Satanism & Abortion Issues Go Hand in Hand
Satanic Temple Co-Founder: We Fight Pro-Life Laws to Promote Separation of Church and State
Satanists who are fighting to overturn Missouri abortion regulations claim their motives are to promote respect and the separation of church and state.
The Utah Statesman recently interviewed Lucien Greaves, who co-founded The Satanic Temple in 2012. He recently spoke to students at Utah State University.
His Satanists group is heavily involved in abortion activism. In the past few years, it has filed several lawsuits to challenge state abortion regulations, the most recent being against a Missouri informed consent law. Last winter, Satanist leader Jex Blackmore also wrote a blog about aborting her unborn baby to attack abortion regulations in Michigan. She called her unborn baby’s abortion death “surreal.”
Last week, Greaves told Utah college students that the group fights to promote the separation of church and state, especially by challenging abortion regulations.
According to the local news report:
Most notably, in 2015 the group filed a suit against the Missouri State Legislature over an anonymous Temple member’s desire to receive an abortion. The state’s Informed Consent Law required her to wait 72 hours after she told her physician she wanted an abortion.
The Satanic Temple argued the law “violated her religious freedom” because it contradicted her — and their — beliefs. The Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the woman on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
The Satanists allege that Missouri trampled on the religious rights of “Mary Doe” by requiring that she undergo an ultrasound and receive information about her unborn baby’s development, abortion risks and alternatives to abortion. The state law also requires that the woman take 72 hours to consider the information before going through with the abortion.
According to the Satanists, these laws violated two core tenants of their beliefs: First, “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” and, second, “Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.”
The informed consent law is based on scientific facts, not Christian or Jewish or Buddhist or any other religion’s beliefs. Scientifically, it is well established that a unique new human life comes into being at the moment of conception. Likewise, the information women receive as part of informed consent — facts about their unborn baby’s development and abortion risks – also are backed up by strong scientific research.
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Greaves said his group does not really worship Satan; they believe in enlightenment and rationalism, and Satan is a symbol of those qualities.
He told the news outlet:
“A lot of the ideas people have about Satanism come from moral panic,” he said. “We do think it’s part of our noble pursuit to correct people of these type of witch-hunting activities.”
Despite what protesters might think, Greaves said the Temple promotes acceptance and benevolence.
… Greaves added the religion’s members are taught to live by seven fundamentaltenets, all of which promote respect for oneself and others, belief in scientific reason and “nobility in action and thought.”
Except, the Satanists group does the exact opposite for unborn babies and those who work to protect them. They deny the scientific proof that life begins at conception, and they fight common-sense laws that require that women be provided with basic facts about abortion risks, alternatives and their unborn baby’s development before going through with an abortion.
They also mercilessly mock and attempt to intimidate peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors through gruesome protests outside abortion clinics. In April 2016, pro-life advocates outside of a Detroit, Michigan Planned Parenthood faced a disturbing scene when a group from the Satanic Temple arrived to counter-protest wearing baby masks and carrying whips. They held a similar protest on Good Friday this year.
Last year, Breitbart described the Satanic Temple’s actions as a “pro-abortion crusade to come to the aid of America’s largest abortion provider,” Planned Parenthood.