Well, interesting. That depiction of Baphomet looks like it belongs in a sci-fi series, I guess, but it is recognizable.
I learned something not long ago, and it is that Satanists don't worship the Devil in the sense that exists in movies, pop culture, or the imaginations of Christians. Rather, they recognize Satan as a literary figure who organized a needed rebellion. John Milton's Paradise Lost can be read that way.
Well, if we're to have the Ten Commandments and all of that, I say, good luck to them!
I'm not familiar with that, but then again I'm not entirely familiar with Satanism. However, most Satanists in the US tend to be of the 'LaVeyan' stripe, which does not embrace worship of a literal Devil or any imagery of such.
I'm not familiar with the formal Philosophical history of it (who and what ideas come from since that gets into the finer points of it), but American Satanists are also mostly atheists. It would be interesting to research. In a nutshell, I think it's about self-liberation and maybe possibly if anything is worshipped, it is knowledge. I can't say for sure, but it makes sense to conclude that.
Now, there has been occult activity in the Catholic Church since the 11th and 12th centuries that I am aware of, which is one reason why they so vigorously punished the Templars and heretics and so on. How much of it exists today I'm not sure - I'd think it is certainly out there, but probably limited. There is certainly witchcraft and natural magic, which I know about from surveying the many pseudo-sciences that persist.
Aren't LaVeyans actually just atheists with an eye for subversive symbolism?
In a nutshell!
