June 9, 2023
What’s going on with David Silverman and The Satanic Temple?
Note: A previous version of this article lacked the updates between June 9 and June 28, 2023, but also treated too credulously and authoritatively The Satanic Temple Sober Faction’s description of Doug “Lucien Greaves” Misicko reduced role in the organization when combined with Dex Desjardin’s description of Misicko as being “semi-retired”. The recap and responses remain unchanged otherwise except for new additions.
What happened?
One of the co-owners of the Temple received a new firestorm of criticism from members of much of the rest of the organization after noted transphobe and longtime reactionary dingus David Silverman was touring The Satanic Temple’s headquarters/art gallery in Salem with Christine Shellska.
Satanic Temple owner Doug “Lucien Greaves” Misicko took a picture with Silverman (and Shellska) in front of TST’s “Baphomet with Children” statue.
Instead of apologizing or even explaining his seeming endorsement of a person now primarily known for being loathsome, Misicko doubled down and blamed everyone criticizing him in a variety of mediums.
Wait, that’s it?
Yeah, and it’s been tearing The Satanic Temple’s membership apart for the past few days to the extent the entirety of TST UK ended up leaving the rest of the org over it.
OK. Back up. Who is David Silverman? Is he the Nazi lawyer guy?
That’s Marc Randazza you’re thinking of, but it makes sense that you’re confused because there are a lot of these figures. TST is awash in them, and that’s part of the problem.
For Silverman, though, the short version is that he got removed as leader of the prominent national organization American Atheists in 2018 over allegations of an improper business/sexual relationship and financial conflicts of interest.
Buzzfeed wrote the definitive piece on this when it happened.
David Silverman, a firebrand atheist with a knack for generating publicity for his cause, has been abruptly fired as president of American Atheists, one of the leading secular organizations in the US.
The group’s board held an emergency meeting Thursday evening and unanimously voted to fire 51-year-old Silverman, based on explosive written allegations of sexual assault and undisclosed conflicts of interest, BuzzFeed News has learned.
…
On Tuesday, American Atheists placed Silverman on paid leave while it investigated a complaint from staff concerned that he had not disclosed financial and personal conflicts of interest relating to the promotion of his book, Fighting God: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World, and the appointment to a senior position of a woman with whom Silverman was allegedly having a sexual relationship. (That appointment has been rescinded.)
For more, Adam Lee of Patheos and now OnlySky wrote a series of articles about all of it and the fallout as Silverman got hired by Atheist Alliance International, did some “creepy touching” to a woman at a party, and then got fired from there and went into the right-wing grift full-time.
- On the Firing of David Silverman (2018)
- David Silverman and the Wages of Whiteness (2019)
- “That’s Ancient History”: Update on David Silverman and Atheist Alliance International (2020)
From the third article:
Incredibly, Silverman himself was rehired again – although arguably it was yet another step down in prestige – by a group called the Conru Foundation, which gives grants to “demonetized truth-tellers”. Since then, he’s descended further into the slime, like when he claimed that systemic racism doesn’t exist or called George Floyd “human garbage“.
Source: Daylight Atheism by Adam Lee
Wow. That’s really bad.
Uh huh. But all of that is to say, his turn into right wing grifting of course has to include all the latest panics of the day which is Covid misinformation…
…and of course transphobia.
Just one more:
Oh God. And it’s Pride month.
“Hail Satan and it’s Pride month,” our comrade in Lucifer.
But yes, that definitely did not help Misicko. More importantly, Misicko has been committed to not helping himself because his answers on this have been absolutely atrocious.
Hello Madilyn,
Before he came to Salem recently, I last met Silverman when he was head off (sic) American Atheists and I was speaking at their conference. I haven’t kept up with him through the years, and I have not kept up with his opinions. He stopped in and said Hi. We’re open to the public. Countless random people also get pictures with me and I do not vet their social media first.
Lucien Greaves
Cofounder, spokesperson
The Satanic Temple
Which, well, funny how many pieces of shit Doug just happens to wind up next to but keeps knowing nothing about.
Like ol’ Ragnar Santorum, even.
