What exactly is Satanism?

There are fundamentally two "sects" of Satanism. One sect, the theological Satanists (whom actually follow Satan as a god, and usually the Satan of the bible to add). The majority of Satanists do not follow this way of thinking, because in reality it is just stupid and ignorant. By following Satan you imply that their is a God. If you believe their is a God, why not follow him instead of his opposer? Its basically a anti-religious statement, and rather annoying to "real" Satanists. The other sect sees Satan as a symbol of free will and nothing more. The use of theatrics and mockery of the church tends to come with it, but that is simply because Satanists of this form do not believe in God and see how negative religion and churches can be (they are very hypocritcal). The reality is that Satanists are not out to hurt anyone, they just believe in freedom of choice beyond a higher power. Generally, Satanists are also atheists in that they don't believe in a god (and many don't believe in the afterlife at all). Its an interesting belief and I actually follow it (though not to a T). Nice to see someone asking about it. If you desire more information I have a blog about it. Let me know!

The true satanist do not worship the devil or Satan as they do not believe in a god or the devil. Satanism to them is humanism. They left themselves up as their own gods and masters of their destinies. They use symbolism and words for shock value, but do not worship any form of deity. Now their are the few who think they are satanist, who worship Satan, they are misguided and believe their paying homage to this fallen angel will help them materialistically on earth.

I believe satinism is a real religion where they do not believe that Jesus Christ is our savior as they should.They do not worship God they worship the devil,like he's the good guy.I cannot see how anyone believe that satin is the good guy. Some people that live in the housing development that my mom lives in keep this stuff hung up on their porch that supposably attracts evil.Weird!

I really do not know how to explain it either. I think it is a persons belief in the devil and that is what they worship. I am not really sure though.

It depends on the brand of Satanism. There's theistic satanism, where practitioners supposedly worship the Christian antagonist "Satan". There's also LaVeyan satanism, where practitioners follow the teachings of Anton Lavey, the founder of the Church of Satan. In LaVeyan Satanism, "Satan" is just another word for "self". They have their own moral code and religious practices(and no, they don't sacrifice little kids and animals). There are thousands of LaVeyan Satanists registered with the Church of Satan.

Your question is somewhat intriguing. "What exactly is Satanism?" You should first know who is Satan. Satan, based on the beliefs of the Bible, is a fallen and damned angel. He represent evil and the one who opposes all goodness. He is AntiGod and AntiChrist. If he is all that, then it is safe to say that Satan don't accept the teachings of GOD and the Christ. Therefore we could define Satanism now. It is all the teachings of Satan that opposes all teachings of GOD. If God says, "Thou shalt not kill", then Satanism teaches, "Kill, kill, kill!". That's my view anyways.

it's not so much a religion, being essentially atheistic. it's more of a philosophy. basically, within Satanism, Satan isn't actually believed in or worshipped. rather he is a symbol of repressed human nature, particularly those parts of human nature that mainstream religions try to repress. I have known a handful of Satanists, and they're usually really good people. the philosophy itself could be, at worst, accused of being rather selfish in it's perspective, but the followers seem no more or less selfish than the next person. Satanism teaches to embrace your instinct, not to accept things blindly as truth without exploring the possibilities, that children and animals should not be harmed, that if someone mistreats you, don't just whine about it, act on it. generally, they are good people. independant, confident, strong, and actually have quite a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. I have been honoured to call some of these people my friends.

Hi Sheepie, I don't rightley know but my thinking is that people who worship Satan. Tamara

I know very little about Satanism and people who believe in it, what I know I heard in a talk show, the people who believe in satanism made more sense to me than Christians. They are just people who believe in something else, tho thanks to people opposing them, I did not got a chance to learn more, other than a lot of them practice at home, and that well they were not in sacrifises or things like, something like to thyself be truth. That's what I know.

It is like a religion, but in the place of god, they honored the demon, king of all evil. And of course they make evil prays and instead of asking for help to angels, they ask to demons. They also make things that hurt in a psysic and mental way, tortures. Well, that´s what I have seen, hope this help you.