Young sacrifice belief in God on altar of Satanism

Growing numbers put off by ‘stuffy’ traditional faiths are turning to the devil’s religion, census shows

“WITH our rituals, there’s never any murder, there’s never any sacrifice, there’s never any blood rites to Satan. We don’t worship the devil. We don’t cast magic spells…”

Yet, while the macabre occult rituals, virgin sacrifices, chalices of blood and belief in the actual devil are a thing of the past, Satanism is luring increasing numbers of young people disillusioned with “outdated” and “dogmatic” traditional religions to join its fold by offering an “alternative” to “stuffy” traditional faiths.

Chaplain Leopold, a 32-year-old London-based undertaker, co-runs the Global Order of Satan UK, which he said has had a 200 per cent increase in membership over the past five years.

He said: “I’d love to be able to claim that we could pat ourselves on the back and say we’ve done our infernal work here, and we’re successfully declining the number of Christians, but I think it’s a far more complex issue than that.”

He said two factors were responsible: the decreasing popularity of “traditional dogmatic religions”, and “a movement towards self-identification and self-realisation”. He added: “This is particularly among younger people who don’t want to be identified as part of a prescriptive dogmatic religion and, rather, want to identify as their own self-beliefs and self-realisation – which is what Satanism offers.

“So we often say that we’re sort of the religion for those who don’t like the oppression of previous religions.”

Chaplain Leopold said that many young people are “turning away from what are now incredibly outdated, very obviously stuffy views that are completely not in keeping with modern times” – particularly regarding issues such as sexuality and gender identity.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) census, published in November, the number of people in England and Wales identifying as Satanists increased by 167 per cent between 2011 and 2021, up from 1,893 to 5,054, while the number of Christians dropped so that they now account for less than half the population for the first time in census history.

Academics claim that this is indicative of a wider trend. Dr David Robertson, senior lecturer in religious studies at the Open University, said: “The appeal of a lot of new religions, including Satanism, is that they offer a form of religion that directly addresses the social issues that matter more to the young people, especially their willingness to be activists.”

Malcolm Jarry, co-founder of the Satanic Temple, based in Salem, Massachusetts, suggested that the ONS figures were a drastic underestimate. He

‘There’s never any murder, there’s never any sacrifice, there’s never any blood rites to Satan’

said that his organisation, founded in 2012, has 21,996 members registered from the UK, and around a million followers worldwide.

He said: “I think our rise in popularity is founded on our having a set of principles and values that resonate with many people and our rejection of hypocrisy and corruption.”

Contrary to the stereotypes, only a minority of Satanists actually worship the devil. Instead, the religion’s fascination with Satan is more metaphorical, identifying with the figure of the rebel.

They generally do not believe in a higher power, and instead follow a religion “of the self ”, believing that it is up to individuals to define their own moral code, and to develop themselves as their own godheads.

However, this does not preclude Satanists from “having fun getting together and doing rituals in the forest” by candlelight, encircled and enrobed.

Chaplain Leopold said that ritual is a way to give people the time to develop “a personal vision of yourself as Satan”.

“You wouldn’t recognise a Satanist most of the time if you pass them in the street,” he said.

“But then we like to have the ritual space, which is when we don the robes, light candles and hail Satan, and everything else we wish to.”

SIR – Emma Brooksbank (Letters, January 8) highlights the proposal that dioceses could merge up to 20 parishes in one large unit. The thinking behind this is flawed in that it assumes that all parish churches are the same and can be managed as one entity.

The creation of “mega” benefices with just one parish church council will create a bureaucracy and not solve the problem. It will deny a parish church any say in its future, will cause mistrust and the fear that the bigger churches will get the lion’s share of available clergy time and finance. At the same time, we are asked to pay an increasing amount of parish share for ever-decreasing services.

The higher echelons of the Church of England clearly do not have the knowledge or ability to sort out the problems it faces, yet they were the architects of its current poor state. They have commodified worship, and only the larger, richer churches will have services. The humble parish church will be denied them.

Like many other parishioners – particularly in small country parishes – I feel utterly betrayed by our Church leaders.

Michael Gillingham

Chelmsford, Essex SIR – Emma Brooksbank complains about the number of support staff in diocesan offices. However, it needs to be recognised that the world of 2023 is very different to that of 1959.

The Church today has to contend with the complexity of planning, health and safety, and most recently safeguarding laws. We should not, therefore, forget the hard work done by support staff in providing guidance to the local churches on these complex issues.

The appointment of more stipendiary clergy will not of itself revitalise the local church – that requires co-operation and commitment by clergy, local communities and, yes, the loyal support staff.

I recall being taught that there should “be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought”.

Nigel Bastin

Bedford