EMQ » July–September 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 3
By Joseph P. Laycock
Oxford, 2020
272 pages
US$35.00
Reviewed by Jonathan P. Case, Professor of Theology, Houghton College.
Joseph Laycock has written an outstanding treatment of one of the most misunderstood new religious movements. The Satanic Temple (TST) first grabbed national attention in 2013 when it announced its intention to donate a statue of Baphomet to the Oklahoma state capitol, in response to the Oklahoma legislature’s mandate to construct a Ten Commandments statue on capitol grounds.
But, as Laycock points out, TST is not your mother’s Satanism. TST has nothing to do with either the sensationalist baby-sacrificing 1970s Satanism (which never really existed) or the best-known Satanist group, Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan – in fact, the latter wants nothing to do with TST. Rather than a literal force of evil, the Satan of TST is a symbol of rebellion against the power of dominant religious groups (usually Christian churches) in a country that supposedly abides by the no establishment clause. Despite the shocking public rituals and stylized imagery employed by TST, Laycock reveals that the group owes more to authors like Anatole France and Stephen Pinker, and to classic Enlightenment ideals (e.g., rationality, tolerance), than anything else. Baphomet, in TST founder Lucien Greaves’ words, is “a symbol of pluralism, legal equality, tolerance, free inquiry, freedom of conscience, and reconciliation” (193). Not very scary! How Satanic can any group be that has the following statement as its first tenet? “One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason” (37).
In the opening chapters of the book (chapters 1–4) Laycock narrates the brief history of the group, from its turbid origins into an organized group, then up through the schisms that have occurred and the feuds with other Satanist groups. In chapter 5 (Religion or Trolls?) Laycock focuses on the question of how TST challenges popular notions of what constitutes a religion, and in chapter 6 (Satanic Bake Sales!) he explores how TST complicates popular notions of evil by “flipping the script,” i.e., exposing opponents’ love of intolerance and authoritarianism, while demonstrating that members of TST are those who actually believe in compassion and justice. In chapter 7 (Taking Equality Too Far) Laycock continues his analysis of TST’s exposé of the paper-thin commitment to religious pluralism maintained by powerful American institutions, and in chapter 8 (The Satanic Temple as American Counter-Myth), he continues his focus on American society in particular, arguing that “the cycle of Satanism and anti-Satanism is really a cycle of negotiating the narrative our society tells about itself.” After all, America is the “city on a hill, predestined to defeat the forces of Satanism” (188).
The book is well-written and impeccably documented. In addition to producing a fine introduction to TST, Laycock introduces us to a host of important contemporary cultural theorists, religion scholars, and legal experts working at the interface of politics and religion. This book will be valuable to anyone who teaches world religions / new religious movements, or anyone seeking to understand legal issues related to religion in the public square.
For Further Reading
Dyrendal, Asbjørn, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aagaard Petersen. The Invention of Satanism. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Introvigne, Massimo. Satanism: A Social History. Brill, 2016.
