(12-09-2023, 05:06 PM)Freija Wrote: ...
The Satanic Temple (TST) doesn’t believe in the supernatural i.e. gods, demons, magic, Satan etc. Don’t confuse the Satanic Temple with Levayan Satanism (the Church of Satan) or other factions. TST is more aligned with groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF.org) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State (www.au.org)
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Fair enough, but if they didn't want to be conflated with the rest of the Satanist crowd, they probably should not have evoked the name. They are fostering such conflations their own selves, and I'm sure there is a reason for that, a reason beyond the shiny PR campaign they are trying to foist off on the rest of the world.
If they wear the uniform, they can field the shots aimed at it without my help. Your mileage is welcome to vary.
Regarding their abortion stance, and abortion in general, I really don't care about abortions per se. Matter of fact, I think folks seeking abortions are doing the rest of us a favor. Clearly they have some genetic defects that they are gracefully trying to prevent from tainting the gene pool. One would HAVE to have a basic defect to kill off one's own offspring - that files against everything else in nature. So let 'em do as they will. It's good for the human race to keep their tainted genes out of the pool the rest of us have to swim in.
Where they go off the rails is in referring to their "services" as a "religious ritual", one that incorporates killing off other humans - i.e. "human sacrifice", and in the case of abortions, "infant sacrifice". It's pretty plain, and very simple. That's not somewhere they had to go just to "buck the system". It's intentional and blatant. Furthermore, despite their protestations of innocence, I call 'em like I see 'em. Either they are a religion, or they are not - can't have it both ways at the same time. Now, since I can't judge their religion looking in from the outsider, I have to take them at their word... and a "religious ritual" that involves killing humans is, by definition, human sacrifice. No other way to get around it.
Now I myself will not kill babies. I'm not a "baby killer", despite labels to the contrary applied by other folks Still, it's not for me to determine how other folks relate to their own offspring - I just have to refrain from killing their kids myself to adhere to my own personal moral code - I don't get to determine whether they kill off their own or not. This Satanic Temple appears to have no such code, and are happy to assist others in killing off their offspring to assuage the guilty of the blood on their own hands. If they are willing to take that blood onto "Satanic" hands, then they can also take the baggage that comes along with it.
As I mentioned before, I watch what people DO more than listen to what they SAY. Claims are a dime a dozen. Action is where the rubber meets the road. Their actions (assisting folks in killing off their kids) in combination with their words (calling it a "religious ritual of abortion") clearly indicate just one thing - human sacrifice. I call a spade a spade, and let the chips fall where they may. I don't care about flashy PR campaigns loaded with prevarications, especially when they contradict ACTIONS.
I reckon "seeing through" things apparently has layers of vision. I just think folks ought to peel back a few more layers before settling on a conclusion is all. Stopping at the surface layer that the Satanic Temple presents to us on a shiny platter is not, to my way of thinking, "seeing through" their facade.
One has to dig a little deeper to get beneath that facade.
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