Friday, October 14, 2016

Satanists Rising

                America, at first blush, would seem a highly unlikely place for Devil worship to take root. Sadly, that is just what appears to be occurring. Satanists are becoming main-stream.  In fact, explicitly satanic groups have begun drawing attention to themselves in the context of public governmental ceremonies.
                The Satanic Temple, of which I’ve previously written, wasn’t founded until 2013, yet has seven chapters in the U.S. and Europe and a membership of over 100,000. It fights for “political change” and is, of course, virulently opposed to conservatism. It is currently attempting to embed Lucifer in the public school system via “After School Satan” clubs. (See my post of August 2nd, 2016). They have met with some success and currently boast A.S.S. clubs (my acronym, not theirs) in nine school systems. The Satanic Temple also aims to place demonic books on the shelves of public school libraries, and have satanic prayers recited at high school games.
                And now the Satanic Temple has a new international headquarters…in Salem, Massachusetts. So far, residents and business owners alike seem at ease with adding Satanists to their city’s mix of Wiccans, Warlocks, and faiths outside of the mainstream. Dominick Pangallo, Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll’s chief of staff, claims that they have only received “a total of four phone calls” from people concerned about their town becoming the World Headquarters of the Church of Satan. Live and let live as they say. The city has traded Puritans for Satanists. Progress…pass it on!
            In recent months, satanic invocations were given at several different city council meetings around the United States. According to various online and newspaper reports, a member of the Satanic Temple was allowed to make an opening “prayer” to Lucifer at a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting last month. Local resident and Satanic Temple member Iris Fontana started off the invocation by stating: "Let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations.”
                She ended the prayer with “Hail Satan.”
                Council members stood in a circle with remarkable sanguinity as she spoke.
                In July another Satanist was allowed to give an invocation prior to a Pensacola, Florida city council meeting. Observers say that these invocations seem to be mostly a call for people to turn against their religious beliefs and embrace agnosticism. These satanic prayers have sparked debate about whether city councils should just do away altogether with their traditions of opening meetings with prayer.
                That, of course, is exactly what the Satanists want.

                You know what they say: “Talk of the devil and he is sure to appear.” If we continue with this devil-may-care attitude, there will be hell to pay.

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