Satanism Expert Explains Modern Satanism in 6 Terms

Dr. Joseph Laycock joins me to discuss 6 terms he used in his book about The Satanic Temple: Speak of the Devil. As the book says, TST is changing the way we think and talk about Satanism, and these terms help us understand how that is happening.

Terms discussed:

Non-supernaturalist religion
Religious pluralism
Therapeutic blasphemy
Counter myth
Culture jamming
Appropriating the discourse of evil

Dr. Laycock’s work:

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This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA

[GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

I’m producing an online course with Dr. Joseph Laycock on horror, film, satan, and American religion!
Sign up for “Scaring the Hell Into America” with Dr. Joseph Laycock:

[GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

There’s a point in this video where a symptom of my chronic illness is very visible. I’ve edited this out in videos before but I decided not to this time because it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m doing well health wise, but sometimes I get random bouts of inflammation that are visible. 🤷‍♂️

[einienj]

I have never seen satanism as controversial.. people just hear "satan" and get upset without looking into it.. I've spoken with so many theists who have that "satanic panic" approach to it and have never even read the satanic temples rules, ever.

[Supaawesomeification]

When I first started my deconstruction, I had my own “therapeutic blasphemy” moment. At the time, I didn’t know that this is what it was but the description is spot on. Basically alone in my car I whispered “Jesus Christ” to myself as a curse. Taking the lords name in vain. This was always a hard boundary for me and my family. We would say “oh my god” all the time but NEVER Jesus Christ. After that first whisper, I said it a couple more times with increasing confidence. And nothing happened. But the words lost their power over me. And that was a huge step

[nosferatu-]

I'm a Satanist, and I've adopted 3 black cats. They get spoiled, not sacrificed.😊

[gweltawenydd]

I love the term Therapeutic Blasphemy. I did this when I left the Pentecostal Church not knowing what it was. I burned the bible I used during my ex-gay therapy, and I cremated a poppet of my Christian self. This was very healing for me and helped lessen the trauma of my "ex-gay" experience.

[meatharbor]

I'd like to expand on a concept that was touched on around 25:30. I think Christians interpreting the destruction of the bible differently than the Satanists is rooted in a phenomena that isn't just exclusive to religion but applies more broadly to any ideology that deals with authority in general. Ideologies with an authoritarian bent tend to blame the things they see as problematic in the world on _people_ while more egalitarian ideologies tend to blame problems on _systems._ Just like Christians blame for the things they think are problems in the world, imperialists blame socialists, Nazis blame Jews, conservatives blame "leftists, " the LGBT community, immigrants, etc. etc. On the other hand, Satanists place blame on the institutions and practices of Christianity moreso than individual Christians, socialists and anarchists place blame on systems of oppression like capitalism and imperialism and antifascists place blame on (obviously) fascism, racism and bigotry as a whole.

I think this is where a lot of the misunderstandings about things like destroying a bible representing the destruction of Christian _people_ specifically rather than the symbolic destruction of a tool of an oppressive system comes from. Christians, viewing things from an authoritarian standpoint, just aren't going to be thinking about systems as separate from people. That'd challenge the very concept of sin by allowing for things like violating the commandment against stealing because a corrupt political and economic system forced you to steal food from a despotic oligarch to feed a starving child. The problem is with the corrupt system and not the person doing the stealing, but that's not an acceptable conclusion to draw in Christianity because the commandments come from an absolute authority and have no caveats.

[someonerandom]

Therapeutic blasphemy is the term I've been looking for! I practice witchcraft as a way to thumb my nose at the culture I was raised in(on the border of fundamentalist Christianity), and just for fun because I find it fascinating, even though I don't believe in the supernatural or magic at all. I've always mentally kind of compared it with what the Satanic Temple does, but I'm so glad to add the term therapeutic blasphemy to my personal vernacular!

[jeremyserwer]

I started with Satanism by reading the Satanic bible in 1985 at 15 in a small town in the midwest. It was the first time I read something with religious or spiritual connotations that made sense to me. I was then drawn to TST as it was not the libertarian version of Satanism that the COS is.
It's sad though I live a little more than a mile from where Anton's wonderful Black Victorian used to stand. I drive by and see the the house that was erected and want to knock on the door and ask if the people have any idea of the history of where they live and what their house has blotted out.
The modern day SF denizen has almost zero connection to the counter culture and radical beauty that the city once was---they would probably just say, they got the property for cheap and be proud that the Tech Bro Colonization is complete.

[rashkavar]

One thing that should be noted regarding pluralism, and tolerance in general:

A tolerant society is only tolerant if it does not tolerate intolerance. As soon as you accept intolerance, you impact the tolerance of that society. If you accept more extreme acts of intolerance, like the idea of bombings, then you have an extremely intolerant society.

I raise this point because many bastions of intolerance use the outcry against their intolerance to try to sabotage claims of tolerance by those who are acting to oppose various forms of bigotry.

[lilskyguy]

I appreciate this content so much! I see some comments stating that GMS posting content on Satanism is making you out to be a TST channel, but I don't agree at all. You have genuinely opened my mind up to the myths of other religions, including Satanism. The fact that Satanists perform acts of blasphemy in order to help them deconstruct sounds very healthy. Living in fear is not living. Thank you for this content!

[austinluther]

I had my own therapeutic blasphemy experience. I've been an atheist my entire life. My parents were raised in religious households and rejected that. But it wasn't until I was in high school that I learned that my parents were both abused and religion was used as an excuse for that.

I had a little pocket Bible that my grandmother had given me when I was about 7. I didn't believe in Christianity, but I kept it because it was a gift. When I found out what she had done to my father when he was a kid, I saw the pocket Bible on my shelf and was furious. So I burnt it. It was very much an active rejection of the Bible and Christianity as a basis for morality.

[rationallyruby]

That guy admitting to being a werewolf is fucking hilarious. Hope that goat is resting in power.

[inquisitor]

As a Christian, I am not concerned about Satanists. The greater evil are those who call themselves and pose as Christians, but are anything but that.

[drakusk]

I'm a TST member in my local congregation, and I love the phrasing of "Therapeutic Blasphemy".
I'm ex military, and was raised in a military household. All that said, I practice an annual personal ritual (i.e., not a TST ritual), where I burn a flag and a bible on the 4th of July as a symbolic rejection of all the things they have come to symbolize in our society. It is extremely cathartic for me.

[dreadnoughtus]

Loved the werewolf story. He uno-reversed them with his own mind trick. 😂😂😂😂

[offdutyenglishmajor]

Therapeutic Blasphemy is really helpful. I grew up Catholic and still get some nasty guilt trips, so my wife came up with Anti-Lent. We didn't give up things, instead, we indulged. We didn't give up meat on Fridays--we got steak and bacon and pork. Giving up sweets for Lent? Nope. Let's bake a cookie cake! It was quite cathartic (and delicious).

[charliemallonee]

I’m all for this content, GMS. I think you should cover more offbrand religions. Especially the one I was raised in: Quakerism. It’s a lot like Satanism in its liberal, not-necessarily theistic worldview that values truth above all. But it’s also got a lot of fascinating history behind it. Worth a video on.

[SirLukedatgoat]

The only argument that Satan is evil literally boils down to one singular source which requires a lot of faith. Really scientific there, god.

[kieranstyx]

I really appreciate videos examining this philosophy/theology, as my own parents who aren't even religious seem to even be squeemish when I tell them I'm identifying and associating with Satanism. Your videos on this are extremely well done and put into words what I wish I could explain to them better than I ever could. So thank you.