Satanism is the ONLY Rational Religion

[Optimistic Mysanthrope]

Well, that and ming the merciless.

[ablenova]

You are the one making the claim (that Satanism in sociopathy), so you need to present evidence of your claim before I can attempt to debunk it.

Desiderata Satanicus
Anton Szandor LaVey &1989

My worst enemies are those who presume me to be harmless. They cannot imagine how much I resent and disdain them, or just how great a threat they would face if I could get at them. Everything in their behavior speaks of insult and presumptuousness, and for now it is all I can do to make constructive use of my anger toward them. At this time, I just make a list of them and keep a watch on. Some day, with the help of time, space, and circumstance, I will be able to humiliate them properly - not in a manner they would enjoy, but in a style calculated to make them wish that they had never been born. .

It sounds like Howard is compensating for something here... Probably a small penis

[EgoRaptor]

Desiderata Satanicus
Anton Szandor LaVey &1989

My worst enemies are those who presume me to be harmless. They cannot imagine how much I resent and disdain them, or just how great a threat they would face if I could get at them. Everything in their behavior speaks of insult and presumptuousness, and for now it is all I can do to make constructive use of my anger toward them. At this time, I just make a list of them and keep a watch on. Some day, with the help of time, space, and circumstance, I will be able to humiliate them properly - not in a manner they would enjoy, but in a style calculated to make them wish that they had never been born. .

It sounds like Howard is compensating for something here... Probably a small penis

I'm assuming that all you are capable of is flinging insults? Also, regardless of the size of his penis, he fucked this (Diane Hegarty):
I'm pretty sure that that is way better than you could ever do.

[Jackalope]

Well, I have to say, so far the OP has done a pretty piss-poor job of demonstrating his thesis that "Satanism is the ONLY Rational Religion".

As far as I can tell, he hasn't even attempted to do so.

C'mon, kid - this was supposed to be fun. You're not playing fair.

[feeling]

They believe in satan no? What is rational about it?

[EgoRaptor]

They believe in satan no? What is rational about it?

We don't believe in Satan, he is merely our favorite mythological character.

[Esquilax]

They believe in satan no? What is rational about it?

We don't believe in Satan, he is merely our favorite mythological character.

So you're more like a fandom than a religion?

[WesOlsen]

Satanism is the only religion that promotes freethought & atheism. Yet it can also provide the dogma & ritual that man needs, something plain ol' atheism can't do.

I'd contest that man needs dogma or ritual. At a push i'd say there are certain cultural rituals that atheists CAN enjoy, purely out of sentimentality more than any burning innate requirement. Christmas dinner is an example of a ritual that I enjoy partaking in, I wouldn't call it a need though. I certainly don't want or need dogma. Dogma is the very basis for religion. It is dogma that allows religion to propogate and perpetuate. Free thought, for me, is the absolute polar opposite to dogma. I detest dogma and the hostility towards pragmatism and pluralism that its proponents peddle (there's a tongue twister for you). I read the satanic bible after a friend let me have it for a bit. The first half of the book was a run of the mill critique of Levey's personal experiences with christianity, which whilst valid, have been articulated in much better ways by other writers (Take Dan Barker, preacher turned atheist). The second half of the book was all about magic, as i'm sure you're aware. Whether Levey was permanently open with its utter ineffective nature or whether he believed in supernatural guff is largely irrelevant to me. I can't relate to any of the magic rituals, I certainly don't believe any of them do anything other than stimulate an emotional response in only the most avid believers. Every satanist i've ever met is an immature goth or emo hipster who forgot to shimmy out of the purile 'fuck my parents' stage. I'm sure they don't all conform to this image, I won't indulge in the character assasinations too much.

Levey basically struck me as an ego goblin. Some sentiment in this thread suggests that this is a good attribute. I disagree for the most part. Entertainment aside some time ego clouds judgement and is substituting for something else. If you could provide us with some sources that suggest Levey encourages his followers to take the rituals with a big pinch of salt then fine, but if he did express such sentiments then they've largely been lost on most of his followers. Most genuinely seem to believe in summoning spirits and changing eye colours and all sorts of other pretentious shite. In fact that's how i'd sum up Leveyan satanism in a single word; pretentious. I developed in to an atheist precisely because i'm only interested in the objective search for truth. I can enjoy a cultural ritual as much as the next man, but not one that relies on submitting to pseudo-science, spooky hot topic magic or paraspychology in order to enjoy.

Any way, to sum up, the entire satanist movement has basically hybridised ritual with theatrics. They show a good command of semiotics but when you scratch the surface away you basically find a bunch of pretentious circus performers who have simply substituted one cult for another. Rebellion takes many forms, satanism just doesn't offer anything for me, I don't have a need for a stupid haircut or a wizard costume, I can do that shit over xmas dinner with my work colleagues.

[Bob Kelso]

Rational religion?

Oh man, my sides are killing me. With that kind of comedy you're gonna go far kid!

[Sword of Christ]

Rational religion?

Oh man, my sides are killing me. With that kind of comedy you're gonna go far kid!

Satanism is just hard materialist atheism with some window dressing. The idea is to indulge yourself in all sin because there isn't a God. There's nothing rational about the rejection of the Creator of course and it misunderstands the concept of sin. Sin doesn't mean the occasional indulgence in things you enjoy it means fucking up and causing harm to someone or something.