Religion or Cult?

Throughout this blog we have looked at what devil worship is and what it entails and what others have to say about it. I shall conclude this blog and leave you now with my thoughts on devil worship. 

Throughout my research I have tried to keep an open mind and be objective as possible when writing about what I found out. But now I would like to give my personal opinion on the matter. What should we categorise devil worship under? Is it really a religion or a cult? I think those who are of the theistic devil worshipers sect actually believe that they are following the religion of satan, though I don’t think satan ever asked them to. Where are they getting all this? What do they have to base their beliefs on? I know the same could be said about other faiths in the world, but they do have something concrete in their beliefs in which the being they are worshipping has in some form or another asked them to follow them.  Where do devil worshippers get the idea of worshiping the devil from? In all of my research I have not come across once that satan has asked people to follow him.

Moreover, Anton LeVay’s take on it is totally something made up, that people have hyped up too much. It is a cult which nicks all its ideas off the major religious traditions already out there. Well then again what can you expect from those who have set up a cult based around the ideas of satan, which are all about stealing, lying and hypocrisy. I feel they are not only making a mockery out of major faiths but of themselves too. To think they are actually taking all this seriously, it feels like it is something taken out of an urban cult fantasy movie. It is so simple to join, all you have to do is fill out a form online, to me it seems like it is just a way of making easy money (I do not mean to offend any devil worshiper who takes all this seriously it is just my personal opinion on the matter.) 

Devil worship vs Major world faiths

We have looked at throughout this blog of what devil worship is, the different sects, its rituals, and ritual abuse. I think it is time now to take a look at what major religious traditions have to say about the devil.

It is explicitly expressed in Islamic and Christian scriptures for people not worship the devil and the devil is the enemy of mankind and God. The Quran as well as the Bible have many quotes highlighting how evil, treacherous, rebellious and ungrateful the devil is.  Judaism however does not view Satan as an opponent of God rather as a challenger of good with evil to call him an opponent would for Judaism mean referring to Satan as a demigod which is big no no.

The following video is of a lecture explaining what the Quran says about the Devil:

Sikhism does not have the same concept of the devil as in Christianity and Islam. Sikhs believe that demons or the ‘devil’ are entities which are driven solely by the ego. Sikhism teaches that ego is the prime cause of evil doing. Ego has five basic components:
1. Pride -Ahnkar
2. Lust - Kaam
3. Greed -Lobh
4. Attachment -Moh
5. Anger -Krodh

Sikhs believe that involvement with ego creates a state of duality. The soul experiences a sense of separation from the divine, which causes all suffering. Hinduism also does not believe in devil worship. 

Some researchers from the Universiti of Malaya argue that devil worship is a threat to Muslim youths which deviates them from their faith. One of the researchers is a lecturer in the Islamic Studies Academy, Assoc Prof Dr Che Zarrina Sa’ari felt that the society they live in was quick to pick up on drugs as being a problem but fails to pick up on the dangers of Satanism which involved polytheism, a notion Islam is one hundred percent against. The researchers have even gone on to suggest that the syllabus for Islamic studies include certain elements to prevent students from being misled by satanic worship. 
That is a bit much don’t you think? I don’t think the researchers are giving their students enough credit, surely if they are taught the basic tenants of Islam in an Islamic studies course they would kind of pick up on that polytheism and devil worship fall out of the boundaries of Islam. Plus if you include a crash course on how to stay away from devil worship, I’m sure it would just prompt those who did not really care about it much to start off with to find out more, the idea of teaching them to stay wary of satanic worship could backfire.

One website I came across went as far as blaming the misfortune of Haiti due to the wrath of God descending upon those who claimed to be Christians but indulged in devil worship and voodoo dolls and black magic even though many Christian denominations believe one should stay away from the devil.

Satanic rituals

After the last post, I thought blood, gory sacrifices and sickening practices is what these rituals were all about.  After a bit more digging however I found out that in actual fact they are not as horrific as you may think, what we see in the media is satanic ritual abuse, a bit like how you would come across ‘Islamic extremists.’ The rituals are really supposed to be fairly mundane. There are magic based rituals and mystic based rituals, which the author of Theistic Satanism website compares them with Gnostic, and Sufi rituals

One of the rituals carried out by theistic satanist is black mass which entails the following steps:

(1) Incantation for focus

(2) Invocation to Set

(3) Period of meditation

(4) Act of thanksgiving or sacrifice

(5) Recitation of prayers and/or requests

(6) Adoration and re-confirmation of commitment

There is also a standard ritual format and a guidebook for the Chaplains of the Church of Satan of how to carry out the rituals. Satanism also has a ritual calendar which is an adaptation of witchcraft and celebrate eight major festivals, known as Sabbats:

February 1 – Candelmas

March 21 – Spring Equinox

April 30 – Walpurgisnacht

May 1 – Beltane

June 21 – Summer Solstice

August 1 – Lammas

September 23 – Fall Equinox

October 31 – Samhain

December 21 – Winter Solstice

Does anyone feel like Satanism /Devil worship is just a replica of other major faiths? A modern take on religion?

Devil makes work for idle thumbs...

When I searched Satanic rituals in Google the search came up with many websites highlighting crimes taken out in the name of the ‘devil’ or clearly have an underlying satanic theme. One story was of a 20 year old Satanist and a self proclaimed "Vampire" he was charged with assault for using a fork or spoon to burn the letter "V" into the forehead of a 17-year-old (ugh! gives me the creeps).

Also the search came up with a clip of 20/20 documentary series shot in the mid-80s exposing underground satanic cults:

Good old Wikipedia had a page dedicated to Satanic ritual abuse, there were even stories of it on the BBC. Also a book  dedicated to the topic has also been published, named In the Name of Satan: A True Story of Human Sacrifice, Devil Worship, and Murder available on the internet (for the unbeatable price of $5.95!).

But these satanic cults is not something which was a fad of the 80's it is still rife in this day and age too! A recent story in the telegraph about a satanic ritual abuse case, where four people were convicted of serious sex offences accompanied by satanic rituals.  The leader of the satanic cult faced a lengthy jail sentence after being found guilty of multiple counts of rape and child abuse.

                                                     Colin Batley - Cult Leader

I've given you the information about satanic ritual abuse, what is your take on it? I feel it is perverse and disgusting, just another name for peodophillic crimes that need to be stopped.