'US govt agencies support The Satanic Temple,' Russian govt alleges
The Satanic Temple outlawed as 'undesirable'
On Wednesday of this week, the Russian government added The Satanic Temple to its list of “undesirable” organizations threatening national security, claiming that it “promotes occult ideologies [and] uses Satanic imagery to discredit traditional spiritual-ethical values.”
The practical effect of this decision is to force the organization to dissolve itself and to make any participation in its activities illegal. Around 200 organizations have been deemed “undesirable” by the Russian government to date, including various media outlets, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Church of Scientology.
In a statement, the Prosecutor-General’s Office accused members of The Satanic Temple of “spreading destructive pseudo-theological ideas and justifying violence … with the support of US government agencies.”
Destructive, violent, revolutionary
Why might US government agencies be funding a pseudo-religion in Russia? The Prosecutor-General’s statement does not elaborate, but it does allege that The Satanic Temple seeks to undermine the Russian government in a variety of ways:
The Satanic Temple actively supports participants of extremist and terrorist movements, speaks negatively about the special military operation, [and] calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order in Russia.
“Special military operation” is Russia's official way of referring to the war with Ukraine, and the Russian government accuses the Temple of raising money for the war. The organization’s website does in fact mention the Russia-Ukraine war in the context of a relief program to help Ukrainian Temple members to reach safety. Some Russian members of Parliament go further in their accusations, and accuse unnamed people of placing “Satanic objects” in the trenches, presumably in order to exert an occult influence on the Russian soldiers who find them.
Russia's war against satanism
In July of this year, the Duma (Russian legislative house) held a special session to discuss the battle against “Satanism,” which Orthodox priests were also invited to attend. At the session, a video was screened warning against “diabolical” accessories such as pentagram-shaped pendants, masks, and costumes. Not only “Satanists” were named as dangers to Russia, but also LGBT activists, advocates for abortion rights, members of the Azov unit of the Ukrainian armed forces, and the Meta corporation.
“Infernal phenomena are increasing and directly threatening national security,” said MP Timofeeva, adding that, “occult forces have prevented the Duma from passing a law against this evil eight times already.”
Then, around six weeks ago, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB, accused a medical center director of “promoting Satanism” within a broader pro-LGBT campaign. Ilya Zhuravlyov is now behind bars and could be sentenced to six years in prison. The FSB alleges that he encouraged those working for him to engage in certain deviant practices as an initiation into devil worship, promising to advance their careers if they joined his cult.
10 million members?
Articles in the Russian media present satanism as a tangible threat and suggest that The Satanic Temple has as many as 10 million members worldwide, a number which is probably inflated. Its founders, Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jerry, are both Harvard graduates who insist that members do not worship the devil and only use occult symbolism to oppose “tradition-based superstitions and tyrannical impositions.”
The Temple has seven tenets members are supposed to abide by, all very loosely defined but generally in support of freedom, bodily autonomy, secularism, and “rationalism.” It enjoys tax-exempt status as a “church” and uses this status to fight against what it sees as an encroachment of religion in public life.
After School Satan
One area in which the Satanic Temple has been active is opening after-school programs as an alternative to Christian programs, provocatively named, “After School Satan.” Their national campaign director has said that they do not impose themselves where they are not wanted and only open programs where there has been local demand:
We’re like vampires. We only go where we’re invited.
Supposedly, the programs seek to teach children about science and “rationalism.”
Satanic prayer in schools — or none at all
In 2013, after then-Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, permitted student-led prayers in schools, the Temple held a rally in Tallahassee in support of the decision, complete with a “high priest” wearing goat horns and black-clad followers. They were celebrating the decision,
because now our Satanic children could pray to Satan in school.
School districts then backed away from the prayers and it is unclear whether any took place.
Satanic chaplains in schools — or none at all
Earlier this year, Florida was again in the satanists’ sights when they successfully agitated to have a chaplain program dropped in Osceola County. Working alongside them was the ACLU of Florida.
In their letter to the School Board, the Temple wrote:
“If you insist on inviting religious chaplains to your public school district, we urge you to adopt a fair, constitutionally sound approach that is open to all faiths.
Greaves told media that his organization was ready to send its own volunteer chaplains to any school district in Florida where Christian chaplains were installed within the framework of Governor Ron DeSantis’ program, and announced,
The Satanic Temple’s chaplains can now serve in Florida’s public schools, thanks to Governor Ron DeSantis!
On the Temple’s website, the organization presents Osceola County’s back-down as a significant victory, writing:
This victory is worth celebrating, but the fight is far from over. Schools across Florida are being encouraged to adopt the same unconstitutional policy, and the issue of school chaplains may return in Osceola County. The Satanic Temple, along with our extensive community of members in Florida, opposes these assaults on our civil liberties. Should any of Florida’s school districts choose to implement DeSantis’ suggested model policy, we are prepared to challenge these policies so that we can participate in the School Chaplain programs.
We intend to turn this assault on our First Amendment rights into a learning opportunity for legislators nationwide: the only way to keep Ministers of Satan out of the public school system is not to invite religion into public spaces.