There are numerous photos of me with visitors at HQ. A photo, circulating around recently, is no more significant than any of the others. I refuse to let this contrived non-story divert our attention from the crucial work TST is undertaking to support our LGBTQ community members. I have no desire to dignify assumptions that claim I agree with individuals simply because I have interacted with them. It is highly likely that I may interact with someone who doesn’t reflect my personal views or TST’s platforms again in the future. I thought this went without saying, but I disagree with Tucker Carlson’s worldview, for the record The most vital element of our work at TST is ensuring the religious rights of our members, which includes enforcing the bodily autonomy of our LGBTQ members. Many of our transgender members are confronting restrictive legislation specifically targeting them. The focus must be on the work we are doing within TST to support our members, not a photo with someone whose opinions I did not vet prior to agreeing to take it. The focus must always be on the work needed to support our LGBTQ members, not just this month but always.
Doug “Lucien Greaves” Misicko’s Twitter statement.
I will not address this matter further because we all have more important work to do in opposing the very real tyrannical threats. Follow TST to hear more about our plans to support our LGBTQ members throughout the next few weeks.
Consider also just how factually inaccurate that excuse is. They definitely worked together, apparently followed each other and occasionally interacted on Twitter, and in 2019 after two failures with atheist organizations, The Satanic Temple was still having him on their shows to spew garbage.
This was pointed out as a problem at the time by “Tertia Withershins,” a TST leader in Houston, in since-deleted exchange.
![C. Widdershins 12/29/19
I'm less than 10 minutes into the interview with David Silverman, and I'm so disgusted. This guy has spent the entire time so far railing about the "woke left" and feminists and his innocence. I just don't know where to start with this.
This interview should have been cut off five minutes in and scrapped. Fucking hell. If I took a shot every time the interviewer seems to agree with David's anti-feminist bullshit, I think I'd be drunk already.
@LEDFlashing [Jack Matirko, the interviewer] Can you say something about this? What was the purpose of this interview? I've made it to 18 minutes, and the dumpster fire is just getting hotter. Now he's railing about being called a [transphobe]. Wtf.
Jack Matirko
At the time he was running AAI and the new allegations hadn't surfaced. Had he not resigned, do you think this would've helped or hurt him? Because he made very short work of finding a new (arguably better) job without my show's help.](https://i0.wp.com/queersatanic.com-content/uploads/2023/06/image-27.png?resize=550%2C960&ssl=1)
C. Widdershins 12/29/19
I’m less than 10 minutes into the interview with David Silverman, and I’m so disgusted. This guy has spent the entire time so far railing about the “woke left” and feminists and his innocence. I just don’t know where to start with this.
This interview should have been cut off five minutes in and scrapped. Fucking hell. If I took a shot every time the interviewer seems to agree with David’s anti-feminist bullshit, I think I’d be drunk already.
@LEDFlashing [Jack Matirko, the interviewer] Can you say something about this? What was the purpose of this interview? I’ve made it to 18 minutes, and the dumpster fire is just getting hotter. Now he’s railing about being called a [transphobe]. Wtf.
Jack Matirko
At the time he was running AAI and the new allegations hadn’t surfaced. Had he not resigned, do you think this would’ve helped or hurt him? Because he made very short work of finding a new (arguably better) job without my show’s help.
Ope, and wouldn’t you know it Greg “Priest Penemue” Stevens popped up in the replies. Again, this is the guy that was close friends with Mike Cernovich and Milo Yiannopoulos for years overlapping with his time in TST and as a leader.
Prior to that petulant “this conversation is over” totally-not-a-red-flag Tweet addressing the situation, people gave Misicko lots of chances, too. This comes at the end of a long, long conversation.
Which is almost worse than not saying it at that point.
Then June 20, there was a whole Patreon article about it where Misicko said he would not cave to the angry mob of performative activists.
But the demand that I “denounce” Silverman struck me as particularly cruel and unnecessary. While it may matter little to anybody that it is cruel to Silverman, I think that the demands that I be forced into denouncing anybody is cruel to me. It’s cruel to demand that anybody “reform” themselves of a non-transgression by denouncing another. It is bizarre to assert that because I had been made aware that Silverman’s views on trans rights are controversial, and that I was caught in a picture with him, that I should then be obligated to scour his social media looking for those views and debating them publicly. If my pictured proximity to Silverman necessitates that I investigate the man with the predetermined understanding that I will denounce him, then I need to be honest about the entirety of interactions with him and why I thought nothing of being in a picture with him.
