TST NYC Lecture Series Videos Now Available

TST NYC hosted the first in our new Lecture Series on Friday, August 25th, 2017 at Brooklyn’s excellent Catland Books. Proceeds from this event went to the legal support fund for TST’s Religious Reproductive Rights campaign.

Witch Feminism, a Brief History – Kristen Sollée

Kristen J. Sollée is a lecturer at The New School and founding editrix of Slutist, a sex positive feminist arts and culture website. Her first book, Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive was called a “Must Read” by BUST and described in The Guardian as “a whirlwind history of the witch in America and her shared history with sexually liberated women and radical liberationary politics.”

In this illustrated lecture, Kristen J. Sollée traces the history of “witch feminism” from Early Modern Europe to the present. With an eye specifically on female sexuality, she will delve into the links between witches, midwifery, and reproductive rights; the transformation of witch hunting into slut shaming; and the role of the witch in feminist activism and politics over the past century. With art, literature, film and popular culture as a backdrop, this talk will peel back layers of misinformation and misogyny to chart the witch’s development from diabolical sorceress to symbol of sexual and intellectual liberation.

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The Satanic Temple NYC Presents: Virtual Run for Reproductive Rights

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From TST’s Religious Reproductive Rights website:

TEXAS RULE ON FETAL REMAINS

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services plans to enforce new rules that require that fetal tissue must be buried or cremated and can no longer be disposed of in sanitary landfills as they are in every other state.

The Satanic Temple believes burial rites are a well-established component of religious practice. This is undisputed in the entirety of US legal history. In addition, members of The Satanic Temple believe in the inviolability of the body and, as such, these rules contradict our fundamental beliefs. The First Amendment protects our right to practice our beliefs, and under the Religious Freedom Reform Act (RFRA), the State must present a compelling reason for why they want to enforce rules that inhibit adherence to our religious practices. Clearly, the State of Texas has no compelling reason because these rules were not enacted to promote health and safety, but rather to harass and burden women who terminate their pregnancies.

For these reasons, members of The Satanic Temple are not required to comply with the Texas rule on fetal remains. Nevertheless, we will require legal support to protect the rights of our members.

MISSOURI LAWSUITS

THE SATANIC TEMPLE (TST) has filed both state and federal lawsuits against the state of Missouri on behalf of Mary Doe, a pregnant woman seeking an abortion. Missouri law requires that all women seeking to lawfully terminate their pregnancy must be given reading material claiming that life begins at conception, and they must endure a 72-hour waiting period between their initial appointment and their actual abortion procedure. TST objects to these restrictions on religious grounds because they violate our belief in the inviolability of one’s body.

WHAT IS A VIRTUAL RUN?

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A virtual run works like this:
1. Register for the run at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-run-for-reproductive-rights-tickets-30992509430
2. At any time before or on the run day (April 29) run/walk/bike/elliptical the distance that you want at the location that is most convenient for you
3. Once you’ve finished, post your distance and time as a comment on this page
4. About two weeks after the run day your medal will be delivered to you

Be sure to register early! If you want a medal you must register before April 1st. After April 1st we won’t be ordering any more medals.

Health and Safety Waiver:

In consideration of participating in The Satanic Temple’s virtual run for Reproductive Rights, you agree to assume all risks inherent in participation in such a program, whether they are apparent to you or not. You certify that you are in good physical health and fit to participate. Nevertheless, you acknowledge that participation carries an inherent risk of injury to your person and damage to your property. You hereby waive and release, for yourself and for your heirs and assigns, any and all claims, causes of action, or liabilities which may hereafter accrue against The Satanic Temple, and its affiliates, their agents, employees, volunteers, officers, directors, successors and assigns, and any and all sponsors, their representatives and successors, that may arise as a result of your participation in The Satanic Temple’s virtual run for Reproductive Rights, including any and all claims for personal injuries caused by The Satanic Temple’s negligence.

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There are seven fundamental tenets

Seven Tenets

  • One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
  • The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
  • One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
  • 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 your own.
  • Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
  • People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
  • 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

 

Source: http://thesatanictemple.com/about-us/tenets/

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FAQ

DO YOU WORSHIP SATAN?

It is the position of The Satanic Temple that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. The Satanist should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.

DO YOU PROMOTE EVIL?

The Satanic Temple holds to the basic premise that undue suffering is bad, and that which reduces suffering is good. We do not believe in symbolic “evil.” We embrace blasphemy as a legitimate expression of personal independence from counter-productive traditional norms.

WHAT DOES SATAN MEAN TO TST?

Satan is symbolic of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds. Satan is an icon for the unbowed will of the unsilenced inquirer… the heretic who questions sacred laws and rejects all tyrannical impositions. Ours is the literary Satan best exemplified by Milton and the Romantic Satanists, from Blake to Shelley, to Anatole France.

IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE SUPERNATURAL, HOW IS TST A RELIGION?

