TST Satanism: My Interpretation, The Seven Tenets & Misconceptions

Here’s a breakdown of Satanism through The Satanic Temple and false misconceptions that you may have heard.

DISCLAIMER: I am not in any way an advocate or spokesperson for The Satanic Temple. These are my personal beliefs and interpretations of Satanism.

As someone who firmly believes in religious freedom, it’s disappointing to hear people treat others differently because of their beliefs. I am fortunate enough to live among a family that is accepting of my beliefs, but not everyone does.

I wanted to make an article to break down the beliefs of Satanists through The Satanic Temple for those who don’t know much about them. These are my personal interpretations, and others may be different.

Regardless of the title “Satanist”, we do not believe in Satan or God. We embrace science and reason, and use our understanding of those to determine our beliefs.

The Seven Tenets

Satanists through The Satanic Temple follow the seven fundamental tenets. These are simply morals/beliefs that we follow and apply to our daily life.

Tenet One: One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

Essentially, don’t be a piece of garbage. Be kind to others and have empathy, there’s not enough time in life to be a dick. That is, unless you have a good reason to be.

Tenet Two: The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

This one is fairly ambiguous, in my opinion. But I read it as, “just because you are a person of authority, does not mean you have the right to be unjust.” This applies to some existing laws as well. Just because something is a law, does not mean it is morally correct.

Tenet Three: One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

You got a body, and that body is yours. Yours and yours only. No one outside of yourself should be in charge of your body. Yeah, that includes things like abortion. Your body, your decision.

Tenet Four: The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.

Everyone has opinions, and everyone has the right to express that opinion, even if it may offend someone else. In Satanism, the minute you try to intrude on someone’s freedoms (to offend and to have their own thoughts and beliefs), you are giving up your own freedoms. Don’t expect to be respected if you don’t respect others.

Tenet Five: Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.

Trust in science. Trust the professionals who have been doing their jobs longer than some of us have been alive. Don’t take scientific evidence and change it to align with what you want to hear.

Tenet Six: People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

You know that one Hannah Montana song? Everybody makes mistakes! Everybody has those days! People mess up, it’s natural. If you do happen to mess up (likely), you should do what you can to make it right, to reverse the damage you may have done. Maybe Hannah Montana was a Satanist…

Tenet Seven: Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

Use the tenets for what they’re meant for, to make you a better person, to make the world a better place. Remember that just because something is being talked about doesn’t always make it morally correct or scientifically true. Allow wisdom, compassion and justice to prevail!

What Satanism Isn’t

There are too many misconceptions surrounding Satanism, and unfortunately many other belief systems. Allow me to clear up some things and tell you what Satanism isn’t.

• We don’t sacrifice babies, drink goats blood, or whatever weird shit you think we do. Sorry to swear at you there, but seriously…Satanists don’t do that stuff. If you meet a Satanist who eats raw meat for fun, they aren’t eating that meat because they’re a Satanist. Those two wouldn’t be connected, I believe their taste buds are just a little funky.
• We don’t worship evil. This one is a bit harder for some to understand, because when people hear “Satan”, some minds immediately jump to evil. Satanists actually do the opposite of worshipping evil. If anything, we worship kindness and freedoms. Don’t take it from me, read the tenets!
• We don’t look to sell our souls, recruit Illuminati members, etc. Satanism has nothing to do with those things. As people who don’t even believe in the Devil, it’s pretty difficult to sell our souls to him. We have no affiliation with the Illuminati or anything else of that regard. If you don’t believe me, check out the TST FAQ from the official site. One of the FAQs was “I want to sell my soul, get rich, join the Illuminati, etc.”, and The Satanic Temple answered very simply;

“Please look elsewhere.”

What Satanism Is

I hope you understand what Satanism is by this point. We follow the seven fundamental tenets and we don’t do the weird stuff some think we do. We don’t believe in the supernatural and we allow science to determine our beliefs. But if you really want to understand what The Satanic Temple is all about, I suggest reading up on the things they do and do not support. I’ll elaborate.

• Saying no to hate groups. The Satanic Temple does not tolerate and does not associate with any form of hate group. According to the official site, they have confronted hate groups in the past. It is public and out there: The Satanic Temple says no to hate groups.
• Saying yes to reproductive rights. The Satanic Temple has a large campaign regarding reproductive rights, mainly about the right to have an abortion. This can obviously become a touchy subject, but it’s an important one. The process that comes with getting an abortion, such as waiting periods, mandatory sonogram viewings and counseling to convince you otherwise goes against the beliefs of Satanists. If you remember the third tenet, it states that your body is yours, and no one else has the authority over it. Therefore, The Satanic Temple is a huge supporter or reproductive rights.

Read up on TSTs Reproductive Rights Campaign and actions TST is taking regarding this.

• Saying a big “Hell yes!!” to religious freedom and equal representation of religions.

Read up on TST’s fight to have equal representation on the Mississippi flag.

So, what do you think? Did you agree with the tenets, beliefs and mission of The Satanic Temple? Consider becoming a member! (Again, I am not a spokesperson for The Satanic Temple in any way! This is an article made for spreading awareness on what I and many others believe in regarding Satanism.)

Consider sharing this with your friends, family, or anyone you know who is unsure what Satanism is about or what we believe in. Send this to the person that told you we drink goat’s blood! And always remember, the solution to ignorance is never anger and bitterness, it is education and information.

Stay safe everyone, have an awesome day.