i think you're right, texasfriedcriminal. so, here we go
to me stating that satanism is a distorted religion which travesty christianism and that its main characteristics are blood sacrifices, black magic, sorcery, and so on is just silly.
if you had ever tried to take a deeper look in satanism, you'd have found that it's much closer to be a philosophy than a religion in its essence. a religion is made of dogmas and artificially constraining doctrines while the driving thrust of satanism is freedom of thoughts/beliefs/behaviour. the freedom to be and the freedom to
not be. the word 'satan' itself simply means 'adversary' and does not identify any moral qualities. a satan could be a spirit or a human, or even multiple spirits or humans, and although often viewed as antagonistic, was not necessarily so.
'
Satan' was created by christianity as being a single, unique being who embodies evil and while it is true that some satanists - a minority - are theistic and believe in satan/lucifer/lilith/whatever as a deity, the majority of satanists do not.
generally speaking they consider satan as a representation of the natural forces of the universe and/or of the 'dark' aspects of human behavior and/or a sort of anti-hero with admirable qualities of independence, wisdom, and achievement.
the most important individual in a satanist's life is not a god but the satanist themself. they are their own highest judge, their own master, and the source of their own personal happiness.
no individual can say what is right and true for another individual, nor should any individual presume that they can. this emphasis on the self doesn't exclude caring for or involving oneself with others, as long as such actions provide happiness or gain for the individual.
this is what satanism is about: arrogance, selfishness, materialism, personal happiness, increasing knowledge and confidence in yourself to know what you want, to know how to get it, and finally to get it. blood sheding and black hooked figures are features that mostly characterize 'scary movies' only
/me (accepting but not always tolerating every religion/philosophy/whatever)
