The Liberating Power of Unbelief

   Why do we, at the Sect of the Horned God, have an overwhelming contempt for faith, when the vast majority of the world seems to have an unrelenting love-affair with it? It's simple. Faith breeds ignorance. It makes people intellectually lazy.

  A relative of mine once said to another family member after an unfortunate personal incident, "Do you still have your faith?" This question was strange for she was a member of a cult-like, dispensationalist denomination founded in the mid-ninetieth century, and he was in a church whose leader wears a tall funny hat, has a personal hotline to Yahweh and sits on a golden throne in a palace-like structure in the heart of the once great Roman Empire. Their faiths are very different. But this seemed not to matter to her. What was important was that he still believed.

   Well, I believe in nothing. Not one fucking thing. It's really simple, people: If you know something, you don't have to believe it! That's it!  Of course there are those that call me closed-minded, cynical or just plain stubborn.  One person even asked me to try to believe what I don't believe! WHAT? My answer to anyone who says I am closed-minded is, "My mind is wide open, it is open for the best, most rational explanation to claims or ideas. My mind isn't clamped shut on the conclusion I like or want to be true!" Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of wild ideas out there that I like. For one, I like the idea of reincarnation, the chance of life-after-death but I just don't see the proof. Until some underprivileged inner-city youth, who has a 6th grade education, has never been outside his "hood" claims to be Vlad the Impaler and speaks fluent 15th century Romanian, I am not believing it! Also, why are the past lives of the believers always something romantic? I don't mean like Romeo and Juliet necessarily, but something interesting such as being a slave on a slave-ship or a stable-boy for some great English lord? Why don't you hear someone confess that in their past life they were a semi-retarded, child-molesting Eskimo?

   "But your life must be so empty if you don't have something to believe in!" says the true believer. "What do you have to lean on when things get rough?" Well, for one,      I don't have that self-centered, emotionally stunted, angry, jealous, white-bearded cocksucker in the sky, that's for damn sure. You know what I do have? I have me and my ability to reason! I have a mind that allows me to come up with rational, yet comforting conclusions when things get sucky. Also, with no belief in the divine, I become to a larger extent my own moral arbiter, thus having more personal freedom.   I do what is right, not because I fear burnng in a lake of fire for all eternity but because if I fuck up it will harm me. And I like me. I do not want to harm me.

   It feels wonderful not being one of the herd, not having that invisible authority figure to bow down to, or beg for forgiveness. I understand fully that one can never be completely autonomous. But you can in your head. You can be free from the strict confines of belief, be they religious, political or otherwise. Even if you get locked up in prison, you can be free. There is something that no one can take away from you, you can only give it away and that is your individuality!

   So walk down that Left Hand Path with pride and confidence, my friends, because with unbelief you're your own master. Your own god!

                                                                      Thomas LeRoy

                                                          Northern California, December 2011

Satan Theism

There are a myriad of Satanic groups each with a philosophy that for the most part is compelled to attach themselves to a literal godhead figure. While the Sect of the Horned God is a a group dedicated to disseminating and expelling "belief and faith" of any kind, there is always a curiosity to those that refer to themselves, confusingly, as Satan Theists, a group which strangely defines themselves as "Satanists", while still firmly tied to the apron strings and ideology of the Christian God. Could Satan Theists actually be considered Left Hand Path? I think not. Their rebellious entrenchment into the doctrine of the Right Hand Path is apparent by virtue of the Christian playground they throw sand at each other in. Never leaving this playground, the world beyond the safety net of confession and sacrament remains foreign, and the ability to use critical thought  remains a frightening prospect and scandalous to the rules of herd mentality.

Theists, divided amongst themselves, claim their interpretation of Satan predates Yahweh and is based on an ancient Sumerian or Egyptian god. Again, a rebellion" within the structure"' of  the ruling religion in the playground of cultural acceptance and rules. Comparatively, the present day Satan Theist, like his/her ancestors, have "chosen" to rebel against the Christian god or father within the parameters of the faith, like a child who wants ice cream for breakfast and is denied. The fact remains, this child "still believes" in a God based largely on fear, mercy and  forgiveness, otherwise rebellion to the rules would be a moot point. The theist definition of Satan is that which is dictated by the church, present or past, a definition which blatantly refuses to acknowledge the carnal side as a positive and instinctive aspect concerning historical references to Pan, Cernunnos, the Horned God, etc. thus an acceptance of the properties and personalities of "Satan" are dictated by biblical revelations and expected modes of behavior.

Satan is nothing but a symbol. While the Sect of the Horned God considers themselves Satanists, it is in the realm of smashing faith and belief of any kind, and is based on "knowing. We are our own Gods, and thereby dedicate ourselves to ourselves, to the Theatre of Life, to relishing in ritual in the most carnal manner, and most importantly, to the pursuit of knowledge.

Mistress Babylon, Consort