Although they call themselves Satanists, members of TST don’t actually believe in a literal Satan and describe themselves as a nontheistic religious group. According to a New York Times interview, to both co-founders, Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jarry, Satanism is a way of celebrating being an outsider and looking where other people won’t—at the bizarre. When deciding why Satan of all figures to use as a centerpiece, Greaves says it best in his interview with VICE.

“Our metaphor of Satan is a literary construct…a rebel angel defiant of autocratic structure and concerned with the material world. Satanism as a rejection of superstitious supernaturalism. This Satan, of course, bears no resemblance to the embodiment of all cruelty, suffering, and negativity believed in by some apocalyptic segments of Judeo-Christian culture.”

Being called a Satanist and a “devil worshiper” has always been seen as an insult, by adopting that title, TST members have taken the power away from the accuser.