What Is The Church Of Satan?

The First Church of Satan is a "religion" founded in 1966 in San Francisco by Anton LaVey. LaVey also wrote the religion's central text, The Satanic Bible, which first appeared in 1969 and was followed a few years later by another book, The Satanic Rituals.

LaVey believed that modern man had become corrupted by the Christian religion, taught to repress his own natural instincts, and to feel shame for his own essential nature. LaVey taught instead a doctrine of indulgence. Love was nothing but an illusion, said LaVey; the pursuit of sexual fulfilment brought man into harmony with nature. Instead of loving your enemies, and turning the other cheek, LaVey advocated striking them down.

In his church ceremonies, LaVey adopted some of the conventional forms and symbols of the Christian religion but used them in unusual ways. For example, he incorporated the crucifix into his rituals but turned it upside down. He also used the body of a naked, prostrate woman as a kind of living altar.