What Is the Satanic Temple? It's Not What You Think
Quick Answer
What is the Satanic Temple? The Satanic Temple (TST) is a non-theistic religious organization founded in 2012-2013 that uses Satanic imagery as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny and unjust authority. Its members do not believe in a literal Satan, practice magic, or worship anything. The organization is primarily a legal and political advocacy group that challenges government entanglement with religion, fights for reproductive rights, and opposes corporal punishment in schools. The IRS recognized it as a tax-exempt religious organization in 2019. It is frequently confused with the Church of Satan, which is a different and older organization with different beliefs and methods.
The Satanic Temple gets a lot of press for its Baphomet statue and its After School Satan Club, and considerably less press for the fact that it keeps winning in court. Founded in 2012 and formally organized in 2013, the organization has spent the last decade using First Amendment law as a precision instrument against government-sponsored religion. Its members do not worship Satan. They use the name because it makes exactly the right people pay attention.
What the Satanic Temple Actually Believes
The organization operates on seven tenets, which it treats as religious principles. They include: striving to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures; upholding the freedom of others including the freedom to offend; refusing to bow to the will of others who demand subservience; believing that the scientific understanding of the world should never be sacrificed for personal comfort; rejecting the tyrannical authority of superstition; and believing that mistakes, and therefore justice, should be remedied and not merely punished.
None of these tenets involve Satan as a literal being. TST's Satan is explicitly the literary Satan: the defiant figure from Milton's Paradise Lost and from the pre-Christian concept of the adversary, the one who questions rather than obeys. This is the same Satan as a symbol of free inquiry and resistance to unjust authority that has appeared throughout Western literature and philosophy. TST took that symbol and incorporated it into a legally recognized religious framework with deliberate strategic intent.
They are, depending on your perspective, either very clever or extremely annoying. Possibly both.
The Legal Strategy
The core of everything TST does is simple: if the government permits one religion to operate in a public space or benefit from a public policy, it must permit all religions to do the same. This is First Amendment law. TST uses it relentlessly.
The Baphomet statue is the most visible example. When Oklahoma approved a Ten Commandments monument on its state capitol grounds in 2012, TST commissioned a bronze Baphomet statue and requested equal placement. The argument: the government cannot favor one religion's monument over another's. Oklahoma's Supreme Court ultimately ordered the Ten Commandments monument removed before the question was fully litigated. TST then offered the statue to Arkansas, which had installed its own Ten Commandments monument in 2017. The legal battle over that statue is ongoing. The statue itself has traveled across the country generating press coverage and legal filings, which is precisely what it was designed to do.
The After School Satan Club operates on the same logic. The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that if public schools allow outside groups to run after-school religious clubs, they cannot discriminate against any religion. TST took that ruling and applied it. When evangelical Christian groups run after-school programs at public schools, TST offers to run their own alongside them. Most school districts that accept the evangelical clubs will, when pressed, accept the TST club too. Several have tried to refuse and lost in court. The Not Today Satan T-shirt exists for the particular feeling this produces in people who find it clarifying that "not today" applies to all of them.
The Reproductive Rights Cases
TST's most consequential legal work may be in reproductive rights. The organization has filed multiple suits across several states arguing that abortion restrictions violate their members' religious freedom. The argument is specific: TST holds as a religious tenet that one's body is inviolable and subject to one's own will alone, and that scientific understanding of the world should not be sacrificed for personal comfort. State laws requiring waiting periods, mandatory ultrasounds, and biased counseling before an abortion force TST members to violate their sincere religious beliefs, just as such laws would force a Christian to violate theirs if the situation were reversed.
These cases are a direct application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the same law that conservative religious organizations use to seek exemptions from laws they find objectionable. TST is using the religious right's own legal infrastructure against the policies the religious right created. The IRS's 2019 recognition of TST as a tax-exempt religious organization strengthened these arguments considerably, since it provides formal legal standing for the religious freedom claims.
TST vs. the Church of Satan
These are different organizations and the distinction matters. The Church of Satan was founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey in San Francisco. It published the Satanic Bible in 1969. It is also non-theistic but operates on a philosophy of individualism, self-interest, and carnal indulgence largely derived from Ayn Rand and Nietzsche. The Church of Satan has no membership, does no political organizing, and is generally dismissive of TST. The two organizations do not cooperate and frequently criticize each other.
TST is the one with the statue, the lawsuits, and the after-school clubs. The Church of Satan is the one that has existed longer and whose founder LaVey is in the photographs with Jayne Mansfield. They share an aesthetic and the word "Satan" and almost nothing else.
