April 3, 2020
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Who are you?
- You’re “Satanists”? Does that mean you worship the devil?
- So are you affiliated with Church of Satan or The Satanic Temple?
- What’s a “SLAPP”?
- Can I learn more about the lawsuits against you?
- How can I help?
- How do I join you?
- What does “be gay, do crime” mean?
Who are you?
We used to be four people being targeted with a SLAPP by an abusive religious organization. Now all that litigation is finally over, so we’re figuring some stuff out.
You’re “Satanists”? Does that mean you worship the devil?
Like most self-identified Satanists you’ll ever run across, we do not believe in or worship the devil. We don’t do rituals involving infant blood or animal sacrifice or any of that stuff, and we don’t have any magic power or influence in the world.
Now, there are “Satanists” who will promise desperate, naïve people supernatural riches or power, but most of those people are just scammers. There are Satanists who believe they are venerating a literal, divine entity, but these tend to be sincere and (non-pejoratively) mentally ill Christians.
Theistic, “devil-worshipping” Satanists, Luciferians, demonolaters, etc., do also exist out there, and some of them are stand-up folk, but it’s a tiny number compared to the much larger categories of “atheistic Satanists”, “Christians experiencing psychosis”, and especially, “stuff Christians made up to be mad about”.
So are you affiliated with Church of Satan or The Satanic Temple?
Neither one, friend. Both tend to hate us for saying, “Neo-Nazi shit is bad, actually,” which you’d think is pretty anodyne till you review the histories of both orgs‘ leaders.
The Satanic Temple is the only one who pursued us in court with SLAPPs for 4.5 years, though.
What’s a “SLAPP”?
It’s a “strategic lawsuit against public participation”; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a good job breaking it down accessibly while talking about being targeted by their own SLAPP a few years back. Just, they got that HBO money, and we didn’t.
Can I learn more about the lawsuits against you?
Boy, you sure can.
If you don’t know anything and would like a summary to start:
For a third party analysis:
All of the court dockets:
And TST’s other lawsuits:
- vs. Newsweek and reporter
- vs. a TikToker in Texas
- her interview with Satanic Europe
- the TikToks in question (and TST legal threats)
- why she was right
How can I help?
As of October 2024, the lawsuits are over, so new legal bills shouldn’t be coming in. However, we’ll be paying off what we owe our lawyers for a while yet, so please continue to support our legal defense fund:
How do I join you?
We aren’t really anything at the moment for anybody to join, which also means we aren’t anything to affiliate with anybody else. Our advice has long been “don’t become a Satanist at all”, but if you can’t avoid it, be sure to “start your own local thing”.
Obviously, that is a rough road to hoe, and lots of people are seeking already-built things to plug into right now, so maybe check out a Discord server affiliated with Global Order of Satan to see if there are other worthwhile people/groups already around you to organize with. GOS has also been around long enough that they’re pretty good at helping people navigate some of the common pitfalls and challenges of organizing around Satanism, and so far seem structured for collaboration and facilitating collaboration rather than taking things over or trying to dictate behavior.
What does “be gay, do crime” mean?
When your very existence is a crime, everything else about society and the so-called “social contract” ought to be called into question, too, especially when the things society calls law are at odds with your literal survival.
The Satanic Temple's Boogeyman
Queer Satanic
TST sued us from April 2020 to September 2024, and we are still here.
