A group of over 800 self-proclaimed Satanists recently gathered April 28-30 at the 2023 SatanCon in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference was reportedly sold-out and billed as “the largest satanic gathering in history.”

Host of the event was the Satanic Temple, an organization that has an estimated 700,000 members worldwide. The Temple does not believe in a literal Satan; rather, it claims to use him in a figurative way to “mock traditional religion and call out government’s embrace of instuitions like the Catholic Church.”

The organization exists to counter cultural references to Judeo-Christian values (like statues of the Ten Commandments), promote unlimited abortion and “social justice” and counter faith-based after-school clubs.

The  Temple also claims to offer “unbaptisms.”

At the conference, Satanists also allegedly opened the conference by “renouncing ‘symbols of oppression’ by ripping up a Bible and a ‘Thin Blue Line’ flag representing police.”

Here are some of the events listed on the conference’s program schedule:

  • Deconstructing Your Religious Upbringing.
  • Reclaiming the Trans Body: A/theistic Strategies for Self-Determination and Empowerment.
  • Sins of the Flesh: Satanism and Self-Pleasure
  • Re-imagining Lilith as an Archetype for Reproductive Justice
  • SoCC: Satanism and the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Experience

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro pointed out on his May 2, 2023, show that there is a connection between the Temple’s values, and those of the modern day Left.

“They hold these basic secular principles, but they call it satanic because Satan is the adversary of God and God, supposedly, does not like these principles,” Shapiro said. “The cross over between the fundamental tenets of the Satanic Temple and the fundamental tenets of left-wing liberalism are almost indistinguishable.”

In response to the convention, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston organized a response and opened many of its churches and monasteries for three days of more intense prayer while the conference was ongoing.

A spokesperson from the Archdiocese said that it was “approaching it through a response balanced and focused on prayer.”

After the conference, the Temple’s official twitter account tweeted (the Daily Citizen will not provide a link) that the organization was “pleased and proud that everybody had a wonderful … time. … Hail Satan!”

The conference reminds us of the very real presence of evil in our world. As Christians, we must remember that this side of eternity, we will constantly be in a spiritual battle.

Though the Temple may claim not to believe in Satan, its abundantly clear that Satan believes in – and works through – the Temple.

In our spiritual battle, Scripture is a great encouragement.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10 ESV).

For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (Romans 16:19-20).

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