Maybe a tangent, but the mythology of Satan isn’t associated with any moral or ethical being. Per my understanding of the standard myths around Satan, he wants literal murder and destruction of humanity. I don’t understand why reasonable or serious people (those uninterested in shock tactics) would care about associating themselves with the symbology or character of Satan. Is this any different from associating yourself with any other literal mass murder wanting entity? For example, Church of School Shooters?
I get that the idea is to expose the silliness in organized religion, but associating yourselves with an entity that represents destructive tendencies or desires is equally silly.
I’ve no opinion on the Satan display, it’s just people arguing over symbols. When those symbols prevent someone’s self actualization, then it’s something to worry about.
Some view Satan as a symbol for the rebellion against tyranny and questioning authority. His questioning of the Christian God is admirable in my opinion. Christians seem to use him as a warning for what happens if you question them but I don’t see him as a destructive character, quite the opposite in some ways.
Religious people are not all fanatics, or all opposed to the self actualization of others, so adopting symbology that they would find abhorrent does not win favors or friends. In fact, religious zealots get some sort of existential validation by the existence of Church of Satan etc. I think choosing a symbol associated with destructive ideas is not good marketing if you’re aiming for people who aren’t angsty about religion, or biased against people of faith. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to let people be themselves, including have faith. The problem is that we’ve forgotten that separation of faith and state is needed for civil discourse and social harmony.
I get that the idea is to expose the silliness in organized religion, but associating yourselves with an entity that represents destructive tendencies or desires is equally silly.
Many religions have gods raped and murdered. And we see them all over the place. There’s literally a smash hit game called Hades. Holy Hell, we literally named a planet after it.
Okay? So what’s the point? Hades is equally unreasonable for associating with as a rational or civil person. If you want people to think you have good judgment I don’t think associating with symbols that represent murder and destruction makes sense. The problem is that Satan’s myth is all about destruction, whereas the same cannot be said for God. If you’re retconning Satan then that’s a different story I suppose.
I mean, both are about destruction though. If we just go by destruction caused, God kills so, so many more people in the Bible, and significantly more are killed in the name of God to this day. I mean, God’s wrath is literally legendary.
I don’t think the Satanic Temple really “retcons” much of Satan, it just views them in a different light. Despite the rhetoric, biblical Satan doesn’t really do that much outside of angering God by offering free will. As a symbol, he already champions self-determination. Now sure, there’s been a lot of biblical fanfic written in the last 2,000 years that has made him into a symbol of destruction, but all that fanfic was written by Catholics, not by the Satanic Temple. Should they really be held responsible for how Satan was portrayed in Milton’s Paradise Lost, a completely fictitious image made-up wholesale in 1667?
Well, Satan’s inspiration origin is Zoroastrian, where that entity was thought of as destructive will. There’s nothing inherently interesting about destruction for the sake of it, which is what that entity represents. God OTOH can make claims of being about more than just destruction. That’s the problem. So either retcon Satan or just be okay with being associated with murder symbol.
Maybe a tangent, but the mythology of Satan isn’t associated with any moral or ethical being. Per my understanding of the standard myths around Satan, he wants literal murder and destruction of humanity. I don’t understand why reasonable or serious people (those uninterested in shock tactics) would care about associating themselves with the symbology or character of Satan. Is this any different from associating yourself with any other literal mass murder wanting entity? For example, Church of School Shooters?
I get that the idea is to expose the silliness in organized religion, but associating yourselves with an entity that represents destructive tendencies or desires is equally silly.
I’ve no opinion on the Satan display, it’s just people arguing over symbols. When those symbols prevent someone’s self actualization, then it’s something to worry about.
Some view Satan as a symbol for the rebellion against tyranny and questioning authority. His questioning of the Christian God is admirable in my opinion. Christians seem to use him as a warning for what happens if you question them but I don’t see him as a destructive character, quite the opposite in some ways.
Religious people are not all fanatics, or all opposed to the self actualization of others, so adopting symbology that they would find abhorrent does not win favors or friends. In fact, religious zealots get some sort of existential validation by the existence of Church of Satan etc. I think choosing a symbol associated with destructive ideas is not good marketing if you’re aiming for people who aren’t angsty about religion, or biased against people of faith. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to let people be themselves, including have faith. The problem is that we’ve forgotten that separation of faith and state is needed for civil discourse and social harmony.
Many religions have gods raped and murdered. And we see them all over the place. There’s literally a smash hit game called Hades. Holy Hell, we literally named a planet after it.
Okay? So what’s the point? Hades is equally unreasonable for associating with as a rational or civil person. If you want people to think you have good judgment I don’t think associating with symbols that represent murder and destruction makes sense. The problem is that Satan’s myth is all about destruction, whereas the same cannot be said for God. If you’re retconning Satan then that’s a different story I suppose.
I mean, both are about destruction though. If we just go by destruction caused, God kills so, so many more people in the Bible, and significantly more are killed in the name of God to this day. I mean, God’s wrath is literally legendary.
I don’t think the Satanic Temple really “retcons” much of Satan, it just views them in a different light. Despite the rhetoric, biblical Satan doesn’t really do that much outside of angering God by offering free will. As a symbol, he already champions self-determination. Now sure, there’s been a lot of biblical fanfic written in the last 2,000 years that has made him into a symbol of destruction, but all that fanfic was written by Catholics, not by the Satanic Temple. Should they really be held responsible for how Satan was portrayed in Milton’s Paradise Lost, a completely fictitious image made-up wholesale in 1667?
Well, Satan’s inspiration origin is Zoroastrian, where that entity was thought of as destructive will. There’s nothing inherently interesting about destruction for the sake of it, which is what that entity represents. God OTOH can make claims of being about more than just destruction. That’s the problem. So either retcon Satan or just be okay with being associated with murder symbol.
😭