It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by The Astral City
Interestingly Satanism doesn't actually believe in Satan. The people who call themselves Satanists do so because they were called such by Christians. They are actually Secular Humanists who commonly believe in the use of magik.
What comparitive religions scholars now regard as Satanism was popularized by the writings and speeches of Anton LeVey and his philosophies. One of the most controversy causing being that each of the Christian seven deadly sins is actually a good thing.
The religion was started as a backlash against Christianity and Paganism more than anything else and they have really failed to attract a large following.
Blessed Be
~Astral
Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
Satinism = fetishistic attachment to smooth black polyester bedding.
Palm Beach (Florida) Post, March 31, 1990
... Satanism? Exorcism? Was O'Connor seriously suggesting that demons were loose in the land?
... the cardinal did say ... that demonic possession is "very rare," and that exorcisms are not conducted unless psychological or medical possibilities are first ruled out ... Still, the fact that they are performed at all seems remarkable in an age when literal belief of demons is widely viewed my Roman Catholic theologians as a naive medieval holdover.
... The official baptism ritual, which included an ancient exorcism formula ("Accursed devil, come forward and acknowledge your comdemnation..."), today concentrates on asking God to fullfill the child with his grace rather than expelling the power of darkness.
...Rome still holds fast to belief in Satan: In a 1986 sermon, Pope John Paul II insisted upon the reality of a personal devil and recognized the possibility of demonic possession. The secret draft for a forthcoming Catechism for the Universal Church... continues the traditional teachings about Satan and fallen angels.
Originally posted by soothsayer
"I don't believe in Satan. To do so would give him more power." Which was at odds with me... how can you have God and Heaven without the Devil or Hell? Especially being Catholic?