Sandra Myers

Begun in 2013, this newish incarnation of Satan was co-founded by Malcolm Jarry (real name: Cevin Soling) and Lucien Greaves (real name: Douglas Mesner) in a former funeral home in Salem, Massachusetts (of witch trial fame). (Not to be confused with Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan.)

    According to a 2016 article in The Times of Israel, Jarry is a self-proclaimed secular Jew who says: “there is not much conflict between being Jewish and a Satanist.”

    As for Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson for the TST, he purports that he was raised by a Protestant mother who took him to Sunday school. He studied neuroscience (at Harvard) with a specialty in false-memory syndrome.

    Greaves says The Satanic Temple (TST) doesn’t really believe in Satan, but is non-theistic. Yet they applied for, and received, IRS religious tax-exemption in 2019. The purpose was to participate in any faith-based events or accorded rights. As such, a Baphomet statue appeared along side the Ten Commandments; another instance has a baby Baphomet in a nativity type setting during Christmas.

    Infiltrating our children in schools, TST also commended then-Florida Governor Rick Scott for allowing student led prayers in school, saying that now TST children can pray to Satan. On a similar note, distribution of Bibles in schools in Colorado and California, TST requested permission to distribute its own Satanic activity books. And finally, with regard to the children, the After School Satan Club will be allowed to meet at school facilities. The ACLU of Pennsylvania and attorneys filed a lawsuit in March on behalf of The Satanic Temple, which sponsors the club.

    The Cultural Studies Club at Harvard University invited TST to perform a Black Mass at Harvard. Controversy ensued when Catholics insisted that the performance would constitute hate speech because the Black Mass mocks Catholic rituals. That didn’t stop the event.

    TST also started a scholarship program named: The Devil’s Advocate Scholarship. The award for each winner? $666

    TST also offers expert witness services, “a dedicated initiative supporting TST’s trans and fellow LGBTQIA2+ community members.” Did I forget to mention that membership is estimated at 50% LGBTQ?

    If this isn’t enough, TST is pro-abortion and claims abortion is a religious ritual. TST Health advocates for abortions rights and also offers free telehealth appointments with prescriptions for abortion pills.

Disgusted and Saddened

There is so much more, especially as, while I was researching this article, I read a lot of the comments that are pro-TST. One thing really jumped out at me: These people see the hypocrisy of so-called Christian leaders and churches: child and sexual abuse, adultery, greed, avarice, etc. In 2016 TST claimed 50,000 members worldwide. Now posted on their website, they brag of over 700,000 members.

    They claim not to believe in God nor Satan: self, pride, knowledge and, especially, the destruction of Christianity is their purpose. They mock God at their own peril.