In christianity we hear and talk a lot about how Satan and God do not get a long and they both strive upon two opposing forces. For Some satan is an all encompassing evil entity, while to other a wise and powerful God. Many people do not know that there are two types of satanist out there. One has a yearning desire to worship or work with Satan himself, while the other do not believe in Satan at all. There are some clear reslemeblences and differences between these two factions and I am here to tell you what they are.
Let's start off with most well known branch called Laveyan Satanism, or what others may think of it as, atheistic satanism. It was created by a man name Anton Zander LaVey in the 1960's. He personally believed that all religions were man made, so why couldn't he make one himself?
The most reliable inscription upon, what some may call a religion, on this subject is called the Satanic Bible. As did he create that book he also formed the Church of Satan, which isn't really a place, it is more of an organization. This organization is till up to date even after his death on October 29, 1997. I find it sad that he wasn't able to attend that ritual on they day of June 6, 2006, which held one of the biggest satanic mass there was, probably in history. I will leave a link on the bottom of this post with the video of the mass, if you wish to see it.
According by the words of Anton himself, LaVeyan Satanist do not believe in God or Satan, nor a heaven or hell, they are pure atheist. To them Satan is a symbol representing man's fleshy desires and power. It is where they invoke the name of satan during their rituals in order to produce an effect, for what some people may call magick.
The only God in laVeyan Satanist would worship, is themselves. Heck it even says in the Satanic Bible that one the best holidays to a satanist is his or her birthday! LaVeyan Satanism is the religion of the self and is very selfish religion. They encourage to indulge the nectar life gives you, because you never know when you may die.
Now this is one of my favorite topics because this fraction of satanism indulges on the spiritual side. Here on this side you may find some of lavey's philosophies added with the side of meditation, incense, prayers, and even offerings. What I am clearly talking about is called spiritual satanism, or what some will call it theistic satanism.
This side of religions recognizes spiritual beings, such as demons and even Satan himself. They do not view him as a being of evil, but some people may call him the giver of knowledge and the true king of God's throne.
I do not want to dig too deep within spiritual satanism, because there are so many different types of beliefs and practices that one satanist may like, while the other wont. A lot are eclectic and believe in reincarnation, while some believe to fight along satan when the end of times come. There is just so much to talk about that I don't know the answer to.
I hope you like this thread I posted and I hope it gave you some insight about satanism. Please remember that real satanist do not kill babies and murder animals, people who do this are psychopaths and are no way included in the Satanic community.