This weekend, members of the Temple of Satan in the Chilean capital, downtown Santiago, gather around a table to begin a ritual. Sharing a bottle of wine, they burn black candles atop an altar decorated with chalices and knives.

The organization is similar to the Satanic Temple USA that made headlines five years ago, sparking a wave of panic when it was designated a church.

She is now calling on the Chilean government to legally recognize them as a religious association.

Satan’s Temple

Chile is a conservative country where half of its 18 million people identify as Catholic.

Contrary to its name, the Temple of Satan: Satanists and Luciferians in Chile do not offer sacrifices and do not call its followers to worship the devil.

Publicists, firefighters, police officers, lawyers and psychologists are among its 100 members; they discovered a method for challenging religious impositions, moral norms, and dogmas within the organization.

They do not worship or believe in Satan, even if they adopt the Satanist label. Rather, they revere ordinary life, individualism, rationality and pleasure.

They honor humanity rather than the gods.

“You own your present and your future, there is no God who makes decisions for you,” said Haborym, a spokesperson for the group, during a walk through the tombs and tombs. mausoleums of the General Cemetery of Santiago. The associated press. He notes that the figure of Satan is purely symbolic and that their rituals are performed “to bring out the emotions and leave the intellect aside.”

Citing growing threats, Haborym and other members of the Temple of Satan in Chile spoke out on the condition that their real names not be used, particularly because several of them hold public positions.

Satanists were portrayed as being associated with sacrifice, evil, suffering and death in Hollywood films like Rosemary’s baby and TV shows like A real detective.

However, modern organizations like the Temple of Satan in Chile strongly oppose animal abuse, prohibit associating people with criminal backgrounds, view pleasures as joy rather than sin, and refrain from saying what they think unless prompted.

“We don’t want people to kill in the name of Satan,” Haborym said.

To become a member of the Temple of Satan in Chile, applicants must go through a lengthy process that involves filling out a form, providing documentation of a clean criminal record, appearing before a special commission for an interview, and then being evaluated by a psychologist.

Members may choose a new name after approval, usually a fallen angel or demon, for use both within the Temple and among other associates.

According to Haborym, the Temple of Satan in Chile was founded in 2021 and currently has 100 members. In recent weeks, nearly 400 people have applied. The group’s formal request for legal recognition as a religious association by the country’s Justice Ministry in late July sparked renewed interest.
The debate

The result was a media frenzy that sparked contentious debate and turmoil among Chile’s main religious groups.

“The history of Satanism is well known (and) it has often been the cause of tragedies,” the leaders of several churches in Chile, including Catholic, Anglican, Jewish and Evangelical, said in a joint statement.

Consistent with the founding of the Church of Satan by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1966, modern Satanists emphasize logic and skepticism rather than supernatural or celestial entities. Its followers are allowed to create their own rituals, beliefs and spiritual practices.

While some self-proclaimed Luciferians and Satanists are witches or believe in the power of magic, many are atheists.

“We accept that there are certain foundations, both academic and esoteric, that give meaning to our existence and our reality,” said Azazel, who left Judaism four years ago and founded, a year ago later, the Temple of Satan in Chile.

His words resonate in the darkness of the room and are interspersed with singing, clapping, mantras and readings of passages from the Satanic Bible and the Adversary’s Bible, the group’s main guidelines.

Like Azazel, many people dissatisfied with traditional religions flocked to the Temple of Satan. Catholics, Jews, Protestants and evangelicals are among the new members, in addition to occultists and esotericists.

“In Satanism, there are no solutions or absolute truths. You are your own god and you create your own reality,” said Kali Ma, a dental student born and raised in a Jehovah’s Witness family. “If we compare the two, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the real sect,” she said. “They don’t let you do certain things, they tell you how to dress, what to do, how to behave, whether or not you should grow a beard.”

Néstor da Costa, an expert on secularism and religion at the Catholic University of Uruguay, said the influx of people seeking answers through different perspectives could be linked to the search for less dogmatic approaches.

“It may be a readjustment on the religious side of people leaving Catholicism but still believing in something,” he said.

An effort for religious recognition

According to scholars, believers and residents contacted by P.A.Chile is going through a crisis of faith.

This is due to the revelation of numerous sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church over the years, despite the country’s long Catholic tradition playing a prominent role in public discourse.

“These types of organizations now feel like they have greater support to challenge what was virtually impossible before,” said Luis Bahamondes, a professor at the University of Chile’s Center for Judaic Studies. And this because “until very recently, the Catholic Church enjoyed unprecedented power. He had an opinion on everything: politics, economics, geopolitics, sexuality and education.

Although it is unclear whether the Chilean government officially recognizes the Temple of Satan as a valid religious organization, the group’s very existence has already sparked a debate unthinkable until recently in the conservative country.

Demanding recognition is the ultimate expression of everything the satanic aesthetic advocates: rebellion against the status quo and breaking with deeply rooted traditions.

“We comply with everything that is asked of us as a religious entity,” Haborym says. “So there would be no reason to reject us, beyond the fact that we are a controversial figure.”

With contributions from the Associated Press