
Full Disclosure: Listened To Yet UnHerd
In late November of 2024, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Abi Millar with UnHerd, a generally right-of-centre British news and opinion website which describes itself as a platform for “slow journalism”. Abi was a joy to work with. I found her to be attentive, intelligent, and polite. To my pleasant surprise, this is not what made Abi stand out as a journalist. It was after the interview where I got to see Abi’s true professionalism shine. In a move uncommon to journalists today, Abi shared with me edits of the interview and asked me for my thoughts on them, which I was happy to provide.
Although I considered her first version of the interview to be satisfactory, Abi’s first version was rejected, as it seems her editors preferred an angle that was more “colorful”. More blood and “Hail Satan” and less reality meant my carefully spoken words would thus be “UnHerd” by readers of the final piece.
I stayed in contact with Abi in the weeks that followed, and she continued to share new versions of the article with me. I had the impression that those later versions were forcing her away from what she wanted and worse, to settle for content that distorted what she learned through her carefully done research. After all, what journalist submits less than their favorite version first? The final draft of the article can be found here.
Regarding her first edit, the only critiques I had were minor, and considering that she is a journalist writing for a wide audience rather than a Satanist writing for Satanists, I was comfortable leaving her first version as-is. The article contained information about Anton LaVey and the CoS that we did not discuss, which made it clear to me she had done her research, and to her credit, she got it right.
But as I mentioned, we were UnHerd.
Apparently, I didn’t scream “fuck Christianity” enough to make for the angle the editors were going for. Well, I’m just not triggered by Christianity enough to waste my time with such a thing, and for all I know, Abi may be a Christian. How rude would that make me? After all, the Devil is always a gentleman, and he always gets his due. The following is a list of corrections I sent to Abi that were not able to be made in time for the release. It is entirely likely that Abi’s suggestions would have been turned down all the same. At the end of the list, I will also add the initial interview that Abi had suggested for the article. Abi gave me the copy of the interview with her expressed permission to use it in any way that I want. For those of you who read the printed article and supported the work, I thank you. I believe the first version will be more impressive.
Regarding the final version, I will show you the list of edits I had suggested to Abi, but were unable to be made, as by the time I suggested these edits, the final version had been released:
- I do not work hard at applying Satanism to my life because it comes naturally. I don't even know how not to do it! Same for the sins, I rarely think about them. I naturally avoid those things. We're not perfect, of course.
- I'm not a fan of saying there are "many Satanic organisations" but as long as she was saying that and not me, I understand.
- I'm absolutely against the idea of trolling. That's what The Satanic Temple does and it's one of many reasons why they're not Satanists. What they stand for is blatantly antithetical to what LaVey codified as Satanic. And as he was very literally the first to do so in human history, Satanism is his. He also codified it so clearly that there's no room for misinterpretation. Still, it doesn't stop lesser people from taking the title "Satanist" rather than making their own. Abi’s first version was correct, I really struggle to hide my disdain for the lack of creativity and blatant coattail-riding of hacks who misrepresent my religion.
- We don't consider The Satanic Temple to be rivals because it implies that they're on the same level as we are. They're not the first pseudo-Satanic group to appear and won't be the last. Plus, one founder (Shane Bugbee) admits in his own book that TST was founded to mock the Church of Satan. Another founder, Doug Mesner (aka Lucien Greaves) has a history of making potentially unsettling comments and hiring a lawyer who defended neo-Nazis. You want a story? Look at the rant those two founders went on during a 24-hour podcast. Here's an excerpt: https://www.videosprout.com/video?id=98aafea9-df67-416d-998d-46348a626005
Their third founder, Cevin Soling (aka Jerry Malcolm) is the bank that funded the group. TST is nothing more than his tax shelter. He even admitted that TST became the thing they were created to fight. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20211203010253/https://www.hawthornehotel.com/event/cevin-soling-weve-become-what-we-parody-at-the-satanic-temple-34/
Rivals? I think not. Soling also made films about the benefits of drinking your own urine. - Luciferianism and Satanism are two separate religions. Just pointing that out.
- The shield I referred to was the name "Satanism", not the cultural malaise. Satanism shields us *from* that malaise.
- Milton was a Christian. He had no intent to glamourize Lucifer. That's why Blake said what he said.
