Tag: satanism

The Satanic Temple Sues Over Right To Give ‘Invocation’ at City Council Meetings

The Chicago City Council, like many other legislative bodies, typically opens meetings with an “invocation”—essentially, a prayer or moment of reflection. Clergy from a wide range of religious backgrounds have given these invocations, and a Satanist minister wants to join their ranks. But the city has refused to let him—and refused to explain the decision. Now, this minister has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the city.

The Satanic Temple is a nontheistic religion that, as noted by the lawsuit, is “federally recognized as a church and a religious public charity.” Contrary to popular belief, members of the group don’t actually worship Satan. Instead, they follow a series of seven “Tenets” focused on broad ideas of compassion, rationalism, and freedom.

The Satanic Temple has often tested religious-freedom policies and challenged anti-abortion laws on religious-freedom grounds. Just this month, the group experienced a significant legal victory after it won its lawsuit against a school district that attempted to block the formation of an “After School Satan Club.” It also celebrated when in 2015 a large Ten Commandments monument was removed from the Oklahoma state Capitol following a protest by the group and a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.*

This most recent lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, marks at least the third time The Satanic Temple has sued after being blocked from giving an invocation or prayer before a legislative body. Adam Vavrick, the ordained minister in the religion, unsuccessfully sought to perform an invocation at a Chicago city council meeting. According to the suit, Vavrick began his efforts in January 2020, when he spoke to Chauncy Rice, the then-chief of public engagement for the Office of the City Clerk, who told Vavrick “that he would be happy to schedule him to provide an invocation after ‘standard vetting procedures.”

“For the next several months, Minister Adam followed up with Mr. Rice approximately once a month to inquire about the status of his request to provide an invocation,” writes the complaint. “These emails went unanswered.” The same outcome occurred when Vavrick attempted to schedule an invocation with Rice’s successor.

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Survivors Alleging Satanic Ritual Abuse Raise Awareness Amid Media Claims of ‘Panic’

Survivors alleging satanic ritual abuse (SRA) and their advocates are continuing a decades-long fight to advance their cases as media companies push a narrative that the type of abuse they allege is largely the creation of a social panic.

Last month, the South by Southwest film festival screened “Satan Wants You,” which “tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited,” according to the festival’s website. Echoing years of skeptical news coverage, the description adds that “satanic rumors spread through panic-stricken communities across the world, leaving a wave of destruction and wrongful convictions in their wake.” Other “satanic panic” warnings can be found in recent coverage of cases in Scotland and Utah while the backlash against Sam Smith’s Grammys performance has prompted similar caution.

But for advocates like Cindy Metcalf, the “Satanic Panic” narrative is false and degrades the stories she encounters on a regular basis. In March, Metcalf’s newly formed group Relentless Hope held a meeting in the Salt Lake area for survivors to discuss potential legal options for pursuing allegations involving the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).

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Satan Clubs Should Be Allowed in Schools

On March 31, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against Pennsylvania’s Saucon Valley School District after it dismantled the “After School Satan Club,” an after-school program sponsored by the Satanic Temple with chapters across the country, allegeding the club failed to communicate that it was not formally sponsored by the district. The ACLU argues that the removal was actually motivated by the hundreds of angry messages the district received from local parents and the general public. 

Saucon Valley is not the only American community bedeviled by Satan clubs. Similar clubs in Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, California, and New York have all generated controversy. The primary concern, as one Pennsylvania parent put it, is that “Satan is here to kill and destroy.” Other parents have asserted that the United States is “one nation under God” and that to deny Satan a place in public schools is therefore a necessary and prudent measure. The Napa Legal Institute’s Frank DeVito even used Satan clubs to justify restoring the pre-World War II tradition of blasphemy laws. 

After School Satan Clubs (and most modern Satanists) do not literally worship Satan. Satan clubs espouse “free inquiry and rationalism,” and “[do] not believe in introducing religion into public schools and will only open a club if other religious groups are operating on campus.” The Satanic Temple openly rejects the supernatural, using Satan’s name and image for shock value. 

But even if Satan Clubs were actually worshiping Satan, there’s little that can (or should) be done about them. A defense of American pluralism requires a defense of, or at least apathy toward, Satanism. 

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Sympathy For The Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment

“Google ‘The Process Church of the Final Judgement’ and you’ll discover a long list of conspiracy theories. Only now, former members reveal the truth about the misunderstood group once dubbed ‘One of the most dangerous Satanic cults in America.'”

