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A few years ago, my wife and I decided to go to a beer and food festival in downtown Portland. You may have heard that Portland is weird, but it also has its charms. The beer and food festivals are one of many appealing features of Portland social life.<\/p>\n
We decided to take an Uber and I proceeded to have one of the weirdest experiences of my time in Portland.<\/p>\n
As we entered the car, I quickly noticed something very different. The color red dominated the interior and there were strange symbols all over the car. The driver also had pentagrams and goats tattooed on his arm. As I settled into my seat, I began to realize the situation I just entered: I was a Christian pastor riding in a Satanist\u2019s car on my way to a beer and food festival in Portland.<\/p>\n
Yes. Portland is weird.<\/p>\n
I kept looking at my wife, expecting to make eye contact, some kind of communication about this strange situation. But nothing. Apparently, this was normal for her.<\/p>\n
When we got out of the car, I exclaimed, \u201cThat driver was a Satanist! That was so weird!\u201d She replied, \u201cWho cares? We got here just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, I couldn\u2019t leave it at that. So, I quickly posted on social media that my Uber driver was a Satanist and had all kinds of satanic paraphernalia in his car and tattooed on his body and that I felt totally creeped out and isn\u2019t Portland just so freakin weird!<\/p>\n
One of my dear friends, who is a pastor in the Bible Belt, replied, \u201cYou were probably much safer in a Satanist\u2019s car than you would have been in a Christian fundamentalist\u2019s car.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with that, my wife and my fellow pastor began my journey towards seeing Satanists in a different light.<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566306295282{background-image: url(https:\/\/ravenfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/0c0caab3a0b06f49d1f4e4069f7acecc-e1562958862845.jpg?id=19638) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”quote”]But if Satan were real and tried to trick us, … I think Satan would actually come in the form of God\u2019s people \u2013 as Christians.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
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It took a few years after that experience to meet another Satanist. In fact, it took TikTok.<\/p>\n
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I began posting minute-long educational videos on Christianity that challenged dominant understandings of the atonement, heaven and hell, Christian supremacy, abortion, and inclusion of our LBTQIA siblings in the church.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Christian fundamentalists began to attack me – labeling me a heretic and accusing me of leading people straight to hell.<\/p>\n
But then a surprising thing happened: Satanists started watching those videos and making comments like, \u201cSatanist here. Just want to say I support what you are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Satanists began commenting, too, saying, \u201cWe share similar values of justice and compassion for all people.\u201d Another posted, \u201cWhat Christians don\u2019t understand is that we Satanists don\u2019t worship Satan. We see the character of Satan as motivation to rebel against oppressive power structures.\u201d<\/p>\n
REALLY!!!\u00a0I thought.\u00a0Maybe instead of being against Satanists, we could work together\u2026Maybe I\u2019ve been scapegoating Satanists this whole time…Even more interesting, Satanists were engaging Evangelicals and never threatened them with violence, either in this life or the next. Maybe Satanists are more Christ-like than many Christians…<\/em><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”24px”][vc_single_image image=”21499″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566393555121{background-color: #f6ebdf !important;}” el_class=”optin”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n So I began to research. After typing \u201cSatanism\u201d into Google\u2019s search engine, I found the Satanic Temple\u2019s website and discovered the seven\u00a0tenets of Satanism.<\/a>\u00a0As I read these tenets, my mind instantly started making connections to Jesus and the spirituality of the Hebrew scriptures. I\u2019ll list them below and describe the beautiful connections that Satanism has with Christianity.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][vc_single_image image=”21503″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Striving to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures is also rooted in the scriptures. At the very beginning, in Genesis chapter 1, God creates the entire cosmos in phases – the land, sea, animals, bugs, trees, grass, and humans – and after each phase God says, \u201cAnd it was good.\u201d All of creation is inherently good and worthy of our compassion and empathy.<\/p>\n Not only that, but Leviticus 19:18 states that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Exodus 23:4 extends this love to actions that benefit even our enemies, \u201cIf you come across your enemy\u2019s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.\u201d Later on, Jesus will connect these two principles by stating \u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u2019 But I say to you, Love your enemies\u2026\u201d (Matthew 5:43).<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The second tenet is fully in line with the Hebrew prophets and with Jesus. The prophets weren\u2019t merely fortune tellers of the ancient world who predicted the future. They were truth tellers who struggled for justice, even if it meant confronting laws and institutions. The prophet Isaiah was harsh on the kings of his day. They had the power to write laws and decrees, and they often used their power in oppressive ways.<\/p>\n Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!\u00a0(10:1-4)<\/p>\n Jesus also struggled for justice as he sought to prevail over institutions. The biggest institution of his day was the Temple. It was the center of religious, political, and economic power of Jerusalem. The Temple became corrupt because its leaders were corrupt. Jesus confronted the Temple when he flipped the tables over and drove out the money changers as he yelled, \u201cMy house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.\u201d Jesus, and the prophets before him, knew that the human was more important than laws and institutions, so the struggle for justice must be an ongoing pursuit.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]While I appreciate this tenet and the next one, they are the most problematic for me. Still, they have a lot in common with Christianity. They are both based on freedom, which is also a basic Christian tenet. God gives us free will, but with freedom comes responsibility.