- The Satanic Bible really was a breath of fresh air. I wasn't looking for an outlet for my blasphemy. I was trying to find out where I belong, the same as so many others do. I always felt like a black sheep because I see the world so differently. The Satanic Bible showed me I wasn't alone in viewing the world the way I do. Blasphemy was only a part of it all, and just a fun part. I wouldn't call it a large percentage.
- Ayn Rand’s influence on LaVey has been really blown out of proportion by so many. The only thing Rand’s Objectivism has in common with Satanism is being atheist and a focus on the individual over the collective. It's amazing how many Satanists hate Ayn Rand but are still legitimate Satanists. Personally, I think she's great. I'm just highlighting how little impact she really had. Magister Bill M made an episode of Satansplain which examined the similarities and differences in detail.
- TST’s “Unbaptism” rite is so absurd. Imagine being so emotionally weak and triggered by Christianity that you need a ritual to undo the magic water they dunked you in when you were a kid. What rebels!
- To my knowledge, The Satanic Temple has never won a case except against Netflix for copyright infringement. They did not win the cases in Oklahoma or Arkansas, the ACLU did, but TST rides their coattails, too. And they have an A.S.S. Club for kids, which strikes me as proselytizing to children. The Church of Satan does not proselytize to anyone and is only open to adults. The Satanic Temple pays no taxes, combines church and state and it witnesses to children with coloring books. They might as well be Catholic. The CoS pays its taxes every year and challenges other churches to do the same. To survive on their own two feet instead of parasitically living off their own members.
- Religions cannot overrule a State’s laws on issues such as abortion’s legality, any more than they can make slavery legal. Though we might want to note that some religions do have texts which can be used to justify enslaving people, as had been done in past eras. It seems to me pathetic that so many Americans are ignorant of civics, as they apparently do not grasp basic concepts. Is it the fault of the American educational system as to why so many fall for these activists’ snake oil?
- Oldridge is wrong about how we can identify as Satanists, but that is his opinion. It is just clear he didn't read The Satanic Bible which spells out exactly how and why we identify as Satanists. Oldridge states:
“It’s only through a sort of Freudian, internalised, naturalised view of the devil that people can identify as Satanists,” Oldridge says of the “Hail Satans” and the Bible destructions. “They’re not actually worshipping external devils: they’re celebrating aspects of themselves that have been suppressed.”
- I disagree with every word except that fact that we are not worshipping external devils. We are not worshipping any devil, but it has nothing to do with aspects of ourselves that have been “suppressed”. Is he a therapist? I did not suppress anything. I enjoyed Sunday school as a kid and did not hide my atheism from my parents at all. I didn't hide my being a Satanist either. What suppression is he referring to? Satanism is about expression! I reminded her that during our interview, I mentioned that there are two kinds of approaches to studies; emic and etic. The emic approach to research is one that examines a culture from the perspective of members within the group being studied. The etic approach utilizes an outsider’s perspective looking in. As Satanists, we reject all etic approaches that would misconstrue, or worse, attempt to force a new definition of our own religion on us.
- Not all Satanists are scarred by Christianity. I certainly was not. I enjoy studying Christianity to this day. I'm a history nerd. It's fun to me!
To sum up: I’ve mentioned the first edition of the interview, and I’ve listed my suggestions to correct the final draft. Thanks to Abi granting me expressed permission to use the original draft, I now include it here for your reading pleasure. You can now see the distortions in the published version, subtle as they might be.
Reverend J. Mammon
The Reverend Jared Mammon has come a long way from his childhood spent in a Southern Baptist Church. As a priest in the Church of Satan (CoS), he works hard to apply his knowledge of Satanism to everyday life. He has been known to conduct destruction rituals to channel anger (“some people ritually bite the heads off gingerbread cookies,” he says); he loves the aesthetic of the dark side; and the first time he read the Satanic Bible, he “agreed with absolutely all of it”.
But the mild-mannered Floridian is not what most people would associate with the Prince of Darkness. With a nonthreatening appearance and a day job in sales, he would easily pass under a demon hunter’s radar.
“I use my alias because I’ve spent most of my professional career in finance – hence the term ‘mammon’, which is a Biblical term alluding to money,” he says. “You never can be too careful. I don’t need a promotion passed up on me just because someone misunderstands what the religion is about.”
His religion – along with all the associated misunderstandings – has been coming under renewed scrutiny lately, thanks to an enterprising group in Chile. The members of the ‘Temple of Satan: Satanists and Luciferians of Chile’ recently applied for recognition as an official religious organisation, five years after The Satanic Temple (TST) in the US achieved the same status.