'The world's first religious abortion clinic'
Another focal point for the Temple is abortion “rights.” The organization recently opened its second telehealth abortion clinic in Virginia (the first is in New Mexico) which provides free services — women need only pay for the medication used.
The Temple describes its clinics as “religious” in nature and proudly notes that its staff have been involved in the abortion of over 100 babies:
At TST Health, we have been fighting back against the efforts to restrict abortion access in the years following the catastrophic Dobbs decision. While many clinics have been forced to shut down, we took a bold step forward by opening the world’s first religious abortion clinic on February 14th, 2023.
Since then, we have proudly offered over 100 abortions in New Mexico at no cost to patients aside from the medication. With an average cost of $91 per procedure, we provide the lowest-cost option for pregnancy terminations in the entire state. We’ve also helped cover travel and medication costs for those facing financial hardship, and we’re honored to have made a positive impact on so many lives during what can be a difficult time.
Their website’s donor page lists a variety of options for those who want to help enable women to abort their babies, ranging from a $91 donation to pay for a “medication abortion kit” ($20 more for expedited delivery) to $205 bus tickets from non-bordering states for a “TST Health Patient in financial need.”
Members are also encouraged to engage in the Temple’s own “abortion ritual” which includes repetition of two of their tenets along with a statement asserting autonomy over one’s own body.
The Satanic Abortion Ritual is a destruction ritual that serves as a protective rite.
Its purpose is to cast off notions of guilt, shame, and mental discomfort that a patient may be experiencing due to choosing to have a legal and medically safe abortion.
The Temple has to date launched at least three lawsuits against states that restrict abortions, using the argument that abortion, as a “Satanic ritual,” should be protected as a religious freedom. Two of its cases have been dismissed on procedural grounds while a third is ongoing.
Satanic idol vs. the Ten Commandments
Perhaps most notorious of the Temple’s activities are their attempts to have statues of “Baphomet” placed on State property, wherever a stone monument of the Ten Commandments has been placed outside a State Capitol. Their statues — specially commissioned — are allegedly modeled after a 19th century painting, but whereas the painting features only the idol, the statues also feature two young children at either side of the image, looking up at it with adoring eyes.
In Florida, an attempt to erect such a statue failed in 2013 when the State ruled it “grossly offensive.” However, in 2014, after the Temple threatened to sue, a statue was erected alongside Nativity scenes, and this has recurred each winter.
In Oklahoma, legal battles have been ongoing for over ten years, since a private citizen commissioned and raised money to have a stone Ten Commandments monument erected outside the State Capitol. The Temple then responded with a crowdfunding for their own statue, claiming to have raised over $28,000 to cover costs.
Explaining their decision to erect specifically a seated goat-headed idol, Greaves told media that the idea was to encourage people to have their photo taken with it:
We decided to go with that [idol] because it is a fairly traditional character. It also offers a lap that visitors can come to sit on, have their picture taken with.
Temple founder against 'archaic Abrahamic barbarism'
Oklahoma State Representative Paul Wesselhoft protested the erection of the statue, arguing that it “has no historical significance for the State of Oklahoma,” whereas the stone Ten Commandments are historically significant as a foundation of law.
Greaves disagreed, saying that the idol “absolutely is of historical value.”
Not only would a Satanic monument send a clear and distinct message that America respects plurality, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, but it would also stand as a historical marker commemorating scapegoats, the marginalized, and the demonized minority, the unjustly outcast.
After a court ruling denied permission to erect the Ten Commandments, Greaves stated that he no longer intended to erect his idol but insisted that he would attempt to do so in any other part of the country where such monuments were erected:
... there are plenty of areas in the United States crying out for a counter-balance to existing graven tributes to archaic Abrahamic barbarism.
A few years later, there was another attempt to erect a Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol, and Greaves was even more outspoken in his condemnation:
The idea that the Ten Commandments are foundational to United States law or Oklahoman law is absurd and obscene. [Our monument] celebrates our progress as a pluralistic nation founded on secular law. I would argue that the message behind our [Baphomet] monument speaks more directly to the formation of U.S. constitutional values than the Ten Commandments possibly could. It especially does so when it stands directly beside the Ten Commandments, as it affirms no one religion enjoys legal preference.
Ultimately, the Ten Commandments monument was relocated to private property when the law failed to pass.
In 2018, there was more conflict in Arkansas when a privately financed Ten Commandments monument was erected at the State Capitol in Little Rock. The Temple launched a court case to erect their own bronze idol, and litigation is ongoing.
In Iowa, a local group of The Satanic Temple erected a Baphomet display at the State Capitol in December 2023. Days later it was destroyed by Michael Cassidy, a Christian from Lauderdale, Mississippi. The Temple sued and the case is ongoing.
Where's the money coming from, and why?
All these activities are undeniably expensive, as The Guardian noted in an article written last year:
In recent years, the Temple has moved beyond physical stunts, and into the courtroom, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal efforts to secure abortion rights, ensure the right to free speech, and protect children from abuse.
Whether or not they really do enjoy U.S government funding enabling them to expand their activities to Russia is unknown.
