The Satanic Temple

The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religious organisation that emerged in the United States around 2012-2013, co-founded by Lucien Greaves (a pseudonym; the person”s legal name has been reported as Douglas Misicko) and Malcolm Jarry. Its stated mission is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, to reject tyrannical authority, to accede to the best interests of science, and to give people the means to defend their religious and civil liberties using Satanic imagery and legal strategy. The organisation is legally recognised as a religion in the United States, receiving IRS recognition as a tax-exempt religious body in 2019.

The Satanic Temple is distinguished from the Church of Satan, with which it is frequently confused, by its primary emphasis on activism and political engagement rather than on a personal philosophy of rational self-interest. Both organisations are atheistic and use Satan as a symbol, but their orientations differ substantially.

History and origins

The organisation”s early public actions were deliberately provocative and media-conscious. A 2013 rally in Tallahassee, Florida, purportedly in support of then-Governor Rick Scott”s policy allowing prayer in public schools, presented Satanic speakers thanking Scott for permitting Satanic prayer in public schools, making a pointed argument about the dangers of officially permitting religious activity in state settings. The event attracted media coverage and established the organisation”s characteristic method: using the logic and precedents of religious accommodation to expose inconsistencies in how religious expression is treated in public life.

The Baphomet monument campaign became the most visible expression of this strategy. After the state of Oklahoma installed a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol, The Satanic Temple commissioned a large bronze statue of Baphomet, a medieval and later occult figure associated with the Knights Templar and subsequently with Western Satanism, and announced plans to install it alongside the Ten Commandments monument as an exercise of equal religious expression. Oklahoma ultimately removed the Ten Commandments monument following a state supreme court ruling; the Baphomet statue has since been displayed at other locations as part of ongoing campaigns.

The organisation”s reproductive rights activism became particularly prominent following the 2022 United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women”s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. The Satanic Temple argues that abortion is a religious ritual for its members whose exercise is protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, applying to abortion restrictions the same legal logic used by anti-vaccination religious objectors and others seeking religious exemptions from generally applicable laws.

Core beliefs and practices

The Seven Tenets, The Satanic Temple”s ethical framework, are: that one should act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason; that the struggle for justice is ongoing; that one”s body is inviolable, subject to one”s own will alone; that the freedoms of others should be respected; that beliefs should conform to scientific understanding and evidence; that people should take care not to distort scientific facts; and that every tenet is a guiding principle, not a rule.

Members are encouraged to apply the Seven Tenets in their lives and to participate in the organisation”s activism. The Satanic Temple conducts rituals and ceremonies for members, including naming ceremonies, unbaptisms, and memorial services, functioning as a genuine religious community for those who find meaning in its framework and aesthetic.

The organisation has chapters in cities across the United States and in several other countries. Chapter activities include community service projects, political advocacy, artistic events, and social gatherings.

Open or closed

The Satanic Temple is entirely open. Membership is available to anyone who agrees with the Seven Tenets. Membership does not require any initiation or prior spiritual practice. The organisation”s extensive published materials, including its website and co-founder Lucien Greaves”s public writings and interviews, explain its positions in detail.

How to begin

The Satanic Temple”s website provides its full statement of beliefs and a history of its campaigns. The documentary Hail Satan? (2019), directed by Penny Lane, provides an accessible and sympathetic overview of the organisation”s origins and major campaigns. Joining a local chapter, where one exists, gives access to the community and activism that characterise the organisation at its most engaging.

In myth and popular culture

The Satanic Temple has achieved an unusually high public profile for an organisation of its size, largely through its media-savvy use of provocative imagery. The Baphomet monument project, which produced a large bronze statue depicting a goat-headed androgynous figure with two children looking up adoringly, was specifically designed to challenge government displays of the Ten Commandments on public property. The statue has been displayed in Detroit, Salem, and other cities, generating significant media coverage and debate about the boundaries of religious expression in public life.

The organisation’s aesthetic draws deliberately on the Romantic and Gothic traditions of Satan as a heroic rebel against divine tyranny, a reading of Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost that has been influential in literary culture since the Romantics, and particularly since William Blake’s provocative claim that Milton was “of the Devil’s party without knowing it.” The Satanic Temple makes this literary and philosophical use of Satan’s image explicit, positioning itself within a tradition of Satanic symbolism that includes Byron, Shelley, Baudelaire, and many subsequent artists and writers.

The documentary Hail Satan? (2019) directed by Penny Lane gave the organisation its most sustained sympathetic public portrayal, presenting its members as civil libertarians who genuinely believe in their stated principles. The organisation has since navigated significant internal disputes, with some former members and chapters publicly departing over concerns about leadership and accountability.

Myths and facts

Several significant misconceptions about The Satanic Temple are common.

• The Satanic Temple is frequently confused with the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966. The two organisations are distinct: the Church of Satan is apolitical and centres LaVey’s philosophy of rational self-interest, while The Satanic Temple is explicitly activist and community-oriented. The organisations do not cooperate and have publicly criticised each other.
• Some people assume The Satanic Temple worships Satan as a literal being. The organisation is explicitly non-theistic; it treats Satan as a literary symbol of individual liberty and rebellion against tyranny, not as a supernatural entity. Its rituals are secular or theatrical rather than theologically oriented toward an actual infernal being.
• The Satanic Temple’s legal arguments about religious exemptions are sometimes characterised as frivolous trolling. The arguments are legally serious, applying existing religious liberty precedents consistently; courts have engaged with them on the merits in multiple cases, reflecting their genuine legal standing rather than their novelty.
• It is often assumed that The Satanic Temple has no genuine religious community. It does conduct ceremonies including naming rituals, unbaptisms, and memorials for members who find meaning in its framework; for a substantial portion of its membership it functions as a genuine social and spiritual community.
• The Satanic Temple is sometimes said to be interested only in Christianity as an adversary. Its religious liberty arguments apply to any government entanglement with religion; it has engaged with cases involving multiple religious traditions’ preferential treatment in public contexts, not only with Christian privilege specifically.