Summary:
A look at the rise and influence of the controversial religious-political group known as The Satanic Temple.
My Thoughts:
This documentary is not what you think. This is not an exploration and glorification of the occult, though there are elements of the occult that inherently work themselves into this film, instead, it is a look at a rising movement aimed at challenging the hypocrisies of the Religious Freedom laws put in place by our government that elevate a certain religion over others. I also want to say that I don’t agree with everything that is said in this film, but by the end of it, I was fully convinced that Lucien Greaves and the members his Satanic Temple knew exactly what they were doing and why they were doing it, and even though I do identify as a Christian, and can’t ever say I’ll utter the words ‘Hail Satan’ even under the pretext that Greaves says it, I think his Temple has actually done this country some good by making ourselves and our lawmakers take a long look in the mirror, and ask the question: Do we as Americans really value religious freedom, or are we just saying that to make ourselves feel better?
“As a Satanist, I believe that confronting injustice is an expression of one’s Satanic faith.”
This film is full of great soundbites, most of which come from the mysterious Satanic Temple founder Lucien Greaves (a pseudonym) and a former sect leader Jex Blackmore. Before the film really gets going, Greaves states that the Temple’s goal is: “[for people] to evaluate America being a Christian Nation. It’s not. We are supposed to be a nation that doesn’t allow the government to dictate what is appropriate religious expression.” I don’t know about you, but I agree with that. I wouldn’t want anyone telling me that I have to adhere to Buddhist or Muslim laws, so why then, do we allow any kind of religious sway in our laws in the first place?
One of the major sections of this film revolves around a Ten Commandments statue being put up on Arkansas government property. Lucien and his gang decide that, to make things even, they want a statue of Baphomet on government property, and start to construct an eight-foot tall statue of the deity with children looking up at it as if it were their friend. Lucien states that, so long as the Ten Commandments are removed from the grounds, he’ll remove his request to put up a statue, saying that the whole point of this is to keep religion away from the laws. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a freaking diabolically brilliant way to bend the rules to your own will.
I think that what made Lucien such an interesting character was his ability to twist the laws just enough so that the ones who made them were forced to realize that they were swayed. Another few instances revolved around an After School Bible Club being answered by an After School Satanist Club, and then there was a huge outrage in Boston after Harvard announced that the Temple would be allowed to perform a Black Mass on their grounds. Much of the film is just dealing with the public outrage and the public’s unwillingness to listen, but, I mean, it’s hard to blame a lot of the public either, when you take on a name like “The Satanic Temple”. That name is meant to grab attention, annoy, and provoke people, and it does just that; Greaves movement goes from three people to more than 50,000 in just a few short years, and some of those people are far more extreme than Lucien himself. Lucien seems content to push his message of religious equality, and doing it in a way that allows him to maintain a well-mannered composure. Many times, he’s arguing against people who have no idea what Lucien actually stands for and are hysterically chastising him for worshiping Satan, to which he casually responds, “I’m actually not theistic. I don’t believe in Satan.” It seems like he gets a huge rise out of, for a lack of a better word, trolling people into realizing how silly they’re acting so they realize the hypocrisies of their own actions.
While Lucien actually has some great ideas, and his Satanic Seven Tenets are essentially just a code of ethics to follow that could be applied to almost any religion, there are a lot of wackos in the group, and some of the stuff we see in this film is a bit extreme. SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW Jex Blackmore ran a sect of the Temple in Detroit, and we get to see a few clips of her Black Masses, and they are- erm- a bit grotesque at parts. There’s a fair amount of nudity, and they even impale severed pig-heads on spikes at one point. Jex also screams that she wants the Temple to ‘Execute a president,’ and it’s at that point that Lucien has to step in and tell her she could no longer work for the Temple. I honestly found this to be a bit refreshing to know that an organization that is based around trying to cause an uproar does still adhere to the moral standards they set for themselves; after all, isn’t that what the Temple is trying to get the American government to do, be accountable for the rules they put into place?
Verdict:
This documentary is an eye-opening look at a rising controversial group, and I, personally, and very glad I watched this film, for it helped me to better understand what that group is about. Again, I don’t agree with a lot of stuff that they do in this film, like I would never use blasphemy as a way to grab attention, but that’s just due to my upbringing. I do think that Lucien and his Temple have plenty of valid points, and maybe this will help our country heal a bit in the long run; maybe he, like Lucifer in Milton’s Paradise Lost, is the evil that pushes humanity to eventually find its salvation.
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