I met David Silverman when he was still head of American Atheists. He invited TST to speak at an American Atheists conference – one of the first people to break the ice for us, resisting opposition within his own organization that felt we had no place there. At the conference, he greeted us warmly and was unfailingly accommodating. Some time later, I heard that Silverman had been booted from American Atheists for, as I understood it, elevating a sexual partner to a board level position, as well as other accusations of misconduct. The story did not interest me. I did not understand myself as having any continuing relationship to the man, and it all looked like a messy split that anybody would do well to avoid. By the time he came to our HQ I assumed him long retired from public exposure: independent and uninfluential.
…
One does not look upon the barbarity of medieval torture devices and ask, but were those who were subjected to this guilty? It does not matter if they were. The torture devices are still barbaric, and we can not help but be wary of those who would use them. What kind of people were they? What kind of culture allows for such practices to be carried out? Similarly, whether David Silverman is worthy of the highest levels of contempt, even if he were a serial murderer, what kind of person am I if I begin yielding to calls from angry mobs to denounce people publicly? What kind of people are we if we insist that such actions are the only remedial course? Who do we become if this is what we demand of people?
So still very much the opposite of learning lessons or applying to himself the same standards members and local leaders are expected to apply to themselves.
And now (June 28) yet another whole softball podcast with lackey Stephen Bradford Long.
It’s funny because Misicko did sort of tell all of us this way back in 2019. Or maybe the quote just reads worse now.
“From the start, when one of our early actions was the Pink Mass, a lot of LGBTQ people were looking for another community that didn’t see them as defined by their sexual orientation,” Greaves says. “Within the Satanic Temple, we’re all pretty much one and the same. We’re all Satanists and it’s not like we have ‘tolerance’ for trans people or gay people or sex workers, we just don’t fucking care, and a lot of people in those communities appreciate that.”
“Satanic Temple Says It Will ‘Fight to the Death’ for LGBTQ+ Rights”, Out.com
But like, this is still TST, right? So people are sticking by Doug Misicko anyhow.
Less than you’d think and way less enthusiastically that you’d expect.
In fact, Dex Desjardins appears to have made his play to replace Misicko as national spokesperson, but since Misicko is still the owner and face of the org, we’ll see if our lil’ garden sticks the landing.
Dex Desjardins
His [Misicko’s] response was abysmal. Like an angry 7 year old. I honestly wish he’d retire and start enjoying life already
Dex Desjardins, Media Relations Specialist for The Satanic Temple
The Satanic Temple UK
The whole chapter up and left, even, a least this second time this has happened after what would become Global Order of Satan in 2018.
TST Salem of course deleted the announcement post after not too long.
The Satanic Temple UK
Admin Just now.
To our fellow heathens, our friends,
Throughout our journey as satanists, within TST, we have promoted and tried to live by the 7 tenets. Tenets that reflect compassion, accountability, fallibility and growth. Tenets that reflect humanity and united us.
Over the last few weeks we have seen that at least one of our founders, a member of the Executive Ministry, TST’s spokesperson, has, in our opinion, failed these tenets. In the same breath that we are expected to present ourselves according to a code of conduct, we are seeing that this expectation does not fall to those who rule without question. That TST is a place where our members can be cautioned for questioning but they (EM) can move swiftly on. We can not stand for this.
We can not stand by as Trans and Non-Binary members are alienated by the founders of a community that they have chosen to find home in. Where elected council members are threatened with cautions by arbitrary authority whilst abusers are able to remain. We will stand by our friendships and connections with individuals within TST, we stand by the hard work of our fellow congregations across the globe as they create belonging and make changes in their communities in the name of Satan, but we now find ourselves where we must leave.
