Non Servium

If this Satanist group is based on Anton Szandor Lavey it is known as the Church of Satan.They do not believe in the existence of Satan as known in Christianity nor God. He founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966(says a lot right there).

Other important people include Michael Aquino, who founded the Temple of Set (TOS) in 1975 as an alternative to the COS, and there is a popular offshoot which prefers the teachings of Aleister Crowley over those of LaVey, known as the FCOS, or First Church of Satan.

The most common symbols include an inverted Pentagram, with or without a stylized Goat's head, symbolizing the purported Templar divinity Baphomet.

Source: http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=12857

My guess is the group requesting to put up the statue is the COS.The article isn't specific.They kind of lump all groups of this type as being Satanist.

While the COS doesn't actually worship Satan as known in Christianity they are not exactly a benign group either. They basically worship the self-i guess they would consider the self Satan. They actually believe that it is because of the belief in Satan that Christianity exists at all. Some of the groups DO believe in Satan as known in Christianity.

Few facts about COS group:

1. they are definitely anti Christian

2. while they appear to be an ideology rather than a religious group they also practice magic. So the idea that they don't worship Satan as Christianity knows him to exist is factually wrong.

If you're practicing magic you definitely believe in the existence of a being-some Satanists claim they do and some claim they don't. Suppose it depends on which group you talk to.

I'm not going to separate the groups, picking out which ones are more philosophical and which ones are more of a religion.

You have to know that the Church of Satan as founded by Lavey has rules. The rules are copyrighted and they sound pretty strict about their copyright so I will NOT repost them here and risk a problem. You can use the link and read them for yourselves:http://www.churchofsatan.com/eleven-rules-of-earth.php

The idea that were it not for Satan,which they claim they don't believe in, Christianity would not exist is absurd.Second,if you read through the tenets you could sum them up by saying they depend on self absorption. My question is, how did they get there?

For that I'm going to look at how Satan came to be known in Christianity. We know that Satan and Lucifer are interchangeable names to identify the devil. Half true. Satan's name before the rebellion was Lucifer meaning(from the Latin)"light bearer".

Lucifer,like all angels,was a highly intelligent being close to God. He was also given FREE WILL like all creatures. Scripture tells us Lucifer and the angels rebelled against God.

“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star(another translation of Lucifer), son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18)and “a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth” (Revelation 9:1).

We are also told that one third of an “innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22) chose to rebel with him. John writes, “…an enormous red dragon…His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth…the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:3-9).

Scripture is silent on why the angels rebelled and some theologians have pointed out the possible reasons. I will posit my own(not as a theologian obviously)in a later blog entry. For now, we only need to know that they DID. Why doesn't matter.

Basically Lucifer said,NON SERVIUM.I will not serve.

We know from scripture that God saw all that He created and it was good.When God created man(male and female)scripture uses the words VERY good.Scripture also sums up God.John writes,GOD IS LOVE

We know that's true from the teachings of Jesus.Jesus summed up the commandments( the thou shalt nots)in the 2 greatest commandments,love God and neighbor and self.

Jesus is God Incarnate.God became man.He was HUMBLE. He was OBEDIENT unto death. He came TO SERVE,not be served.

Lucifer freely chose pride and arrogance. Lucifer rebelled.Lucifer refused to serve.Lucifer rejected LOVE.The very first act as Satan is to persuade man(male and female) to make themselves god knowing it would harm man;if not mankind.

Not exactly an act of love.

Christianity teaches to obey all legitimate authority which is authority based on the moral law. I would take it then that Satanism would reject that.Christianity teaches to love our neighbor even our enemies and those who hurt us(self defense is acceptable;revenge is not.Another topic,for another day).The tenets of the COS basically say leave everyone alone(that's not love btw)UNLESS they fool with you-then DESTROY them. All the tenets are based on self indulgence including the practice of magic.They reject that sin exists.How convenient is that?

NON SERVIUM PART I. NON SERVIUM II [Order,Chaos,Unity,Evil]