<\/p>\n I have seen this tenet primarily used by Satanists to support a woman\u2019s right to choose an abortion. For most women, this is the most difficult decision of their lives, usually made due to traumatic life circumstances, which are made even more traumatic when they are further demonized, largely by religious folks, as they make this painful decision.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n I have\u00a0a podcast episode<\/a>\u00a0that goes into depth on a Christian\u2019s support for a woman\u2019s right to choose, but this tenet can be problematic. For example, I don\u2019t know if Satanists have this issue, but from within my own Christian community there are those who claim to believe that \u201cone\u2019s body is inviolable, subject to one\u2019s own will alone\u201d is justification to refuse vaccinations during a global pandemic. In the same breath, they claim that while their body is subject to their own will alone, a pregnant woman does not have the same inviolability to get an abortion. \u201cMy body, my choice\u201d has been co-opted by Christian anti-vaxxers, who want the \u201cfreedom\u201d to refuse vaccinations because they claim their bodies are inviolable, but their freedom infringes upon my freedom to shop at the grocery store without having to worry about my safety from the Coronavirus and the Delta variant. We have competing \u201cfreedom.\u201d We each have the same desire for freedom, which leads us into conflict. Unfortunately, shared desire, like the desire for freedom to do whatever I want, can often be used in selfish and harmful ways.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”21501″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n I also agree that we should respect everyone\u2019s freedom, including the freedom to offend. But I think this tenet can be problematic because it can easily be misread as saying, \u201cI have the right to offend, and so I\u2019m going to use my freedom of speech to be really mean!\u201d<\/p>\n What I appreciate about this tenet is that it gives the freedom to\u00a0others\u00a0to use offensive language. The ethic in this tenet is not that\u00a0I\u00a0get to be an offensive jerk. It\u2019s that I respect another\u2019s freedom to be an offensive jerk.<\/p>\n Sadly, we live in a culture where many people feel the need to gain attention by being as offensive as possible. Being offensive gets us attention. And soon, someone says something I find offensive, and then I feel justified to say something offensive in return.<\/p>\n Since we live in a world that is full of people offending and taking offense, maybe what we need to realize is that opportunities to offend and to take offense will come. Sometimes people may intentionally try to offend us. Many times people aren\u2019t intentionally trying to offend us. But despite intentionality, we have the freedom to choose how we will respond when we feel offended.<\/p>\n One principle that I\u2019ve learned when I\u2019m feeling offended by something someone has said is to resist responding to the offensive language, but instead respond to the content. For example, I recently posted a meme encouraging people to get vaccinated. An anti-vaxxer responded that I was fear-mongering and then called me a \u201cKaren\u201d because he felt I was shaming people into getting vaccinated.<\/p>\n I realized that he felt offended because I was encouraging people to get vaccinated. He felt shamed because he didn\u2019t want to get vaccinated and he even said he felt persecuted because of being pressured to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n If you have found good solutions to respond to this situation, I would love to hear them.<\/p>\n There were so many things that I found offensive in his comment. My impulse was to mimic the offensive language he used against me. \u201cI\u2019m not a Karen! You’re Karen!\u201d (Sorry to all the Karens out there. I can understand if you are offended. But we need Karens. You are bold and assertive, and there is so much good that can come from that!) And then I could tell him that he was shaming me for getting vaccinated and that he\u2019s the real problem!<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have the best answers, but what feels right to me when I feel offended is to move through the offensive language. Here\u2019s what I mean: I want to look at whatever offends me and see if there is any truth. If there is truth in it, I\u2019ll try to explore what it means. If there isn\u2019t truth in it, I\u2019ll put it to the side. Then I\u2019ll respond as inoffensively as possible with what I think are the facts. In this case, I simply replied that in the United States we are averaging more than 2,000 deaths per day due to COVID. We have an easily accessible way to stop the spread and save lives. So please get vaccinated. If he continues to be offended by that, so be it. My goal isn\u2019t to offend, but to educate.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Christians should want to know the truth. If God is real, then for us, all truth is God\u2019s truth. That includes the truth about the world that we discover through science.<\/p>\n Despite what you may have heard, scientific truth is not a threat to Christianity. Science helps Christians and other theists learn more about God\u2019s good creation.<\/p>\n The problem is that many Christians think the truth about our scriptures reveals the full truth about the universe.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”21504″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n What\u2019s often missed in the religion versus science debate is that religion and science reveal different truths. Religion, at its best, reveals the truth about human relationships. For example, take the story of the first humans. They eat the forbidden fruit and then they hide from God\u2019s presence. God comes to them and merely asks, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d Then they play the blame game. The man blames the woman, and then he blames God for making her, and then the woman blames the serpent. And we have been shifting blame to one another ever since. In fact, the entire Bible can be seen as this dynamic being played out in every relationship, until someone comes in and breaks the cycle of accusation with the alternative – taking responsibility (the biblical word\u00a0repentance, more on that below) and offering forgiveness. For Christians, this forgiveness is ultimately revealed in Jesus when he prays for the cross, \u201cFather forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]But science tells us the truth about the material world. No sacred scripture tells us the truth about protons and neutrons, quarks and galaxies, DNA and viruses. Christians should follow science wherever it leads because it helps reveal the truth about how the universe works.