





Theistic Satanism:

The new Satanisms of the era of the Internet



by Diane Vera







During the last several decades of the 20th century, most public Satanists were only symbolic Satanists. That is, they did not literally believe in or worship Satan. Instead, they regarded Satan as only a symbol of various desirable qualities such as independence, individuality, and strength. Many were atheists.

A theistic Satanist, also known as a "traditional Satanist," "spiritual Satanist," or "Devil Worshiper," is one who does believe in and worship Satan as a deity, or who at least is strongly inclined in that direction. When this website first went online in fall 2002 C.E, we theistic Satanists were still a despised minority within the public Satanist scene. But we have grown rapidly and now seem to be the majority -- at least in online forums, though we still have some catching up to do in terms of real-world organization and in terms of being noticed by scholars of new religions.

From 1969 C.E. until very recently, most Satanists' first exposure to Satanism was via Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible. Hence, the vast majority of Satanists were LaVeyans or some fairly close variant thereof. However, beginning in the 1990's, more and more people's first exposure to Satanism has been via the Internet, allowing a wide variety of non-LaVeyan Satanisms to flourish - mostly theistic Satanisms, but also including some non-LaVey-based atheistic symbolic Satanisms as well.

This website is devoted to documenting and commenting on the many new theistic Satanisms. I aim to make this site an informative resource both for theistic Satanists of all kinds and for the general public, including scholars and journalists. My own form of Satanism, like most of the new theistic Satanisms, is to some extent influenced by LaVey but not, by any means, based primarily on LaVey.





Unless otherwise noted, all contents are copyright © 2003, 2006 Diane Vera. All rights reserved.

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