Talk:Church of Satan

!

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religion, an attempt to build a comprehensive guide to Religion-related articles on Conservapedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

This is a controversial topic. Please try HARD not to make any edits which you think MIGHT be reverted. Contributors can help each other to keep this page unprotected by discussing changes instead of making hasty changes. New users are advised to head to less contentious areas.

I just made a change to make it clear that the 9 sins according to the church of satan, including commentary contained therein, is from the Church of Satan's website. Even so, this article is unbalanced. Please add criticisms and/or other balancing material. Thanks. HeartOfGold_talk 20:22, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

I have omitted the word "cult" from "cult beliefs". As there is no standardized definition of what separates a "cult" from a "religion", it would be best to refrain from using what is generally considered an offensive or condescending term. KxWaal 22:23, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

• Unacceptable. Sorry. --Sysop-TK _/MyTalk 22:54, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

• (taken from http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/faq.html#cult)"Every cult can be defined as a group having all of the following five characteristics:

1.It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain its members

2.It forms an elitist totalitarian society.

3.Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable and has charisma.

4.It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds recruit people.

5.Its wealth does not benefit its members or society."

If you can point out one characteristic out of these that the c.o.s. is guilty of, i'd like to know. While the term "cult" can be used to loosely characterize any creed or doctrine, by this definition Christianity, Judaism etc. would also fall under the term. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by KxWaal (talk)

"A group or doctrine with religious, philosophical or cultural identity sometimes viewed as a sect, often existent on the margins of society." We don't need to point out any of the things you list above, we also don't mince our words for fear of "offending" the gentle souls at the Church of Satan. File:User Fox.png Fox (talk|contribs) 07:06, 9 July 2007 (EDT)

• KxWaal, I don't know of any major, or minor organized Christian religious group, nor any Rabinical Councils, that any of the 5 points applies to. Do you? --Sysop-TK _/MyTalk 13:52, 9 July 2007 (EDT)

TK, you have obviously misinterpreted what I said. I pointed out that I have found two differing definitions of the term "cult": The first being a group that can be characterized by those 5 points, the second one being a broad term that can define just about any creed. Mainstream Christianity definitely is not guilty of the prior, neither is Anton Lavey's idea of Satanism.

Satanism is really more of a philosophy anyhow. Think humanism with a fashion sense. The whole "church" part is really just combination of their ideas that a)man needs ceremony in life and b)image is everything. While (b) might seem shallow, as Wesley R. Simpson, current Church Of Satan leader put it: "All religion is show-business, We're just the only church that admits it."

All I'm saying is, if you had used the word "cult" to describe Scientology instead, that crazy cult would probably have tried to sue you. ;) --KxWaal _{User_talk:KxWaal/talk} 21:55, 10 July 2007 (EDT)

• I've got to agree that it's not really a cult: cults are much more manipulative. It's just a provocative name for an atheistic philosophy. Traditional Conservative 22:29, 8 September 2007 (EDT)
• Yeah. In response to the five points mentioned by KxWaal: 1. They aren't "recruiting". People get to find out themselves. 2. They don't have any major political views. They let the government decide what's best for the society. 3. Satanism have existed far longer than Anton LaVey. He just put all the pieces together. 4. Once again, they don't recruit. And all satanists is responsible to their actions. No influence whatsoever from the "leaders". 5. Maybe because there's almost no money needed. They aren't taking money from their members. I have never been charged anything and I'm still a member of the Church of Satan. Laveyan 18:13, 30 January 2008 (EST)