Meth-Smoking Satanist Vicar Convicted of Paedophilia, Zoophilia

An Anglican vicar who smoked crystal meth, boasted of corrupting young boys, abused animals, and discussed sacrificing babies to Satan with online paedophiles has been convicted in England.

Reverend David Renshaw, 63, was convicted of “three counts of possessing indecent images of children; three counts of making indecent images of children; possessing prohibited images of children; and possessing extreme pornographic images portraying acts of intercourse with animals, namely dogs and horses,” according to a Sussex Police statement.

Strangely, he does not appear to have faced any charges relating to animal cruelty or neglect, despite police officers finding his vicarage full of dead and dying animals including cats, dogs, and chickens.

“The search of his address was one of the most revolting tasks our officers will ever have to endure,” commented investigating officer Detective Sergeant David Rose. “As well as malnourished living animals, there was also a dead rotting kitten and a dead rotting rat on the floor, in addition to used needles and other drug paraphernalia lying around. It was a deeply unpleasant scene to search.”

In lurid conversations with other child predators, Renshaw had bragged: “I’m a sadistic bastard. Through and fucking through.”

He also referenced his desire to “sacrifice babies to Satan” in these conversations, and urged another paedophile to sacrifice his own three-year-old to the Devil.

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Neo-Nazi Pedophilic Cult Member Allegedly Coerced Minors to Make Child Porn

A neo-Nazi affiliated with a satanic pedophilic cult gave himself away on social media, including posting a photo of himself, wearing a T-shirt that read “kiddie diddler” in front of a swastika, police say. 

He has since been arrested and charged with sexually exploiting minors and possession of child pornography, among other alleged crimes. 

After being tipped off to disturbing social media posts, FBI agents raided the home of Angel Almeida, 22, in Queens, New York, in Nov. 2021 and seized a handgun along with occult texts and memorabilia that show his affiliation with Order of Nine Angles (O9A), a satanic group that pushes its adherents to commit depraved acts, including sexually abusing minors. On two separate occasions, Almeida spent months coercing two minors into partaking in sexual activities to create child porn, according to the Department of Justice. 

Almeida was initially indicted on charges relating to the handgun in Dec. 2021 but was indicted on child abuse charges Tuesday. 

On social media, Almeida posted images of himself boasting about his alleged sexual crimes, as well as pictures of dead animals, and a firearm (despite being a felon), according to the feds. 

The FBI was initially tipped off to a Facebook account under the name “Sargent Grey,” that had images of Almeida wearing a skull mask, a signifier of neo-Nazi accelerationist groups in front of an O9A flag. This led authorities to a second account under the name “Necropedocell,” with images of a child bound and gagged and a photo of a handgun with the caption “for the 2k pedophile haters.”

On yet another account, this one on Instagram under the name Stain_Lord_352, the FBI found the picture of Almeida wearing the T-shirt with “kiddie diddler” written on it. The image also included a sign that read, “I am addicted to hardcore child pornography.” The account posted another photo with the caption “no limits evil” alongside a photo of a bloody cat that had been stabbed with a knife. This account also contained several references to O9A. 

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Satanic child abuse ring shut victims in oven, forced them to kill animals and filmed themselves gang raping them, court hears

A satanic child abuse ring tortured children by putting them in an oven, forcing them to kill animals and gang raping them, a court has heard.

Seven men and four women are accused of abusing three young children over the course of 10 years in Glasgow which saw them attempt to ‘call on spirits and demons’. 

Two girls – one of whom was allegedly shut in a microwave, fridge, oven and freezer in an attempted to kill her – and one boy were forced to kill animals as well as being sexually abused by the group, it is claimed.

Members of the group have been charged with 43 offences with among the most serious being attempted murder and rape of young children.

Iain Owens, 44, Elaine Lannery, 38, Lesley Williams, 41, Paul Brannan, 40, Marianne Gallagher, 38, Scott Forbes, 49, Barry Watson, 46, Mark Carr, 49, Richard Gachagan, 45, Leona Laing, 50, and John Clark, 46, all deny the offences.

Four other people alleged to have been involved in the ring –  Maureen Goudie, Steven McHendrie, Robert Brown, James McLean and Douglas Gachagan – have since died, according to court papers.

The High Court in Glasgow was told on Friday that the offences took place between January 2010 and March 2020 at a number of addresses in the city.

The group are alleged to have run a wheelchair over the legs of one of the girls, as well as putting a plastic bag over her head.

