature of reality, determines the nature of epistemology (which is concerned with how man acquires knowledge) as well as ethics (which is concerned with valuing human action), politics (social ethics) and art. Current philosophical disagreement on this issue still continues. It is, in fact, an unproven assertion by Rand that one's metaphysical assumptions determine one's ethics.

[cbayer]

2. Don't count on it, lol.

This group has targeted them repeatedly. Plus, I think a great deal of this is tongue in cheek.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Nice to see you've softened your outrage about greaves.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=130279


Its a shame rug isn't here, curious how he feels about this. He always seemed a bit miffed about greaves.

[Humanist_Activist]

4. Not to mention he kept linking to a website propagating SRA hysteria and conspiracy theories. n/t

[jaded_old_cynic]

5. AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service

AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service

Mail Message
On Sun Jul 12, 2015, 04:11 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

Not to mention he kept linking to a website propagating SRA hysteria and conspiracy theories. n/t
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=207094

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Making a completely false personal attack on another DUer who is not even in this thread, without evidence.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Jul 12, 2015, 04:23 PM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: meh, I don't know what this argument is about, but doesn't seem worth a hide
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[trotsky]

6. LOL n/t

[Humanist_Activist]

7. Goddamn, a 0-7 shutout, and I was just complaining about his history of sources...

who would bother to alert on something like that? Scrutinizing sources is completely valid in checking against validity and/or bias.

[skepticscott]

8. Only someone with nothing to do

but alert troll, because they were banned from posting for two months with 5 hides or something. And I wouldn't be surprised if they tried again.

Nice life.

[Humanist_Activist]

9. Damn, just looked him up, was wondering why we weren't being bombarded by posts...

from some of the dredges of the internet. *cough*Catholic Patheos*cough.

Honestly, I would say the timeout should be good for him, allow him to cool down, though I'm quite the hothead myself, I'm clear of hidden posts for the past 3 months, which actually surprised the hell out of me.

Who knows, maybe that will change now, could always use a good record breaker. lol.