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The Satanic Temple is a nonsupernaturalist, nontheistic religion headquartered out of Salem, Maine, USA, that advocates for freedom of religious expression.
The Satanic Temple (TST) is a nontheistic US-based religious organization founded in 2013 by Lucien Greaves (i.e., Douglas Mesner and Douglas Misicko), Malcolm Jarry, and David Guinan. As of 2023, TST has expanded to include 56 chapters and an estimated 700,000 members worldwide (TST, 2023b; Romero, 2023), with internal “factions” (i.e., special interest groups) such as the Sober Faction (a self-empowerment sobriety group) and Grey Faction (antipseudoscience education and advocacy). TST chapters are under the direct control of TST headquarters, located in Salem, Maine, USA.
As a nontheistic religious organization, TST does not proffer the existence of god(s) nor preaches theistic beliefs. While TST does not endorse a supernatural deity, they are an...
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References
Laycock, J. P. (2020). Speak of the devil: How the satanic temple is changing the way we talk about religion (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
Pruitt, A. R. (2023). Maybe today, satan: A Christian supreme court, unbalanced religious clauses, and the rise of the satanic temple. Journal of Gender, Race, & Justice, 26, 271–310. https://jgrj.law.uiowa.edu/news/2023/01/maybe-today-satan-christian-supreme-court-unbalanced-religious-clauses-and-rise
Romero, D. (2023, April 25). SatanCon, poking at religion and government, opens this weekend in Boston. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/satancon-poking-religion-government-opens-weekend-boston-rcna81275
TST. (2023a). Church of satan vs. satanic temple. TST. https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/church-of-satan-vs-satanic-temple
TST. (2023b). Find a congregation. TST. https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/find-a-congregation
White, M. H., & Gregorius, F. (2019). The satanic temple: Secular activism and occulture in the American political landscape. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 10(1), 89–110. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.38954
Zwissler, L. (2023). Religiously nonreligious: The secular activism of the satanic Temple. Religion and Society, 14, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2023.070306
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Dabbs, C.R., Kosanovich, S.E. (2024). Satanic Temple. In: Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Religious Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38971-9_1922-1
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