blackgoatcabal - Profile (original) (raw)

For propsective members of the Black Goat Cabal: Satanists against dogma-based definitions of Satanism.

"Satanism" is not just one religion or ideology. There are many Satanisms. To us, a "Satanist" is anyone with a favorable view of Satan (regardless of whether Satan is seen as a sentient entity, a "dark force," or just a symbol).

Alas, the Satanist scene at the present time is afflicted by sectarian dogmatism, with various groups claiming to be the one and only "true Satanists." The noisiest of these is the Church of Satan founded by Anton LaVey, noted for such nonsensical statements as "Devil worshipers are not Satanists." On the other hand, there are various sects of "Devil worshipers" who likewise claim the only "true Satanists." At yet another, even more absurd extreme, there are even some theistic Satanists who say that they themselves are NOT "Devil worshipers" and who go along with the LaVeyan putdowns of "Devil worshipers." In our view, all of this is silly.

We welcome Satanists of all law-abiding kinds who reject dogma-based definitions of Satanism and who are willing to put some effort into publicly (or at least semi-publicly, e.g. on websites or blogs) opposing Satanist dogmatism. We are also concerned about Satanism's public image in general, e.g. opposing Satanic panics. And we are concerned about religious freedom in general and the separation of church and state.

This forum welcomes posts from Satanists (of both the theistic and symbolic kinds), plus Pagans and occultists. If you are not a Satanist, Pagan, or occultist, e.g. if you are a Christian or a mainstream atheist/naturalist, please join ts_interfaith, which welcomes people of all religions and worldviews.

Rules for posting here:

No advocacy of criminal activity in the name of Satan or Satanism. No advocacy of law-breaking generally. (But it's okay to advocate changing the law in favor of an activity that is now illegal, as long as you aren't ridiculously trollish about it.)

No copyright violations, nor anything that looks like it might be a copyright violation. Do not copy and paste an entire article, story, poem, etc. here, unless YOU wrote it and you specifically say so. Otherwise, please give us just a brief preview and link.

No sexually explicit posts. There are probably some minors here.

No personal insults, flaming, or other drama. Let's have civil and rational dialogue only. Even if someone flames you, don't flame back. Complain to me via email instead.

No defamatory allegations against particular Satanist groups, individual Satanists, or against anyone else. Feel free to voice disagreement with a given group's or individuals beliefs or recommended practices, but please do not bring your PERSONAL beefs here.

Avoid hate speech, including hate speech against religious groups. Feel free to voice disagreement with other religions, but steer clear of schoolyardish name-calling, genocidal sentiments, sweeping generalizations, etc.

No posts whose primary purpose is advertising of any kind, though you may briefly mention your group or business in the context of a larger on-topic post to which it is relevant.

Keep threads on their original topic. New topics should be introduced with new posts.

In particular, if a given thread has nothing to do with politics, economics, social policy, social structures, or someone's idea of "Satanic ethics," please do not hijack the thread in such a direction. For example, if the original post is about invocation vs. evocation of demons, don't post a reply in which you preach about "stratification" vs. "egalitarianism," or which introduces any reference to any other political, social, or economic issue, no matter how relevant you think it is or why. Make a new post instead. The various Satanisms attract people of many different political persuasions (we don't all agree with LaVey's political and social views, for example), and we don't want every thread to turn into a political debate.

When writing a long post (more than 200 words or so), please use an LJ Cut to hide all but the first 100 to 150 words or so behind a link which people can click to see the rest of your post.

This forum is primarily for Satanists who oppose dogma-based definitions of Satanism. If you are not a Satanist of any kind, or if you are a Satanist who advocates some dogma-based definition, you may post your disagreements with us here, provided you do so only in a way that does not threaten to dominate or disrupt this forum. Basically this means posting only in relatively few threads (which you may start) with clear but neutrally-worded titles such as the following:

- "About the definition of 'Satanism'" (if you wish to argue in favor of some dogma-based definition of "Satanism").
- "Why revere Satan?" (if you're a Pagan who can't understand why on Earth anyone would want to revere Satan)

If a discussion is deemed particularly annoying for whatever reason, we may ask the participants to move it elsewhere. If we do, you will in most cases (if there aren't potential legal issues involved) be allowed to post a link to wherever you've decided to continue it. In that case, we would also appreciate the courtesy of a link back.