While a decision from the government is pending, hundreds of people have reportedly applied to join since the story broke. As the Daily Mail put it, in typical Daily Mail style: ‘Disturbing rise in hell worshippers flocking to the Church of Satan’. (As Mammon points out, the Chilean group are not in fact affiliated with the CoS, nor with TST. And as for worshipping hell, that would fall into the bracket of ‘associated misunderstandings’.)
The Chilean Satanists are notable for defying norms in what remains a deeply Catholic country. It’s one thing, after all, to use Satanic iconography in a broadly secular environment like the UK. Even here, the Evil One’s sigil and pentagram retain the power to shock. It’s quite another to do so somewhere like Chile, where 51% of the population believe in the reality of the devil. While Satanists themselves typically don’t believe in the devil – at least not as a literal, external entity – the potency of their chosen symbolism isn’t lost on them.
“It certainly keeps people away who are just going to judge a book by its cover,” says Mammon. “We’re atheists. We don’t believe in any supernatural anything. But we love a good time. Honestly, when I was a kid the most entertaining part of church was listening to all the spooky stuff. It’s just a show. And we’re the only religion that actually admits it.”
The CoS was founded on April 30th, 1966, Year One of Annos Satanas (the age of the Devil). The man responsible was Anton Szandor LaVey, a provocateur who courted media attention. He painted his house black, claimed a Transylvanian lineage, dressed in plastic horns and a cape, and was supposedly implicated in Jayne Mansfield’s fatal car crash, via a curse he had placed on her boyfriend.
But despite his diabolical posturing, LaVey wasn’t interested in evildoing. Rather, he wanted to take a stand against Judeo-Christian dogma, which he saw as being ridden with ignorance and hypocrisy. Taking the basic premise that there is no God, and that the universe is blindly indifferent to human affairs, he sought to create a model of human flourishing that placed the personal will at its centre.
“Satanism is the world’s first carnal religion,” explains Mammon. “It’s the first religion that’s only about your human experience here, and enjoying life as you define it. I’m usually cautious when I say things like that, because people will jump to the fallacy that it’s a hedonistic religion. But we don’t believe in just doing whatever and having fun. We believe in rational self-interest.”
Drawing on Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand, LaVey crafted the Nine Satanic Statements, a collection of aphorisms such as: ‘Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!’ and ‘Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!’. Some years later, he followed up with the Nine Satanic Sins. These include stupidity, pretentiousness, herd conformity and – gallingly for those who haven’t mastered their Halloween costumes – lack of aesthetics.
Within this context, Satan serves as a figurehead for humanity’s rebellious, revolutionary instincts. LaVey always had esoteric and magickal leanings – he believed magicians could harness natural forces that had yet to be discovered by science. But he certainly wasn’t affiliating himself with Christian conceptions of Satan.
“The original Hebrew word Satan meant adversary, opponent or accuser,” explains Mammon. “You see it in the Old Testament all the time. It’s not referring to a specific deity or even to the Christian bad guy.”
Professor Darren Oldridge, a historian of religion at the University of Worcester, notes that popular conceptions of the devil have changed considerably throughout the ages.
“In the Middle Ages, and into the Reformation period, the devil was understood as a creature that could physically manifest himself in the external world,” he says. “After that, the notion of an external devil slowly dwindled, replaced with a notion of the devil acting internally. The devil was a master propagandist who inveigled into people’s minds and hearts.”
By the Enlightenment, educated people were starting to doubt the devil’s very existence. Romantic thinkers, writing in the wake of the French and American revolutions, began to reframe Satan as a rebellious anti-hero. Under their reading of Paradise Lost, John Milton’s epic poem, Satan becomes less the embodiment of evil, and more a courageous freethinker opposing God’s arbitrary tyranny. As William Blake put it, Milton ‘was of the Devil’s party without knowing it’.
That said, it would be a mistake to call the likes of Blake and Shelley ‘Satanists’. “All these authors were openly Christian. They never called themselves Romantic Satanists – people gave them that title,” remarks Mammon.
Oldridge agrees, pointing out that modern Satanists are the first to self-identify as such. Up until recently, it would simply have been too dangerous to do so.
“It’s only through a sort of Freudian, internalised, naturalised view of the devil that people can identify as Satanists,” he says. “They’re not actually worshipping external devils – they’re celebrating aspects of themselves that have been suppressed. In the past, there were lots of allegations of folk worshipping the devil, but that was always an accusation rather than an identity.”
