Here you will find our beliefs, our myths, our holidays and their meanings, all of the foundations for our religion. Our ethics and our actions all arise from our basic beliefs about the nature of the world.
We do acknowledge that religions, as with any other organized group of individuals, are bound by the same laws of ethics and return that bind the individual. This means that those which cause unnecessary harm to others have violated our code of ethics, and we consider them to be negative. Those religions which acknowledge the sacred nature of life, and the universe around us, and which seek to abide by our ethical standard of refraining from causing any harm unnecessary to maintain life, we consider to be positive. Some religions have an overall tendency to be positive or negative, while others vary from sect to sect, or from individual to individual.
Christianity has a lot of positive teachings, which we recognize and accept on their own merit. It has also many negative teachings, including a division between man and nature, and a concept of man's supremacy to nature, as well as the belief that this world is only a prelude, or a testing ground, for a greater world to come. As such, we have to recognize that there are positive practicioners of Christianity, and negative, without regard to branch or sect. We do, however, feel that some sects bear within them a tendency toward a more positive or negative attitude; we respect most the beliefs of the Coptic, Gnostic, and Celtic Christian sects, while finding ourselves greatly disturbed by the persecutorial attitude of the Evangelical Protestant sects.
A modern Christian is only responsible for the actions of historical Christianity insofar as they follow the same belief system, promote the same attitude, or create the same conditions, positive or negative. If a Christian expresses regret for the harm done by the religion, together with an active attempt to promote the more positive aspects of the religion, that person shares responsibility for the positive aspects; as long as they do not, by their beliefs and actions, promote the same conditions that caused the harm historically attributable to the religion, they cannot be held responsible for it. This is true in reverse, as well.
We have no more, or less, in common with the Satanist churches than we do the Christians. Satan, Lucifer, the Devil - all are Judeo-Christian concepts, and have no close counterpart in pagan religion. Though people have sought and drawn superficial similarities between Satan and some of the pagan deities of sexuality, or death and the underworld, these tend to fall apart on closer inspection. Satan, as the Jewish concept of the Adversary in a point under formal discussion or argument, can only exist within an adversarial system.
Some Satanists claim to believe only that this world is all there is to be for them, and their pleasures must come here, yet they are otherwise caring, generous, and positive in their outlook and approach to life. Others believe that they are not bound by the conventions and concerns that bind people and all life together, having deliberately and intentionally turned their back on that connection with others; these tend to show no concern toward the effects of their actions on others, and we must consider them negative.
We find that we have a lot in common with many Native American, First Nations, or other aboriginal shamanistic traditions. The Shinto beliefs have much in common with our own as well, recognizing the spirit of life within all things. Both Buddhism and Hinduism have much in common with our own beliefs, either inward or outward. Buddhism recognizes that wisdom and insight must be found within, while Hinduism recognizes the balance between male and female principles, and the presentation of archetypes for each aspect of life. On the other hand, Islam, as a Biblical tradition, together with Judaism, have some areas of essential difference that we suspect are likely to continue a rift in our ability to share basic fundamental concepts essential to our beliefs, in either direction. In general, any transcendent religion is apt to have a significant difference from our own, as we honor the very world those religions seek to transcend. On the other hand, nature based teachings are apt to be strongly similar, as nature has only one set of lessons to teach to any who would listen.