Our congregation has always tried to make sure that each member has a voice. We’ve worked hard to write policy and processes that reflect that. This is a democratic community and now, as we always have, we asked each and every one of our 41 congregation members what was to come next. No member voted to remain part of the congregation of TSTUK. All members and the council have chosen to step down. Satanism is for everyone, it is not owned by a single organisation, nor a single person. We are grateful that we found each other and built an authentic community of true belonging and connection – that is a rare and beautiful thing. We will go forward together and build a new home where our voices are heard and where we are not shackled by an un-elected authority that escapes accountability whilst having the final word sent through an ignorant mouth. We are proud of the work that we as a Congregation have achieved so far and this work will continue under a new collective.
And that’s that.
Hail Satan
Did anybody else speak out?
A few. We’ll put some of them below for flavor, and as of now, these are all public posts.
The Satanic Temple Sober Faction
Let’s start with The Satanic Temple Sober Faction, who definitely wished it were true that Doug Misicko weren’t the face of their organization and didn’t represent everyone else in the religion he claims to own.
Dex Desjardin then came in to clean up and clarify that nothing had changed and Misicko was involved but claiming to be involved less in the future in favor of other people stepping up to parrot TST positions but not set new ones.
Richard Proctor
Next, Richard Proctor, the Neurodivergent Satanist.
I Am Not A Representative For The Satanic Temple.
A common defence I’ve heard from solo members all the way up to Campaign Directors within TST, is that Lucien is one man who is fallible and his own individual actions do not represent that of its members. But as I said, I am a Minister in this religious organisation. There is always going to be the accusation of ‘guilt by association’. We all carry the stink.
People that LG has associated with in the past and comments he has made are still lobbed at TST an in attempt to sow division amongst the membership. Queer Satanic have already picked up on this and I can only imagine will have a field day with it. This fresh ammunition will continue to do damage to TST membership for a long time to come. Even members who have left in the past, I am seeing them return like vultures with their cries of “I told you so!”.
I haven’t left TST and fully acknowledge that this is all probably just “cope” from someone suffering from sunk-cost fallacy, but there’s more to it than JUST that.
Can our guy consider that maybe we aren’t talking about this as fresh ammunition or to sow division but because it’s a real issue that we (and many others) have been pointing to for literally years now?
See also:
Yeah, like, maybe this should just be a sign you’re in a bad organization/corporation/religion owned by two shitty dudes rather than something you resign yourself to putting up with?
Imagine a megachurch and its congregation behaving this way toward a pastor/church-owner and how that already sounds.
Richard Proctor
Richard Proctor, public Facebook post
10h ago
My thoughts are just too long for a Facebook status and I even cut some stuff out. I have been quite vocal about the subject so far and so I am posting this and then refraining from further discussion on the matter for at least today.
I am tired. My DMs are open but please have patience.
NEURODIVERGENT
SATANIST.COM
6 comments
Illiamshadows Christobal
Richard. That really helped me. Thank you so much for your insightful and wonderful thoughts.
Rose NoChill Bastet
This is wonderfully stated.
Anthony Early
I get those that are outraged. I just feel sad myself.
June Everett
Thank you for somehow wrapping your words around the thoughts in my brain. As a CD, I feel that I am a Representative for The Satanic Temple, and how do I plead that I’m not? Because I have no plans to quit. In fact, I want to fight even harder.
Richard Proctor
@June Everett TST is our house. I’m not walking away cuz the family dog shat on the carpet.
June Everett:
@Richard Proctor Well, more like the owner shat on the carpet and then raised rent on all of us.
The conversation ends with with this quite valid analogy: “Well, more like the owner shat on the carpet and then raised rent on all of us.”
Really think about that and how this so-called religion works. Yes, it is like Cevin Soling and Doug Misicko are your landlords — and you live in a state with virtually no tenant rights because this is America.
You cannot reform your landlord as a tenant by voting on it because they’re already said your votes don’t count. It is not possible.
Carmen Love
I will always be a Satanist. I have always been a Satanist. Even before I knew what it was called. I believe in the seven tenets set forth by The Satanic Temple. I believe in the volunteers, activists, ministers, members and community leaders that make up the heart of TST.
Carmen Love, public Facebook post and Twitter thread
But I no longer believe in The Satanic Temple as a promising organization of potential and progress. And I am no longer considering myself a member or affiliated with TST in any way. I’m resigning my membership.
