Global Courant 2023-04-25 10:42:20
The Satanic Temple is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend with its SatanCon convention in Boston, but it’s not what you’re probably thinking.
The organization is both a theater of American satire and a place for believers.
The Temple, not to be confused with the Satanic Church, does not formally deify Satan as the personification of evil, but rather sees him as a literary character, a necessary rebel, mocking traditional religion and the embrace of institutions such as denouncing the Catholic government by the government. Church, said co-founder Malcolm Jarry.
“They believe in a literary representation of Satan,” Jarry said of the Temple’s estimated 700,000 members around the world. “It is a heroic figure who fights against tyrannical authorities and for humanity, even if it is a losing battle.”
Still, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston seem shocked at the prospect of Satanic Temple members in red bodysuits and devil horns gathering in a costume shop near the Copley Place mall.
The archdiocese counterprograms with a weekend full of solemn events.
The Baphomet statue in the conversion chamber of the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, in 2019.Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images file
“We are approaching it with a balanced response and focused on prayer,” Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told the broadcaster. Catholic Press Agency last week. “We are finalizing a list of places throughout our archdiocese where we will meet.”
The weekend convention at the Boston Marriott Copley Place is sold out, temple organizers say, boasting it will be the largest satanic gathering in history.
The convention, which includes the rituals of the temple, marketplace and wedding chapel, also caps off a successful 10 years for the organization, symbolically located in a Victorian home in Salem, Massachusetts, Jarry said.
It was founded after Jarry met Lucien Greaves while studying at Harvard. The two agreed to form a group whose mission is to uphold inclusive religious freedom while keeping the separation of church and state alive.
He described the typical Temple member as “anyone who is non-conforming” and those who are “marginalized people”.
These Satanists support women’s shelters, highway cleanups and addiction recovery centers, he said. A major problem for the temple is the right to abortion. It recently launched a telehealth clinic in New Mexico that it says delivers abortion medications by mail.
According to the US government, it is a legitimate church.
In 2019, the Temple persuaded the IRS to do so recognize it not only as a tax-exempt religion, but also as a real church.
“Being recognized as a church by both the IRS and the legal system is a world of difference,” said Jarry, who declined to reveal personal details such as his age.
The Temple and the Catholic Church have clashed before. In 2014, the Temple promoted a Black Mass at Harvard University that prompted the Archdiocese to call on the institution to break away from the Temple.
In 2016, the Temple also unsuccessfully challenged the city of Boston to give it the same amount of time to cast an incantation before a city council meeting, as other churches had done.
The weekend event is dedicated to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who served on the City Council at the time. The temple has accused her of denying her equal access to public events and spaces. But not this time.
Wu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“Public forums should be open,” Jarry said. “And they should accept people of all religions.”
