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Liberalism: Why think when you can “feel”?

Non-political post of the day

Check this out:

A northeastern Ohio high school senior who sent an e-mail to the Church of Satan threatening to kill his grandparents was taken out of school this week and remains in police custody, police said.

Andrew Culver, 18, told police the e-mail, detailing his intention to kill his grandparents and steal their money and car, was a joke, said Bazetta Township police Chief Charles Sayers.

According to police, Culver wrote he had access to an arsenal of weapons and wanted to “kill in the name of our unholy lord Satan.”

Culver sent the message on Wednesday to Peter Gilmore, the high priest of the New York City-based Church of Satan, Sayers said. Gilmore then alerted the FBI, which notified local police. Culver was taken out of class on Thursday and questioned by police, Sayers said.

“To send an e-mail making specific threats, to sign your name, that to me is not a joke,” Sayers said.

Gilmore said his church discards most of the hundreds of e-mails it receives a day. But Culver’s message stood out, he said.

“I thought it could be a joke, but with recent events in Colorado and Nebraska, I thought it was better to play it safe,” he said.

Culver, who lives with his grandparents north of Youngstown in Bazetta Township, had an argument with his family this week and left home for a couple days before returning Wednesday, Sayers said.

Messages seeking comment were left at the Culver’s home and with the Trumbull County Juvenile Detention Center, where Culver is being held.

Charges will be discussed at a scheduled hearing on Monday, Sayers said. 

I wonder why the head Satanist dude alerted the cops.  I mean, one would think the kid was just doing what the Satanists would approve of, right?  Geez, what kind of evil servant of the Dark Master is this Gilmore schmuck, getting the kid locked up before he could inflict pain and violence in Lucifer’s name?

December 17, 2007 - Posted by | non-political

8 Comments »

  1. You may think that this is what the Church of Satan would want to encourage, but you’d be wrong. The philosophy of Satanism is pro law and order. As a religious organization it is opposed to popular religions sheltering criminals, like the Catholic priests who protect illegals from deportation, or Catholic hierarchy protecting child molesting priests. This is just used as example. For forty years they have been above board, and made a stance that religion is beholden to the law of the land, not above it.

    Also, you may be aware of the fact that if he had not alerted the cops, he would have possibly been committing a crime.

    Comment by Kevin I. Slaughter | December 17, 2007

  2. I really think the CoS needs a new name. Technically they aren’t worshipping Satan. If they are, they are simply engaging in the very thing that they claim to be against: religion. I see them more as humanists that devil-worshippers.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Comment by Ed | December 17, 2007

  3. Ed,
    This is probably the most frequent statement/question that Satanists get. If you ask a Humanist, they’ll reel in horror at the association, if you ask a Satanist, they’ll probably chuckle.

    What’s most frequently overlooked is the fact that many businesses and organizations have a long-standing tradition of naming themselves after literary or mythological beings that a) don’t exist, or b) they don’t “worship”

    When Peter H. Gilmore was a guest on the podcast Point of Inquiry (http://www.pointofinquiry.org/?p=122), the message boards were alight with angered humanists that he would be a guest. Point of Inquiry is produced by the secular/humanist thinktank The Center for Inquiry, which is alighed with Prometheus Books (who publishes books on humanism and atheism). Your same objection was raised in the interview, if memory serves, and Gilmore pointed out that under the same logic, they should change the name of Prometheus Books.

    Take the “atheism” angle… a number of groups put themselves forward as “atheists”. But they apply all kinds of morality and ethical stances to the word, but the word itself doesn’t imply any at all. It just means “no belief in gods or the supernatural”. Objectivists and Humanists are both generally atheists, but they HATE one another, and both have spoken out against Satanism to one degree or another. What’s funny is so many people call Satanism a form of Humanism. Humanists will say Satanists are just Objectivism with ritual. Satanists say that they are Satanists.

    The Elks don’t worship elks, and how many actual Masons constitute the chapters of Masonic lodges?

    They aren’t worshipping Satan, no, but they do hold him as central metaphor – in the tradition of the devil as rebel and adversary. They are against popular religions, but they do make consession that man has a drive to participate in ceemony, and they do have dogmatic stances.

    Is it good PR to be called “The Church of Satan”? No, but then they’re clearly not looking to be teachers pets.

    Comment by Kevin I. Slaughter | December 17, 2007

  4. Kevin
    The thing that puzzled me about athiests is that if they dont believe in gods or supernaturals by the very act of not believing in them they are beliving in them to not believe in them.

    Comment by WMD_Maker | December 17, 2007

  5. WMD_Maker,
    This is not accurate. Lack of a belief is not in itself a belief. One doesn’t say “I believe that I don’t believe”.
    A belief is an opinion not formed on critical investigation, and “faith” is belief without proof or even in spite of proof to the contrary.
    The wikipedia entry is pretty thorough: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

    Comment by Kevin I. Slaughter | December 17, 2007

  6. Why would the church of Satan be called “The Church of Satan” if they don’t believe in the existence of a devil or anything supernatural in that regard?

    If you aren’t religious why even call your little get together place a church.

    I agree with you Ed that they are more humanists than Satanists.
    That would be like claiming you are a Christian and you don’t follow the doctrine or believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    If they aren’t religious than calling their organization a Church is retarded!

    Comment by Chilerkle | December 17, 2007

  7. My god is better than your god. Nyah!

    Comment by TheBad | December 18, 2007

  8. “If they aren’t religious than calling their organization a Church is retarded!”

    Did you learn that method of debate in an Ivy League university? Brilliant!

    “Why would the church of Satan be called “The Church of Satan” if they don’t believe in the existence of a devil or anything supernatural in that regard?”

    Wasn’t this explicitly answered in my previous post about metaphors?

    Comment by Kevin I. Slaughter | December 18, 2007


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