This doesn’t mean much, except for to me, and for the first time I will publicly tell you why. I had a relationship with Lucien Greaves a few years back but due to his position and the fact that it was a manipulative relationship with weird power dynamics, I was essentially bullied into keeping it quiet. It ended badly. We became friends later on and I had been holding on to some hope that he would continue to grow and change and learn. I asked him to. I warned him. But he didn’t listen, and didn’t seem to understand. It’s obvious now that he never will be the person that The Satanic Temple needed him to be and probably never was in the first place. Seeing how he has handled this public confrontation regarding Silverman, after everything else he has barely recovered from during his leadership, was fucking embarrassing. I’ve lost all respect and I’m disappointed. Again.
Anyone who’s ever been in a mutually toxic relationship will know how hard it is to admit that someone you once loved is no good, and not who you thought they were. It takes a really long time to get there sometimes. That’s the only reason that I’m including this in my “public” resignation. Because I’m embarrassed about how long I’ve spent defending him during my time in TST. And I’m very sorry to any communities that may have been hurt or felt unsafe in the process. By admitting all of this, I’m hoping to hold myself accountable.
Because Satanists deserve better.
I deserve better, my trans and LGBTQ friends deserve better, my POC friends deserve better.
I no longer care about what bridges I might burn by posting this. It weighs too damn heavy now. Many of you already knew the dirty laundry anyway. Please do allow the bridges to burn. It’s long overdue. I want to be liberated from this weight and these ties.
I love my satanic community. Please let me know how I can continue to support you all outside of The Satanic Temple. I believe in all of you.
Hugs,
Carmen aka [redacted for security], former Friends of TST Maine Chapterhead applicant & organizer, former member of TST Boston Chapter, former member of TST Arizona, former essayist at Go Hail Yourself.
Morgana East
![Recently Lucien Greaves was photographed with an asshole because he didn't know the guy was an asshole when he took the photo. Not a problem, people are fallible.
What IS a problem is that instead of rectifying his mistake and attempting to resolve the harm he has had it made unambiguously clear to him he has caused, he is instead choosing to be snotty and defensive. It must be so nice to have the privilege to decide that [to paraphrase the man's own words] the work our community is doing is too important to get bogged down with trivialities like holding himself accountable for his actions.
This is not Allyship.
This is not Leadership.
This is not any satanism I recognize.](https://i0.wp.com/queersatanic.com-content/uploads/2023/06/image-33.png?resize=671%2C975&ssl=1)
Recently Lucien Greaves was photographed with an asshole because he didn’t know the guy was an asshole when he took the photo. Not a problem, people are fallible.
Morgana East, public Facebook post
What IS a problem is that instead of rectifying his mistake and attempting to resolve the harm he has had it made unambiguously clear to him he has caused, he is instead choosing to be snotty and defensive. It must be so nice to have the privilege to decide that [to paraphrase the man’s own words] the work our community is doing is too important to get bogged down with trivialities like holding himself accountable for his actions.
This is not Allyship.
This is not Leadership.
This is not any satanism I recognize.
8 comments
Helle Bent
Also he knew. He follows the guy on Twitter and doesn’t follow many people. And how many of us would get a private personal tour if we visited hq. It’s all bullshit.
Morgana East
@Helle Bent and here I was last night saying I couldn’t get angrier
Thomas J. Alleman
He needs to held accountable for this big time.
Sarah Christine
Whoa
Pete Wells
This isn’t the first or last time Lucien has done something icky.
There was the shit with hiring Neo Nazi Lawyer Marc Randazza a few years ago.
Then there is the use of TST funds to carry out a lengthy lawsuit against former members for exposing corruption, sexual abuse & anti-semitism in the organization on social media.
Despite the noble front of fighting for freedom of religion and free speech, the guy is a grifter building up a cult of personality and really no better than Anton LaVey
Mary Widow
I had this exact conversation with my mom. People saying “I wish I hadn’t done such and such. I will do my best to not do that again” really makes me trust or at least respect them a bit more. He obviously feels differently which says a lot about him.
Mary Widow
Also, I’m only satanic adjacent so I don’t know much about him other than this.
Pandora Noir
Salem Seladonia
The Satanic Temple's Boogeyman
Queer Satanic
TST sued us from April 2020 to September 2024, and we are still here.
