What's The Temple of Satan in Chile that is asking for religious recognition?

This weekend, members of the Temple of Satan in Chile’s capital, Downtown Santiago, gather around a table to start a ritual. Sharing a bottle of wine, they burn black candles on top of an altar decorated with chalices and knives.

The organisation is similar to the Satanic Temple of the US that made headlines five years ago, unleashing a wave of panic when it was designated a church.

It is now asking the Chilean government to recognise them legally as a religious association.

The Temple of Satan

Chile is a conservative country where half of its population of 18 million identifies as Catholic.

Contrary to its name, the Temple of Satan: Satanists and Luciferians of Chile do not provide sacrifices or call on its followers to worship the devil.

Publicists, firefighters, police officers, lawyers, and psychologists are among its 100 members; they have discovered a method to challenge religious impositions, moral standards, and dogmas within the organisation.

They do not worship or believe in Satan, even if they embrace the label Satanist. Rather, they revere the ordinary life, individualism, rationality, and pleasure.

They honour humanity rather than gods.

“You are the owner of your present and future, there is no God that makes decisions for you,” Haborym, a spokesperson for the group, during a walk through tombs and mausoleums at the General Cemetery of Santiago, told The Associated Press. He notes that the figure of Satan is purely symbolic and their rituals are performed “to bring out the emotions and leave the intellect aside.”

Citing mounting threats, Haborym and other members of the Temple of Satan in Chile spoke under a condition that their true names not be used, especially because several of them work in public positions.

Satanists were portrayed as being associated with sacrifice, evil, suffering, and death in Hollywood films like Rosemary’s Baby and television shows like True Detective.

However, modern organisations like Chile’s Temple of Satan are strongly against animal abuse, forbid associating people with criminal histories, view pleasures as a joy rather than a sin, and refrain from speaking their minds unless prompted to do so.

“We don’t want people killing in the name of Satan,” said Haborym.

To become a member of Chile’s Temple of Satan, applicants must complete a lengthy process that involves completing a form, providing documentation of their clean criminal record, appearing before a special commission for an interview, and then being assessed by a psychologist.

Members can select a new name after being approved, usually a fallen angel or demon, to be used both inside the Temple and among other associates.

According to Haborym, the Temple of Satan in Chile was founded in 2021 and currently has 100 members. In the last few weeks, almost 400 people have applied to join. The group’s formal request for legal recognition as a religious association by the nation’s Ministry of Justice at the end of July sparked a surge in interest.
The debate

The result was a media frenzy that sparked a contentious debate and a stir among Chile’s major religious groups.

“The history of Satanism is well known (and) it has often been the cause of tragedies,” the leaders of several churches in Chile, including the Catholic, Anglican, Jewish and Evangelical, said in a joint statement.

In line with Anton Szandor LaVey’s 1966 foundation of the Church of Satan, modern Satanists emphasise logic and scepticism above supernatural or celestial entities. Its adherents are allowed to create their own rituals, beliefs, and spiritual practices.

While some self-described Luciferians and Satanists are witches or believe in the power of magic, many are atheists.

“We do accept that there are certain bases, both academic and esoteric, that give meaning to our existence and reality,” said Azazel, who quit Judaism four years ago and, one year later, founded the Temple of Satan of Chile.

His words resonate in the darkness of the chamber and are interspersed with chants, clapping, mantras and readings of passages from the Satanic Bible and the Bible of the Adversary, the main guidelines of the group.

Like Azazel, numerous people who are dissatisfied with traditional religions have flocked to the Temple of Satan. Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and Evangelicals are among the new members in addition to occultists and esotericists.

“In Satanism, there are no solutions or absolute truths. You are your own god and you create your own reality,” said Kali Ma, a dentistry student born and raised in a Jehovah’s Witness family. “If we compare both, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the real sect,” she said. “They don’t let you do certain things, they tell you how to dress, what to do, how to behave, whether or not to grow a beard.”

Néstor da Costa, an expert in secularism and religion at the Catholic University of Uruguay, said the influx of people seeking answers through different perspectives might be linked to the search for less dogmatic approaches.

“It may be a readjustment of the religious side of people who leave Catholicism but continue to believe in something,” he said.

A push for religious recognition

According to academics, believers, and locals contacted by AP, Chile is going through a crisis of faith.

This is because of the revealing of numerous sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic church over the years, despite the country’s longstanding Catholic tradition playing a prominent role in public discourse.

“These types of organisations now feel that they have greater support to challenge what was virtually impossible before,” said Luis Bahamondes, a professor at the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Chile. And that’s because, “until very recently, the Catholic Church enjoyed an unprecedented power. It had an opinion on everything: politics, economics, geopolitics, sexuality and education.”

Although it is uncertain whether the Chilean government will formally acknowledge the Temple of Satan as a valid religious organisation, the group’s very existence has already sparked a discussion that was unthinkable in this conservative nation until recently.

Demanding recognition is the ultimate expression of everything praised by Satanic aesthetics: the rebellion against the status quo and the breakup with deep-rooted traditions.

“We comply with everything that is requested of us as a religious entity,” says Haborym. “So there would be no reason to reject us beyond the fact that we’re a controversial figure.”

With inputs from The Associated Press