Friday, June 15, 2012

"The Church of Satan Interviewed by Televangelist Bob Larson: Not the Conversation You Think It Is" video clip on HuffPo is pretty amusing but I don't quite get why it has been posted. The article itself does not explain why there is any interest in Bob Larson now. He is still around but I have not notice any significant media attention being paid to "Satanism" recently.

The video doesn't really provide any insight just cheesy entertainment. All three in the interview are complete morons. It also has nothing to do with Satanism in terms of theology. Larson does not seem to understand that the Church of Satan is actually a misnomer. It would be more accurate to relabel it the Church of Hedonism. Though some adherents seem to believe in Satan I have not gotten the impression that they are the majority. I have heard interviews with a handful of Church of Satan members over the years and most of them view Satan as a useful symbol. They did not actually believe in Satan as an entity nor did they have any interest in "evil". Basically, they were not Satanists in any theological sense.

Something that is never really clarified but should be whenever Satanism gets brought up is the fact that it is an offshoot of Christianity. Satan as a concept is a creation of Judeo-Christian scriptures and doctrines. In early Old Testament passages Satan is of little to no significance. Satan as a major figure does not emerge until Christian doctrines develop to make it so. Acceptance of Satanism as being real in anyway also negates the whole idea of monotheism. If Satan has power independent of God, God cannot be all powerful. In effect you end up with two opposing gods.

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