“Hail Satan?”- a response
Caveat: this piece is written on the presumption that the reader has already seen the film “Hail Satan”, and may contain some spoilers. If you haven’t seen the film yet, I would respectfully suggest you bookmark this piece, watch it, and then return to read this.
Introduction
The documentary Hail Satan? (Magnolia Pictures 2019), which was first premiered here in the UK in June and is now on general release, shows the continual growth and popularity of The Satanic Temple (also regularly referred to by its acronym, TST) from its early days in 2013 through to the present day. It provides a fairly good synopsis of how TST was founded, from a previous history of non-theistic Satanism covering Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s, and shows the growing culture war between TST and right-wing Christian groups who leverage the McCarthyism of the 1950s and the erection of moments showing the Ten Commandments of the Bible — originally produced as a publicity stunt for the Cecil B DeMille film of the same name — to push their religious agenda across the United States, culminating with the unveiling of the Baphomet statue at a rally in Little Rock, Arkansas.
For its 94-minute running time, Hail Satan? packs in a lot of information, provides the viewer with a potted history of The Satanic Temple, and weaves together an interesting narrative of TST’s struggle against religious oppression. As is to be expected in covering so much ground, much of the in-depth detail is left out. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and I wanted to address some of what had been overlooked, to provide my perspective and that of my fellow Satanists in Europe and abroad. As Satanists, we strongly believe that standing up for what you believe is right is one of the most important, and the most Satanic, things you can do.
My fellow UK Satanists and I appear in two short clips in the documentary, showing us conducting a meeting and a ritual in London. The cut it shows, directly from the initial modelling and construction of the Baphomet monument, to us, suggests that we were, and, as far as the viewer is concerned, still are, part of TST. However, by the time Penny Lane and her crew came to film us in September 2018, we had broken off from them and were in the process of forming our own Satanic organisation instead (more about this later).
On the evening the filming took place, our meeting was recorded, as well as our ritual, some of our members were asked questions, and our two chapter heads, Zeke Apollyon and Cain Abaddon, were interviewed at length about our chapter’s participation with TST, as well as the reasons why we had parted ways, and our plans for the new direction. Sadly, the interviews were cut and all that was shown were two short clips that omitted any reference to our split. As well as this, one of our fellow European chapters, Sweden, only merited a very short clip, showing them standing in a circle, conducting a ritual, and any quotes or interviews with them were also omitted.
A bit later in the documentary, after showing the great work that the Santa Cruz chapter of TST have done on beach cleaning, a map is shown with pins across the whole of Europe, and other spots across the world (image provided below). Over this map, the narration describes the expansive growth of TST, and the formation of a National Council (which we will talk about later). The map itself is somewhat confusing as to whether it indicates actual chapters or interested parties, especially since they are using the same pins as they used to describe the initial chapters earlier in the film. I’ve asked a number of people who have been to see the documentary, who have no background knowledge of the situation, and they have often assumed that chapters are indicated by this map.
From conversations with fellow Satanists in countries around Europe, at the time of filming, it is my understanding that TST had one established chapter in London, one chapter in Italy getting ready to be established, and all other chapters were at the ‘Friends of TST’ status, having not been formally set up yet. From the map above, there are a number of pins in places that have never had a chapter. Even if this is meant to merely represent the level of interest, rather than the chapters themselves, it’s firstly too ambiguous, and, secondly, certainly does not represent the situation today.
From The Satanic Temple, to The Global Order of Satan
Previous to the filming of the documentary, my chapter in London had been an officially recognised part of TST. We had been around for a few years, and I myself had joined about a year before. At the beginning of 2018, we began to experience some issues with communications from TST’s National Council, and, after an incident where the Kreuzpflicht project was carried out without the National Council’s permission, one of our chapter heads was thrown out of TST entirely. It was at this point that the rest of us were given a choice, either carry on with TST, or go our own way.
Thanks to the bravery and quick thinking of our chapter heads, along with the help of other chapters in Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Israel, we decided to set up an organisation that would later be called The Global Order of Satan. The intent behind this was to create a Satanic organisation that would consist of chapters across national boundaries, covering countries outside the United States, tackling the problem of oppression by religious majorities, while still respecting the political and social situations for each country that we live in. We maintain unity with a central Council of Chapter leaders, who ensure that decisions are made together and consensually, thereby maintaining the careful balance of unity and autonomy of everyone involved. We are a growing Satanic organisation across Europe, and beyond, and welcome those who understand non-theistic Satanism, and are willing to respect our Six Pillars.
This essay, however, is not designed to attack The Satanic Temple, or to pitch The Global Order of Satan as a rival to them. Many of us in the Global Order of Satan became Satanists through seeing and becoming inspired by their work. We also have close connections to many individuals and chapters who are still part of TST, and we are still inspired by the community, enthusiasm, and creativity shown by those people. We just wanted a chance to tell our side of the story, as an addition to the one shown in Hail Satan?
We recognise that, as Satanists, we should not be fighting one another. We are Satanists because we want to bring truth to the world, especially in a world where society is affected by the hegemonic attitudes of traditional religions. The things we say, do, think and even speak are affected by those traditions, which, most of the time are fairly benign, but, as the documentary shows, have been twisted by some people into a weapon, which they use to oppress others. This is a problem not just in the United States, but also here in the UK, the rest of Europe and further afield, all the way round the world. The rise of religious dogmatism, evangelical fascism, populist politicians gaining power, and increasingly intolerant attitudes makes Satanism more and more important with every day. We should work together, not apart, to solve these problems. We, therefore, extend the hand of friendship to all those who have chosen the Left Hand Path, and look forward to working alongside them to further the causes of Satanism across the world.
Hail Satan, and hail yourselves!