The idea that religion belongs to supernaturalists is ignorant, backward, and offensive. The metaphorical Satanic construct is no more arbitrary to us than are the deeply held beliefs that we actively advocate for. Are we supposed to believe that those who pledge submission to an ethereal supernatural deity hold to their values more deeply than we? Are we supposed to concede that only the superstitious are proper recipients of religious exemption and privilege? In fact, Satanism provides us all that a religion should, without a compulsory attachment to untenable items of faith-based belief: It provides a narrative structure by which we contextualize our lives and works. It provides a body of symbolism and religious practice — a sense of identity, culture, community, and shared values.

IS TST A MEDIA STUNT/HOAX/TROLLING, ETC.?

Some have conveniently concluded, upon observing The Satanic Temple’s media coverage, that the media attention itself is the primary objective of TST’s activities. While media outreach has helped to raise awareness of the campaigns we have initiated, these campaigns have ultimate goals related issues that are important to us and our membership.

So inured is the general public to the idea that there is only one monolithic voice of “the” religious agenda that any attempt at a counter-balance — or assertion of a minority voice — is often viewed as necessarily a mere targeted provocation against those who enjoy an unquestioned tacit assertion of sole squatters rights in the religio-political dialogue.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

We believe in the pursuit of knowledge and freedom of Will. We believe in our Seven Tenets:

• One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.

• The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

• One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

• The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forego your own.

• Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.

• People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.

• 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.

Materially, we believe in nothing that is not demonstrably true, and hold to even those beliefs with an understanding that they, too, must remain open to revision in the light of new scientific understandings.

HOW ARE YOU DIFFERENT FROM HUMANISTS?

A unifying attribute of all satanists is our embrace of our outsider status. In addition, satanists adhere to the principles of individual sovereignty and rejection of tyrannical authority. These concerns are of paramount importance to us, but are not fundamental components of Humanism.

HOW ARE YOU DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SATANIC ORGANIZATIONS?

Many Satanic organizations focus on pointless and misguided efforts to establish a monopoly on a vision of the one ‘true’ Satanism. This obsession with ownership has fomented an unfortunate culture in which Satanism’s most vitriolic critics are often self-identified Satanists.

The Satanic Temple is not interested in establishing itself as the sole arbiter of Satanic practice. Rather, we are open to working with other self-identified Satanic organizations to promote general recognition of Satanic legitimacy.

While many Satanic organizations seem to revel in superfluous hierarchies while isolating themselves in petty organizational autocracy, the Satanic Temple eschews rigid, centralized authority and focuses its efforts on effecting tangible constructive change. We believe in building a politically active Satanic movement and invite others to join us in these efforts.

HOW DOES TST’S SATANISM DIFFER FROM LAVEYAN SATANISM?

TST has its own guiding principles and tenets, distinct from the LaVeyan school, that we feel represents a natural evolution in Satanic thought. The overriding principle calls for utilizing the best scientific evidence available to make the most rational real world decisions. To that end, we reject LaVeyan social Darwinist rhetoric that fails to agree with what is currently known regarding social evolution, specifically as it relates to research in evolutionary biology, game theory, reciprocal altruism, cognitive science, etc.

TST also strongly rejects the LaVeyan fetishization of authoritarianism. We believe this is antithetical to Satanic notions of individual sovereignty. Further, while LaVeyan Satanism is atheistic — in that it rejects the notion that Satan is a conscious entity — it is still supernaturalist. TST does not forward supernatural theories of the universe and finds little value in LaVeyan edicts such as those that instruct one to “acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.” (From the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth, Anton LaVey)

Read this essay for more:
The Satanic Temple is not The Church of Satan, deliberately.

HOW CAN I JOIN?

Find out more

Not from NYC, IS THERE A CHAPTER NEAR ME?

Chapters are opening up all over the country. Check under “Find Chapter” to see if there is a Chapter near you.

 I’M OFFENDED!!!

Please go elsewhere. We are probably offended by your beliefs, but we do not send you hateful email.

 

(Modified from original at http://thesatanictemple.com/faq/)

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TST NYC supports Detroit’s Sabbat Cycle ritual in Manhattan

Lauren Duca covered The Sabbat Cycle; Awaken in NYC. In the article she mentions speaking with one of our members from NYC, while also noting she did not run into many Satanists. We were there, quite a few of us. We were engaged in the performance and mingling. Being elusive is Satanic. It was otherwise our favorite article on the event thus far.

Feature image credit; Vice Magazine

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TST NYC is Official

As of 2/26/2016 The Satanic Temple of NYC is official. Our council has been working together for a while now to contribute to our TST NYC culture and objectives through our varied special interests and perspectives. Our common thread is our love for various aspects of TST, art, literature, philosophy, and cooperation.

We are all so thrilled to start our next phase. Thank you to everyone for the ongoing support.

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