Towards a Post-Temple Satanism
With the rise of The Satanic Temple has come the rise of satanism all around the world. It would appear that a once heavily fringe philosophy has become accessible to more people than ever, and quite honestly there is little surprise there. The Satanic Temple, or TST as I will call them here, has modernized satanism for a new politically charged era in order to combat the rising theocratic christian fascism within the United States. With this came a reinterpretation of what we have known to be satanism prior to their arrival. Before TST, The Church of Satan, spearheaded by Anton LaVey, represented nontheistic satanism in its most compact form. While we can arguably find traces of nontheistic satanism in thinkers such as Proudhon's writings, it was Anton who formed the foundations of what we know it to be today. It was oppositional, confrontational, proud, individualistic, and most importantly it viewed Satan as a symbol and not an actual deity. ...