The Church of Satan is founded on the philosophy of LaVeyan Satanism. History: Anton LaVey founded the Church in the Black House in San Francisco 1966. The Black House served as the headquarters. In 1969, LaVey published the Satanic Bible, establishing the fundamentals of LaVeyan Satanism. This work is the dominant piece of Satanic literature. The Church was widely covered in the media in the 1970s and 1980s. Documentaries, television and radio news, and magazines. The Church has their own magazine brand, The Black Fame. In the 1970s Anton LaVey grew distant from the media. His daughter, Zeena acted as the spokesperson of the Church, particularly during the "Satanic Panic," when there was many accusations of Satanic Ritual Abuse. Folks claimed Satanist (other Satanist included) abused people physically and sexually in rituals, especially children. Anton LaVey was high priest from 1966 till his death in 1997. His daughter, Karla LaVey created the First Satanic Church in 1999, because after her father's death she realized the Church had become excessively materialistic and considered ...
Victor, Jeffrey S. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. Chicago: Open Court, 1993.
Jacob, Margaret C. The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts & Fictions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
On the morning of August 12, 1995, Arnie Lerma’s house was raided by lawyers of the Church of Scientology two armed Federal Marshals. A...
The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Church is a very small homophobic, anti- Semitic hate group that regularly stages protest around the country. The group first started as a non-profit organization in 1967. The Westboro Baptist Church is made up of its pastor, and some of his children and grandchildren. The Westboro Baptist church is well known for picketing places and or events they see as supporting homosexuals or Jews.
Mystery cults greatly influenced the development of Pythagoreanism as Pythagoreans adopted many of their traditions, behaviors and beliefs. Pythagoras, the founder of the Pythagoreans, established a school in which he developed and taught these adopted cultural behaviors and beliefs. "The nature of daily living in the school, both its moral and its intellectual disciplines, can perhaps best be understood as an intellectualized development from earlier mystery cults such as the Eleusinian" (Wheelwright 201). The Pythagoreans and the mystery cults were not identical, but they shared many similar beliefs on subjects such as the soul, transmigration and reincarnation, and they practiced many of the traditions of initiation, ritual and secrecy. Pythagoreans combined the mystery cults' views on these subjects with philosophical thought as a foundation to develop their own unique beliefs.
The history of Scientology shows its persistence to keep their members with the promise of spiritual enlightenment. Scientology was founded in the mid-twentieth century by renowned science-fiction author L Ron Hubbard. (Sweeney) The basic foundation of the church stems from the ideas of his best-selling book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. (Anderson) Dianetics was published on May 9, 1950, and the date would become recognized among Scientologists as a religious holiday. Hubbard claimed that the discovery of the science of dianetics is “a milestone for Man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his inventions of the wheel and the arch” (Reitman 58). The book’s ideas encourage humanity to rid the individual of any of their mental weaknesses (18). It went on to make its way up the bestseller list by the summer o...
Terry, Maury. The Ultimate Evil: The Truth About Cult Murders: Son Of Sam & Beyond. New York: Barnes and Noble Publishing Company, 1987.
At the end of 93, Gidget Gein, bass, was no more a part of the band. His is drug problems had apparently gone out of hand. Twiggy Ramirez, from Amboog-A-Lard, became the new bassist. 1994 was the major breakthrough for the Manson family. National tours with NIN gained them fame and other things. In Salt Lake City, they were banned for the first time in Manson history. Manson got to meet Dr. Anton Szandor LaVey. He is the founder of the Church of Satan. Dr. LaVey named Manson as a priest of the Church of Satan.
Satanic cults are known to be one of the most darkest cults in the world. There have been reports of Satanic worship across the nation. It is not entirely known of what kind of activity goes on in most Satanic cults, but there are quite a few crimes that have been committed that lead to Satanic worshipers such as, kidnapping, rape, and murder. It also has been reported that people are being kidnapped for so called “religious purposes”. Many believe that people that are kidnapped, are then put into “sacrificial ceremonies” and some believe that they are then “brainwashed” into joining the cult, but it is not a real fact that these events really happened. There have been many court trials over suspected Satanic cult members that have committed major crimes in the past.
