ok then Eire- I would be interested in any knowledge as to what Satanists do and believe as you say if you feel for the most part that that is what we are lacking in forming a better hypothesis-
Your post took guts, I'll give you that, and I felt you were eloquent in it's presentation. I do agree with the last line.
Nah, it didn't take guts at all. Just a big mouth and a large soapbox
Satanists, and when I say that, I'm refering to groups like the Church of Satan, don't worship Satan at all. The thing to remember about Anton LaVey is, he was a showman. He knew what would really rile people up and he named his belief system after it. Thus, Satanism. It worked, especially in the late 60's in San Francisco. Piss off the Hippies and Middle America all at once, that was LaVey's style. They don't worship Satan or dark, evil demons. They're really more into themselves than worshiping anything when you get right down to it. It's what some of my Satanist friends call a self-centered religion. Satanism the way LaVey taught it, it was more about being intelligent, taking personal responsiblity for your actions and your failings and basically living for yourself. That's why many consider it a self-centered faith. LaVey added some guidelines about how a Satanist is to behave and what is important. Two of those guidelines are "Do no kill animals" and "Do not harm little children." There are guidelines about not harassing women sexually and not stealing as well. As it was put to me by a friend years ago, there's nothing stopping your standard Satanist from punching random strangers in the nose, but he has to be ready to face the consequences for his actions. No excuses, no "I didn't have a puppy when I was 7." Whatever you do, you and you alone are responsible for. If you choose to be a miserable jackass, you'll be a lonely miserable jackass and nobody will make excuses for you. He has some social Darwinist leanings I find distasteful on a personal level, but the faith is against killing, torturing and maiming. There aren't any rituals which would require a new member to prover his or her "worth" so to speak to the group. Actually, all you need to join the LaVeyan path is about $200. That's right, you buy your way in. Not condoning it, just putting it out there.
The Temple of Set was founded by a man who was a member of the Church of Satan. He and LaVey had a falling out. Nobody will ever get the true story behind that one as LaVey said one thing and Temple of Set guy said another and the truth is probably more like there wasn't enough space in any given room for both egos to exist at the same time. I personally don't care for the way Set is run, but I dobut he's losing any sleep over that one.
They like to play up the dark stuff, but they aren't into killing or maiming or hurting either. I'm pretty sure you just buy your way in there too. I'd have to seek clarification on that though. The truth is, a Satanic gathering would probably either bore the pants off most people or make them giggle insanely. Personally, I giggled insanely, but I was polite enough to do so behind closed doors. My dearest friend in all of this world and the next was a Satanist. I said somewhere else that his passing from this world left a deep wound in the hearts of many. He was a wonderful human being with a heart of gold. He just happened to follow a belief system most of us find scary or off-putting. There was nothing scary or off-putting about it. I used to be scared half to death of the whole thing, but I learned about it and it stopped being scary.
Yes, there are many groups of practicing Satanists in many countries around the world. They don't generally participate in mass homicides or crime sprees because personal responsibility plays a big role in the beliefs. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that someone claiming to be a Satanist can commit crimes, history proves that happens. I'm sure certain Satanists commit crimes too. But, an organized group of them, no.
The main reason I spoke up in the first place is, I'm a practicing Pagan and have been for over 10 years. When things like this happen and the murderous cult theories get bandied about, we're all mashed together into one huge lump of evil. We aren't evil people practicing evil and worshiping demons. We are just like everyone else. In fact, you'd most likel not be able to recognize a Pagan or a Satanist in a crowd. You'd be able to pick out a few, but most of us are just your average guy/gal on the street.
Hope my little novel has cleared things up a tad bit. I didn't mean to go on so, I was planning on the "Reader's Digest" version.
If you want to know more, I'm always happy to educate.