"Hail Satan?" (2019)

[Amarok]

A little off topic, but...

I was listening to a true crime show last night and the law enforcement officer who was describing the suspect said that the suspect was an 'avowed atheist' and had several Satanic symbols tattooed on his body.  'Scuse me?  Was he an atheist or a Satanist?  It reminded me that some people don't get it. They believe that atheist=Satanist.

This is the same trick they use with stuff like communism or nihilism or some philosophy that may have members who are atheists all of a sudden that becomes atheism .

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Actually Satan isn't the Hebrew devil and they view Satan as more of an idealist symbol  then a actual being .

Right. I'm aware that Satan has various meanings, in the history of Judaism and Christianity. That's why I said he's a "character" from that tradition. 

What do you mean by "idealist symbol"? Does this give modern Satanists some reason to use him as a rallying point?

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Belaqua's argument seems to contrast some older European Satanists with American Satanists, and according to him, the former is more substantive.

Yeah, that's a fair statement.

I'm still looking to figure out why modern American Satanists are interested in Satan, as opposed to some other literary symbol of rebellion. Prometheus or Lord Byron or somebody from Game of Thrones or Star Wars. 

Either Satan as they use him is tied to history, in which case he's a religious figure, or he isn't. And if he isn't, then he isn't what he used to be. He's something new.

From what I get he's a representation of certain values or concepts given a character form