Satanism

Wednesday

Luke Coppen

Are black-metal bands going Christian?

In his youth, Emil Lundin became obsessed with the idea of recording the world’s “most evil album.” The lanky, long-haired Swede formed a black-metal band and set to work. He faced an immediate obstacle. In making history’s most nefarious musical creation, he could hardly use Swedish, with its singsong tones. English was also out of the question: he didn’t want to sound like ABBA. That left Latin, the native tongue of the occult and, it is said, of demons. In a quest for suitably devilish lyrics, he pored over arcane texts. That led him to Latin editions of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers – badass early Christian monks – and St. Augustine’s Confessions.

black metal

Sunday

Damian Thompson

How the occult captured the modern mind

The British science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, proposed a "law of science" in 1968: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke’s proposition had a quality of rightness, of stating the obvious with sparkling clarity, that propelled it into dictionaries of quotations. The timing was perfect: Concorde would soon be flying over rock festivals packed with hippies obsessed with "magick." Naturally Clarke’s readers understood the difference between aerodynamics and sky gods. But African tribesmen gawping at an early airplane, or Pacific Islanders watching an atomic explosion, could only conclude that they were witnessing a supernatural event: for them, a scientific explanation was literally inconceivable.

Sunday

Amber Duke

The Satanic Temple’s legal campaign against criticism

What happens when you create a de jure religious organization for the purposes of opposing organized religion? In the case of the Satanic Temple, you seemingly become the thing that you hate. After I wrote about the Satanic Temple's attempt to start an After School Satan Club at an elementary school in Chesapeake, Virginia, I was made aware of an ongoing legal battle between TST and some of its former members. TST accused four former members of hacking a Facebook group for a Washington State chapter, as well as a related meme page, and using it to post defamatory claims about the organization and its leadership. The Satanic Temple's latest lawsuit against these former members was dismissed in January by a district court.

Thursday

Amber Duke

After School Satan Club loses sponsor, then finds a new one

The After School Satan Club being hosted at a Virginia elementary school faced a temporary setback Tuesday when its unnamed sponsor decided to no longer host the event. However, according to the Satanic Temple, which hosts the ASSC around the country, a new sponsor has resubmitted the group’s application. Chesapeake Public Schools Superintendent Jared A. Cotton sent an email to parents on Tuesday indicating that the initial application had been withdrawn. “Today, the Chesapeake citizen requesting to use the facility on behalf of the ASSC has officially withdrawn their request,” Cotton wrote. “As such, the application no longer meets the requirements of School Board Policy. At this point, the approval for building use has been canceled.

satan

Friday

Amber Duke

Virginia elementary school to host Satanic after-school program

An elementary school in Chesapeake, Virginia, will allow an "After School Satan Club" hosted by the Satanic Temple, according to a flyer for the program. B.M. Williams Primary School will hold the monthly event starting December 15 in its library. The flyer states that children will work on science and community service projects, puzzles and games, nature activities, and crafts. It includes a cartoon of Satan dressed as a professor and claims that Lucifer is merely a literary figure who represents the human mind and spirit. Children who attend the program, the group says, will learn "critical thinking" skills.

Thursday

Grayson Quay

Travis Scott, satanist?

Last weekend, eight people were killed and over 300 were injured at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival in Houston, as the crowd surged toward the stage. If a nine-year-old boy who fell from his father’s shoulders fails to emerge from his medically induced coma, the death toll could increase to nine. Scott took the stage at 9 p.m. By 9:38, authorities had deemed it a “mass casualty” situation. Instead of stopping the performance and attempting to defuse the situation, as musicians often do, Scott continued performing for another 37 minutes. An ambulance entered the throng. The crowd chanted “STOP THE SHOW!” Two concertgoers climbed on stage screaming “People are dead!” at a camera crew.

satan