Questioning the relevance of religion in the 21st century
by deadseraph
The founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, once described death as ‘having to leave the party’.
For those unaware, the Church of Satan is not a breeding ground for wild-eyed devil worshippers, rather it is an order bound to hedonistic principles, as opposed to the belief in a pantheon, or a single ‘god’. A fine example of the late Mr. LaVey’s counsel to his flock is: ‘everything the church taught you was a vice is really a virtue, and everything it said was a virtue is really a vice.’
To say this is controversial wisdom would be a gross understatement. LaVey is effectively promoting sin, saying that it is the true path to happiness, and that it does not have the repercussions that are claimed by the church.
Yet the decision to name his ‘church’ after Christianity’s number one bad guy is a curious one, and a moot point amongst Satanists and others following hedonistic paths. Other hedonists might have more time for Satanism if its name was not derived from Christianity, because it taints the movement with an element of the ridiculous, begging the inevitable question from the ill-informed: "But how can you believe in Satan if you don’t believe in God?"
They argue that concept of Satan is dependant of the concept of God; what these people need to understand is that Satanism uses the Devil as a symbol for a lifestyle concerned with pleasure and the self. But stealing the Church’s archetypal sinner was not an intelligent method of pointing out to Christians the flaws in their faith, and subsequently it has negated much of the good that the Satanic movement could have yielded.
Thirty odd years afer the publication of his Satanic bible, and three years after his death, LaVey’s Satanists are an extreme minority, in a world where spirituality and (blind) faith are still seen as redeeming qualities. In this era Western society certainly contains some social groups that appear to have little time for religion, increasingly within youth and sub-culture, yet we live in a world where the church still maintains undeniable power.
Politicians undoubtedly aim at the Christian/god fearing demographic, or at least those who live by or have some respect for those values, knowing that this is where the majority of votes still lie. Good old fashioned Christian values, that is how politicians like John Howard and Bill Clinton get into office, and how their adversaries plan on usurping them.
Turn on the television and see those same values reinforced in soap operas, advertisements and even on the evening news. Remember Ronald Reagan? How could we forget. The man was a modern day religious wet dream. Actor turned politician, his master plan was to have the whole of America’s youth praying in school.
Can you say messiah? Forget the dream, it is more like a nightmare, really - but hey, whatever turns you on. Seriously though, humanity seems to have an unshakable need to explain every aspect of existence down to the last detail, rather than just shutting up and getting on with life. (Ironically that might just be what this journalist is doing now.)
Yet it is easy to understand how humans, with their formidable imaginations, could have invented creation stories to explain their existence, as well as the existence of the sun, moon and stars. And after all, religion does serve a purpose - it guards the weak minded from the insanity of having no real answer for themselves or the universe that contains them. People perceive safety in established notions of religion. They fear death, they want to be told that everything is going to be alright, that they will survive eternally amongst God and his heavenly host.
The finality of rotting for a few centuries in the ground is, after all, an undesirable notion. Religiosity is a barrier between grim reality and the human mind; it is nothing but a product of environment, of fear and imagination. Surely it is time to accept that the concept of religion is outdated, in this world dominated by science and rational thought.
It is time to shelve the bible and other religious texts in the fiction section, along with all the other myths and legends. Acceptance of our fate, and that we are the masters of it, is an important step towards embracing hedonism and not accepting the irrelevant notion of sin. Just as the Western World is leading the way in areas such as science, medicine and environmentalism, so too should we set an example by being free from the binds of religion.
The last word deservedly belongs to the modern father of the hedonistic lifestyle, the afore mentioned Anton LaVey, despite the obvious criticisms of his Satanic movement. In the back of a hearse on the way to a funeral in honour of one of his young ‘parishioners’, he was asked, ‘What is the meaning of death to you?’.
LaVey replied, ‘It means having to leave the party. That he had to leave the party so soon saddens us all.’
In this age respect and worship of our selves, each other and the planet that sustains us should be our concern, not prophetic scriptures born out of ignorance in the distant past.
So enjoy your life: it is the only one you are going to get.