It’s claimed she was made to eat cat food, as well as take drugs and alcohol, with the other girl also made to eat pet food.

The second girl was allegedly chased by an adult wearing a devil mask and hung by her jumper from a nail on the wall. 

This culminated with her being pushed into and trapped inside a microwave, an oven, a fridge freezer and various cupboards, the court heard.

It is claimed one of the girls was threatened with being sent to Turkey with a male stranger, while the boy was put in a bath which they said was filled with blood. 

The boy and older girl are alleged to have been made to take part in ‘seances (and) use a Ouija board…to call on spirits and demons’.

The children were also involved in ‘witchcraft’ leading them to believe that they themselves had ‘metamorphosed into animals’.

The 11 are further said to have worn cloaks and devil horns as well making the young boy stab a budgie to death.

The group are also accused of killing a number of dogs including getting the children to attack the animals.

It is claimed that all three children were raped and sexually assaulted by members of the ring, with some cheering and clapping while recording the offences.

Prosecutors allege that some members of the group paid for ‘sexual services’ from three of the children.

The court heard that when the older girl called the police she was threatened by members of the group and had her call disconnected. 

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Alleged satanic cult killer Ethan Myers arrested after chilling ‘human sacrifice’

Three people believed to be satanic cult members have been arrested for the gruesome alleged murder of a woman as part of a “human sacrifice”.

Sarah Hopson was found brutally slain at her mobile home in Texas, USA, last Sunday during a welfare check, according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

The 36-year-old had allegedly been bashed in the head with a rock, while her fingers, toes and ears had been cut off and placed in a plastic bag.

She had large wounds to the right side of her head and forehead, while her lifeless body was reportedly wrapped up in a carpet.

Police arrested Ethan Kyle Myers, 26, on Thursday, after two people – who were also arrested in connection to the murder – asked police to check on the woman.

The pair, Allen Price and Teresa Louviere, reportedly told officers that “Ethan Myers had done something to Sarah Hopson”.

They allegedly told officers that he was staying in their home and had been “acting strange” before fleeing their house covered in blood.

Mr. Price reportedly also told police that Ethan had been involved in “cult activity”.

This claim was also backed up by Ethan’s mother, who allegedly revealed to officers that her son was “hearing voices” and was “satanic” and that he was hiding out in the woods to avoid being arrested.

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Neo-Nazi Satanist Cult Is a Terrorist Group, Feds Say 

In the end, the self-professed traitor blinked. On Friday, June 24, former Army Pvt. Ethan Melzer pleaded guilty to three terrorism-related federal charges for a macabre, Satanist-inspired plot to have his former unit attacked by jihadi militants during a deployment overseas in 2020. The thin, bearded 24-year-old entered his change of plea in the Lower Manhattan courtroom of U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods a little over two years since his high-profile arrest in June 2020, and just 11 days before the scheduled start of what would’ve been a first in American jurisprudence: the federal government’s foremost terrorism prosecutors trying an adherent of the shadowy Far Right Order of Nine Angles (O9A) sect.

The Order of Nine Angles, founded in the 1960s by British Satanists, has spread throughout the world in the succeeding decades. Over the past five years, the ideology became intertwined with neo-fascist terrorist groups like the Atomwaffen Division, National Action, and the Base. O9A’s followers stand accused of murder, pedophilia, rape, terrorism, and other crimes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, and elsewhere. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also indirectly helped accelerate the spread of O9A by employing Joshua Caleb Sutter, the head of the Tempel ov Blood nexion and prolific publisher of O9A-related books through his Martinet Press imprint, as a paid informant for almost 20 years.

Melzer’s conviction is significant: He embodied the worst fears of military and law-enforcement leaders of an “inside threat” intent on inflicting lethal harm on his fellow Americans. Melzer even joined the military in what O9A refers to as an “insight role” to gain weapons and tactical training while using his position in the Army to subvert or damage the institution. The former soldier’s conviction is the first time American authorities have articulated and prosecuted actions driven by a Satanist sect that has inspired millenarian neo-Nazi domestic terrorists and led to several homicides overseas. British law enforcement is so alarmed by the noxious ideology that the Home Office is under pressure to formally ban the Order of Nine Angles as they have done to Al Qaeda, National Action, and other terrorist groups. The importance of Melzer’s case was signaled by the dozens of federal law-enforcement officers in plainclothes present in court last Friday to watch the disgraced G.I. plead guilty.

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