Lewis's insights on the insidious strategy of Satan -- the archenemy of our souls -- appear to have been right on target in regard to modern occultism. (2)
With the start of the high Middle Ages came a notable increase in witch-prosecution and an undeniable fascination with all things occult, the devil, demons and the obliteration of such heretics. While the great strife between Catholicism and Lutheranism began the number of those accused of consulting with the devil, and condemned of the heinous crime of witchcraft began to rise. This was due in part of the teachings of the reformers and the church itself, refuting any argument against witchcraft and its infection of traditional catholic, obedient society. In Luther's catechism, the control held by the devil over man's body and soul, life and property, wife and children amounts almost to omnipotence. According to Sister Antoinette Maria Pratt the interest in the occult increased in the 1200s as “Satan became, their whole lives through, the dominant idea. This was particularly true of the fifteen and sixteenth centuries, when the doctrines of Luther had permeated all classes of society and were producing their terrible resu...
L. Ron Hubbard was an American author and he was the founder of the Church of Scientology. Born on March 13 in 1911 Lafayette Hubbard grew up in Helena Montana. Hubbard became a writer for pulp fiction magazines during the 1930s starting his career in the field of writing. Hubbard was best known for his fantasy and science fiction stories, however he wrote many other genres. In May of 1950 the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health was published. It was after this that L. Ron Hubbard began to really promote Scientology as a religion and established the church of Scientology in 1953 located in Camden, New Jersey. (What is Scientology, 25-29)
The leader of the cult recruited women by his charm. He stalks his chosen females and figures out a way to meet them. For example, "Aldrete was driving through Matamoros on July 30, 1987, when a shiny new Mercedes cut her off in traffic, narrowly avoiding a collision. The driver was apologetic, suave and handsome. He introduced himself as Adolfo Constanzo, a Cuban-American living in Mexico City. There was an instant chemistry between them, but Constanzo made no sexual overtures. He noted with pleasure that Aldrete's birthday was the same as his mother's. In fact, the meeting was no accident. Constanzo had been watching Gilberto Sosa, weighing his connections. The meeting with Sara Aldrete was carefully stage-managed, as was their burgeoning friendship and her gradual introduction into the occult” (Newton). He had done this many times and it was easy every single one of them. He made people feel safe when they were with him and he made them believe that the cult was protection from things all around them that posed any danger. Also, after Adolfo pledged himself to the devil, he thought he was obtaining supernatural powers. He claimed he could tell the future and help people with his new gift and in return allegiance to his cult. One example is, “Adolfo started offering his fortune telling and ritual cleansing services to
Prior to open practice of Satanism, the Roman Catholic church used Satanism as a label for individuals and groups who held views or ideologies that conflicted with those of the church. This was an attempt to delegitimize their opponents and to strengthen the Church’s following. While these accusations were initially harmless and limited to heretics, they became increasingly frequent and extreme. These wild accusations spread to rumors of violent rituals claimed to be performed by Satanists which built up to widespread fear and panic. Ultimately, this would result in events like the Salem Witch Trials where innocent people were put to death due to false suspicion of individuals performing witchcraft and becoming possessed by the Devil. Ironically, while the church merely intended to bolster both its image and following with these accusations, the widespread panic that resulted put Satanism on the map, and “several scholars identify fundamentalist Christianity as one of the major influences shaping and driving the” onset of the Satanist movement (Underwager and Wakefield, 281). This sheds light on the true relationship between the conflicting belief systems of Christianity and Satanism. Although the two are at odds on even the most basic levels, their relationship is largely codependent. Christianity uses the fear surrounding Satanism and the
Scientology was founded in 1952 by L. Ron Hubbard. The Church of Scientology has been known to use manipulations such as isolation and lawsuit to keep members in line. Many consider the Church of Scientology to be a church and not a cult because it is recognized by the IRS, but numerous countries refuse to recognize it as a church including, the United Kingdom, Greece, Canada, Germany, and France. Reverend Sun Myung Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in 1954. After 7 years in the church his followers were told they could choose their marriage partners and he became famous for his mass marriage ceremonies. In 1970s, Moon renamed the cult the Unification Church and relocated it to New York City. The cult still exists even though Moon died in 2010.