The Satanic Grotto is not a well-known Satanic group but it is making a media splash in Kansas. On March 28, it is scheduled to hold a “Black Mass” on the grounds of the Capitol building. Christian protesters will be present and the police are gearing up for the event.
It’s not just Topeka that is the site of Satanic activity. St. Patrick’s Church in Wichita was recently vandalized: statues, candles and glass fixtures were smashed, a Satanic website was inscribed on a wall, and an American flag was burned. It is uncertain whether the young male suspect acted alone or was part of a Satanic group.
A “Black Mass” often consists of a celebrant dressed in black vestments, holding forth in mockery of the Catholic Mass. The participants typically use the back of a naked woman as their “altar,” and they occasionally secure a consecrated Host to desecrate.
This ceremony has a long history, extending back centuries. One of its most famous proponents was the Marquis de Sade, the 18th century writer and madman whose obscene portrayals of Catholicism are legendary. Blasphemy is too weak a word to describe his work.
Satanism is often associated with Devil worship, and at one time manifested itself as witchcraft. Some Satanists see themselves as atheists who put their entire trust in reason; others perceive Satan to be real.
Satanism is spiking internationally, and it appears to flourish at Christmas and Easter. To what extent it is responsible for Christian persecution—the most prevalent form of oppression in the world—is unknown, but to say that the Devil’s hand is not at work is risible.
Today, there are two main branches of Satanism in the United States: The Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple (TST); they have no use for each other. The former was founded in 1966, and the latter in 2013. Both insist they do not believe Satan is a real being. The more influential of the two is clearly TST.
TST, unlike The Church of Satan, is officially recognized as a tax-exempt church by the IRS. Predictably, it is headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, and has local chapters in parts of the country; its competitor has no headquarters and no chapters. Most important, TST is a politically charged force that promotes abortion and gay marriage.
It is actually an understatement to say TST promotes abortion—it is obsessed with it. There is no issue that absorbs more of its time than abortion. It has even founded facilities that do nothing but kill kids.
On February 14, 2023, it opened “the world’s first religious abortion clinic” in New Mexico; it claims to have paid for over 100 abortions. More recently it founded a second abortion clinic in Virginia. It says its work proves its commitment to “compassion, empathy, and justice,” though the children who were killed might beg to differ.
It has a shop that sells abortion apparel, flags, pins, mugs, and the like. Its most famous item is “The Sam Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic Unisex T-Shirt,” a reference to the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. Its most despicable item is a cartoonist depiction of Alito’s mother saying, “If only abortion was legal when I was pregnant.”
TST proves that Satanic groups don’t have to literally believe in Satan in order to do his work. After all, to celebrate the intentional killing of unborn babies is something only devotees of Lucifer would do. Indeed, it takes really sick puppies to get their jollies by dancing on the graves of innocents.