Why It Works
The strategy works because it is legally sound and strategically disciplined. TST does not actually want Baphomet statues in every state capitol. It wants no religious monuments in state capitols, because that is what the First Amendment requires. By demanding equal treatment rather than the removal of Christian symbols, TST forces legislatures to choose between removing the monuments they want and accepting the ones they don't. Most choose removal. The goal is achieved without ever winning the argument about Christianity directly.
The same logic applies to the reproductive rights cases and the after-school clubs. TST is not trying to replace Christian religious influence with Satanic religious influence. It is trying to demonstrate that government entanglement with religion is a problem when any religion benefits from it, and to make that problem visible in the most attention-getting way available. Whether you find this admirable or exhausting probably depends on whose side you were on to begin with.
The Let's Start A Cult T-shirt is, we will note, not an endorsement of any specific cult. It is an acknowledgment that the line between a religious organization and a cult is largely a matter of who is writing the history. TST understands this. So do we. The Demonade T-shirt is for everyone who decided to stop being scared of the imagery and start enjoying the irony. Browse the full Satan collection if you are the kind of person who prefers your rebellion legally organized.
For the longer history of what Satanic imagery actually means and where it came from, the Baphomet post covers it: What Is the Baphomet? The Real History Behind the Most Misunderstood Symbol in America. And if you want to understand the older version of using religion as a tool to persecute people who refused to comply, the Salem Witch Trials post is directly relevant: The Salem Witch Trials: Nobody Who Was Executed Was a Witch.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Satanic Temple?
The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religious organization founded in 2012-2013 that uses Satanic imagery as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny and unjust authority. Its members do not believe in a literal Satan. The organization is primarily a legal and political advocacy group that challenges government-sponsored religion, fights for reproductive rights, and opposes religious instruction in public schools. The IRS recognized it as a tax-exempt religious organization in 2019.
Does the Satanic Temple actually worship Satan?
No. The Satanic Temple is explicitly non-theistic, meaning its members do not believe in any supernatural beings, including Satan. TST uses Satan as a literary and philosophical symbol representing free inquiry, defiance of unjust authority, and the questioning of orthodoxy. This is the same Satan found in Milton's Paradise Lost and in the pre-Christian concept of the adversary. It is a symbol deliberately chosen to provoke attention and generate legal standing, not an object of worship.
What are the Seven Tenets of the Satanic Temple?
The Seven Tenets are the religious principles that guide TST members. They emphasize compassion and empathy toward all creatures, the freedom of others including the freedom to offend, refusal to bow to unjust authority, the supremacy of scientific understanding over personal comfort, opposition to tyranny, the inviolability of one's own body, and the belief that mistakes warrant remedy and justice rather than punishment alone. The tenets contain no instructions for ritual, no supernatural claims, and no references to Satan as a being.
What is the difference between the Satanic Temple and the Church of Satan?
The Church of Satan was founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey and is the older organization. It is also non-theistic and centers on individualism and self-interest, largely drawn from Ayn Rand and Nietzsche. The Church of Satan has no membership system, does not engage in political organizing, and is generally dismissive of the Satanic Temple. TST was founded in 2012-2013, organizes politically, files lawsuits, runs after-school programs, and commissions public monuments. The two organizations share the word "Satan" and very little else.
Why does the Satanic Temple want a Baphomet statue at government buildings?
TST does not actually want Baphomet statues at government buildings permanently. The statue is a legal instrument. When a government body installs a monument from one religious tradition on public property, the First Amendment requires equal treatment for all religions. By requesting placement for their Baphomet statue alongside Christian monuments, TST forces governments to choose between allowing all religious monuments or none. Most choose to remove the Christian monument rather than accept the Baphomet. This achieves TST's actual goal of removing government-endorsed religion from public spaces.
How does the Satanic Temple use religion to fight abortion restrictions?
TST has filed multiple lawsuits arguing that state abortion restrictions violate their members' religious freedom. TST holds as a religious tenet that one's body is inviolable and subject to one's own will alone. Laws requiring waiting periods, mandatory ultrasounds, or biased counseling before an abortion force TST members to violate this sincere religious belief. TST uses the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the same law conservative religious organizations use to seek policy exemptions, to argue that abortion restrictions cannot be applied to their members without violating the First Amendment.
Is the Satanic Temple a real religion legally?
Yes. The IRS granted the Satanic Temple tax-exempt status as a religious organization in 2019. This is the same legal recognition given to churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious bodies. The recognition strengthens TST's ability to make religious freedom arguments in court, since it provides formal legal standing for claims that government policies burden their sincere religious beliefs.
