Subject: your argument from Satanism
Date: 5 June 2006
From: Flash Light
To: Dr. Sophronius
Dear Dr. Sophronius,
I have not suggested all choices are equal. I have suggested that all choices among the currently established organized religions are equal in terms of meeting the spiritual needs of their followers.
I've noticed that you frequently take a specific argument, generalize it, and then argue against the generalization. This is fallacious logic of the type where I say, "A dog has four legs," and you reply, "Everything with four legs isn't a dog!" Your argument against the generalization may be valid, but it is irrelevant to my hypothesis. I hope you don't make these sorts of logical errors in your professional papers.
If you want to argue that religions should be judged, not on the salvation they might offer their followers, but on the effect they have of the rest of us, I'm agreeable. However, on this basis surely Buddhism is superior to Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, all of which are responsible for countless religious wars and persecutions, culminating in the current terrorism wars. On this basis your logic dictates you should convert to Buddhism, or some other religion that has done less harm than Christianity.
There may be poor demented souls who do evil and blame their actions on Satan. This is not the result of Satanism as an organized religion, this is a sociopath delusion. There are also people who claim Jehovah told them to kill, e.g. anti-abortionists killing doctors, but you wouldn't cite that delusion as evidence the Christian religion is inferior to others.
There are religions cited in the Bible as practicing child sacrifice, e.g. followers of Molech (Leviticus 18:21), however those religions have either totally died out, or reformed, just as Judaism gave up child sacrifice (Genesis 22), which is evidence for my argument. Religions, when they fairly compete, are subject to the law of survival of the fittest. Either they adapt to the evolution of thought, and the consequent needs & desires of their followers, or die out. Shakers, who largely ignored the sexual and reproductive needs of their followers, have become virtually extinct in modern times. You can see spiritual evolution happening in the Episcopal church now, as they divide over accepting homosexuality.
In point of fact, organized Satanism does not advocate the sacrifice of children at all. Organized Satanists (http://www.ChurchofSatan.com, http://www.TheisticSatanism.com, et al.) worship Satan because they believe Jehovah is the source of evil in the Bible, while Satan is actually the good guy. They cite the story of Adam and Eve: Satan wanted mankind to have knowledge and so urged Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Jehovah wanted mankind to remain ignorant and naked, mindlessly worshiping Him. When Eve ate the apple, Jehovah went ballistic and condemned all humans to die the death of mortals, and all women to suffer pain in childbirth. This over reaction, the Satanists claim, is the work of a truly evil god, who makes Satan look saintly by comparison.
If you read every reference to Satan in the Bible, you'll see that nowhere does Satan advocate sacrificing children. In fact, when Jehovah wants to sacrifice His son Jesus, it is Satan who tries to persuade Jesus that he doesn't need to go through with the sacrifice. He suggests Jesus should turn from the evil Jehovah and worship himself instead (Luke 2:6). Jesus unfortunately cites Jehovah's scriptural imperative to worship only Him, and sticks with Jehovah. Had Satan succeeded in preventing this child sacrifice as he was attempting to, the Earth might have been spared all the horrors Christianity has wrought: the Dark Ages, the Crusades, the Inquisition, countless religious wars, and the abuse of children by Catholic priests, etc.
To accuse modern organized Satanism of sacrificing children is as untrue and unfair as calling Jews "baby killers." You may not be aware of it, but the British Navy has recently recognized Satanism as a religion, and is now trying to work out the issues of providing chaplains for Satanists on ships (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3948329.stm). This would not have happened if what you said were true. As you know, the British government only condones child sacrifice when it involves third world children and is done by means of high tech weapons as in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
Thus it appears your argument against the equality of the currently established organized religions based on the existence of organized Satanism is not valid.