Some LGBTI people are ‘turning to Satan’

Some LGBTI people are ‘turning to Satan’

ONE of the senior figures in The Satanic Temple says it has a thriving LGBTI community.

Ash Blackwood said the Satanist movement has become a hub for queer people, according to Pink News.

Blackwood attributed the movement’s popularity to its “enthusiastically accepting atmosphere for [LGBTI] people”, in contrast to some other organised religions.

Temple founder Lucien Greaves said he wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of members were LGBTI.

“It’s not a big deal,” said Greaves. “We don’t have strict separations of our gay membership, our trans membership, or anybody else.”

The Satanic Temple is in essence an atheist group, merely named provocatively, which does “not promote a belief in a personal Satan”.

“To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions,” said the group.

“The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.”

The Satanic Temple is politically active, and has in the past publicly opposed the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, pushed to abolish corporal punishment in schools, and advocated against laws limiting reproductive autonomy.

Evangelical Christians have reacted predictably to news of LGBTI Satanists, with one pastor recently claiming that Satan is behind gay weddings.

You May Also Like

2 responses to “Some LGBTI people are ‘turning to Satan’”

  1. Hang on.. If Atheists don’t believe in religion, why are they called “Satanic Temple”? Surely this is going against their beliefs (or non beliefs) as they are using the name of a being that is derived from religion itself…

    Am I the only one seeing a problem with this picture?

    Never mind… I guess this is where all the emo kids end up when they all grow up lol

  2. On one level, yes this is hilarious and well done to all involved. But I’m also cringing that this plays into stereotypes which could be damaging for young LGBTI folks stuck in conservative religious environments, as if they don’t already have enough shit to deal with. The pro-LGBTI rational atheist/agnostic movement I have a lot of time for is the Flying Spaghetti Monster which seems to do a lot of the same stuff as these guys without the satanic inferences.