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are fallible.\u201d<\/p>\n Yep. It\u2019s not so much a question of\u00a0if\u00a0one makes a mistake. It\u2019s\u00a0when\u00a0one makes a mistake. That\u2019s on every page of the Bible. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. But we are\u00a0not our mistakes.\u00a0Or in the language of the Bible,\u00a0we are not our sin.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n For many of us, sin is an ugly religious word. But the word in Greek is\u00a0hamartia,\u00a0which comes from archery and simply means \u201cto miss the mark.\u201d Sin is \u201cmissing the mark.\u201d We all miss the mark. And guess what that means? We can all recognize when our aim was off and we can try again.<\/p>\n In fact, the Christian word for this is\u00a0repentance. This tenet of Satanism helps us understand this key spiritual concept. When we hear the word \u201crepent,\u201d many of us squirm with religious feelings of guilt.<\/p>\n But repentance isn\u2019t there to make us feel guilty. It\u2019s there to remind us that when we make a mistake, we all miss the mark, and we have the opportunity to rectify it and set things right.<\/p>\n But sometimes we have missed the mark so badly that we have caused serious damage. In some cases, trying to fix a relationship with someone we have wounded might only cause further damage. In that case, we can learn from the experience and do something better next time. Because for some reason, life always gives us a next time, which is an opportunity to do better. My friend\u00a0Gareth Higgins<\/a>\u00a0calls this \u201cliving amends\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in his excellent book\u00a0How Not To Be Afraid<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”21505″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n This might be my favorite tenet of Satanism. My issues with the third and fourth tenets are assuaged with this final one. As important as freedom is, if it is not guided by compassion, wisdom, and justice, my freedom can be used to infringe upon your freedom.<\/p>\n The point is that any tenet, any principle, any story, and any teaching can be misunderstood or interpreted in ways that go against whatever the author intended. And in the case of the Bible, it\u2019s impossible to ask the authors what they intended. Tragically, throughout Christian history, many Christians have gone against the example and teachings of Jesus by attacking one another as they fight for what they thought was the right interpretation of scripture – and in doing so they completely missed the point.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”21506″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice. Jesus once said, \u201cYou have heard it said, \u2018an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,\u2019 but I say to you, do not resist an evil doer.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus was directly quoting the written word found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. The ancient law \u201ceye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and life for a life\u201d might seem barbaric to us today, but back then, it had an important meaning. It was meant to limit vengeance. If someone took your eye, you could take their eye, but no more. And if someone killed your family member, you could kill that person, but you couldn\u2019t kill that person and one of his family members. In that sense, this teaching was a click forward in human history because its intention was to limit human vengeance.<\/p>\n But Jesus took the Spirit of this written word a step further. Since the law was meant to limit vengeance, let\u2019s fulfill it by seeking no vengeance at all. Instead of seeking vengeance, just stop the cycle in its tracks by refusing to participate in it.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-l”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Some of my Christian siblings claim that I am being duped by Satanism. They state that Satanism might look nice with these tenets, but the way Satan works is to trick us into believing he is cute and cuddly, and then, bang!, Satan\u2019s evil powers have taken over the world.<\/p>\n In fact, some Christians on tiktok have said that Satan tries to look like Jesus in order to dupe Christians. So don\u2019t be fooled by loving, kind, justice-seeking Satanists. They are just plain evil.<\/p>\n But if Satan were real and tried to trick us, I don\u2019t think Satan would be so obvious as to come in the form of Satanism. I think Satan would actually come in the form of God\u2019s people – as Christians.<\/p>\n After all, in the Bible, the word Satan has three meanings – tempter, adversary, and accuser. The spirit of Satan is the spirit that tempts us to become adversaries against one another through accusations. Whenever Christians unite against another person or group, we are falling into the satanic trap. In other words, we become the very Satan we claim to hate.<\/p>\n In this sense, Satanism is a test for Christians. Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That includes our Satanist neighbors. Are we going to follow Jesus in loving our neighbors, which means getting to know and understand them, or are we going to accuse them of being evil?<\/p>\n Personally, as a pastor, I would much rather support my Satanist neighbors and work with them on their seven tenets than be tempted to make them into adversaries by accusing them of being some evil that they aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n The world would be a much better place if Christians supported our Satanist neighbors.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”20261″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After encountering a Satanist Uber driver and getting support from Satanist TikTokers, Adam Ericksen sees Satanism in a new light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4328,14],"tags":[234,4648,4649,1890,4650,4464],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Seven Tenets of Satanism<\/h3>\n
1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.<\/h3>\n
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.<\/h3>\n
3. One\u2019s body is inviolable, subject to one\u2019s own will alone.<\/h3>\n
4. 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\u2019s own.<\/h3>\n
5. Beliefs should conform to one\u2019s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one\u2019s beliefs.<\/h3>\n
6. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one\u2019s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.<\/h3>\n
7. 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.<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n