by Christopher Cranmer

Created on: February 06, 2007   Last Updated: May 18, 2007

It's been spoken about dozens of times before and will probably be spoken about dozens of times in the future. In saying that, there still seems to be more misinformation about the Church of Satan circulating than there is information.

This is in lieu of the extensive material on the Church of Satan website and associated links (including Magister Paradise' FAQ), the scope of Dr. LaVey's books and the individual projects being undertaken by members of the Church worldwide.

In order to mitigate against this spread of misinformation, I'm going to share some of my thoughts on the Church of Satan for those who elect to read my comments. Before starting, however, two points must be made clear:

1) Much of this has been said previously. From Warlock to Magister, some of the issues about to be dealt with have seen the light of day before. They are repeated here because they are either relevant, are worth repeating or need reiteration because the erstwhile plain English they've been put in has been misunderstood (or conveniently ignored).

2) I am NOT a spokesperson for the Church of Satan. While I am a member, that does NOT give me the authority to comment on behalf of the Church itself. Therefore, do NOT quote me in correspondence with the Church of Satan, or consider the organisation itself culpable for any of my opinions.

With that out of the way, I can continue with this little collection of musings. Any questions on this are to be directed to myself in the first, second, third and any other instances; for additional opinions, ask additional people.

The Church of Satan was founded in 1966 by the late Anton Szandor LaVey. That self same organisation still exists today, despite claims otherwise. There are no "First", "Second" or "Third" Churches of Satan, nor are there any other genuine organisations of any note. I'm not saying this to be arrogant; I'm saying it to be systematic. In order to have an organisation, there has to be online and, more importantly, offline representation at numerous levels. There also has to be a central administration point, an internationally established membership and a history. As the Church of Satan has existed since the '60's and nothing else can claim existence spanning a decade, it's hard to see where people get these delusions from. And on the point of membership, the Church of Satan maintains the most diverse and eclectic membership, with individuals getting involved in their own projects wherever and whenever they see fit, using their

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