The CoS, then, is proud of its status as the first Satanic religion. It also proclaims itself the only Satanic religion. When TST was founded in 2013, the CoS was quick to discredit its upstart rival. “We don’t accept the idea that there are other kinds of Satanism,” says Mammon. “Honestly, to make another organisation is redundant at best and dishonest at worst.”
It’s true that the two organisations differ in emphasis. Whereas the CoS is very deliberately apolitical – “Anton LaVey didn’t want an echo chamber,” says Mammon – The Satanic Temple is a social action group that exists to ‘oppose injustice and undertake noble pursuits’. (For its own part, it dismisses CoS as ‘inactive and irrelevant’, and doesn’t have much time for the church’s more esoteric tendencies.)
Above all, TST seeks to challenge the predominance of Christianity in public life. As founder Lucien Greaves told The Guardian in 2023, ‘Right now, we have a minority religious theocratic movement, so entrenched in politics and getting away with whatever they want.’ He aims to play the Christians at their own game, in what is seen by some as legitimate protest, and by others as an elaborate trolling campaign.
Notable stunts have included an 8-foot-tall bronze statue of Baphomet, erected in response to a Ten Commandments monument. There have been After School Satan Clubs, challenging Christian programming in public schools. And where the religious right has sunk its teeth into abortion rights, TST has opened online abortion clinics for people who want to take part in its ‘religious abortion ritual’.
If they are seeking to rile up Christians, they have certainly succeeded in their aim. In 2023, the ‘national prayer ministry’ Intercessors for America prayed that a TST gathering would be foiled. They wrote: ‘This is no neutral, “intellectual,” quirky advocacy group... It normalizes rituals, practices, declarations, and beliefs that are a gateway to allowing satanic footholds in people’s lives. There is real satanic power in all these things, and this power will ensnare anyone who participates.’
Mammon cannot disguise his own frustration at the TST’s antics. “Can you recall a single time in human history where Christians ever backed down from a religious war?” he says. “We had 14 crusades. They’re not going to back down because you erect a statue at some government building. And frankly, if you show up at a rally dressed as the devil, saying you’re for abortion, that’s exactly the kind of argument Christians would expect from Satanists. It isn’t helping your cause.”
For many Satanists, though, there may be something very powerful about opposing Christianity specifically (rather than positioning yourself as a generalised ‘adversary’). Many TST members have religious trauma from evangelical upbringings, and the opportunity to rip up Bibles or shout ‘Hail Satan’ at your wedding has clearly struck a chord with many.
According to The Little Book of Satanism, around 600,000 people subscribed to the TST mailing list in 2022. It has active congregations, a physical headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, and fairly relaxed joining requirements. That’s in contrast to the CoS, which keeps its membership numbers a guarded secret, and operates through looser, informal networks.
“It takes a while to be approved as a member – they watch you and they talk to you and they make sure you’re on the right track,” says Mammon. “Then you move through the five degrees, or ranks, by demonstrating your knowledge of Satanism. I’m now at the third degree, priest or priestess, which enables me to use the title Reverend.”
What the two organisations have in common is a relative lack of public rituals. While it’s the occasional Black Mass that commands the headlines – especially anything involving nudity or bloodletting – most Satanic rituals take place in the privacy of one’s own home. In both cases, you would be encouraged to participate in practices that you found personally meaningful, be that a TST ‘unbaptism’ (a rejection of religious rites performed on you as a child), or a CoS ‘lust ritual’ (aiming to relieve unrequited romantic feelings).
The Temple of Satan in Chile, for its part, has carved its own path since being founded in 2021. After passing the lengthy application process, members assume the name of a fallen angel or demon and can subsequently partake in ceremonies. Reportedly, they burn black candles, chant, clap and read passages from the Satanic Bible. It’s a long way removed from the drug use and animal sacrifices you might expect if you were reared on 1980s horror movies.
Satanism, then, remains a broad church, in keeping with the nonconformist nature of its adherents. And although there may be certain commonalities (a defiance against convention being one), generalising about Satanists is tantamount to generalising about individualists. “I was that six-year-old on Sunday who asked how penguins stayed cold on the ark, and couldn’t get answers from my teachers,” recalls Mammon. “We don’t follow Satanism, we don’t follow LaVey – we’re just regular people who read a book and realised that our world view had been given a name.”

Portrait

J. Mammon
Priest of the Church of Satan

We Are Legion

A Moment In Time
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