Today’s ‘Satanism’ Takes on Entirely Different Meaning to Youth in UK
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Satanism has been on the rise in the United Kingdom for the past several years as the number of people who identify as Christian declines.
In the past, the word “Satanism” has often conjured up images of occult rituals, blood oaths, sexual perversions, animal or human sacrifice and worshipping the devil. However, today’s trendier brand of Satanists have tried to distance themselves from the more disturbing rituals of traditional Satanic practice.
Now they claim all of that is folklore, saying their popularized brand of Satanism doesn’t practice magic, cast spells or worship the devil anymore.
Their sanitized version of darkness is appealing to young people and engaging them, giving them the opportunity to advocate for issues like gender dysphoria and sexual divergence.
The Sunday Telegraph reports Satanism is luring increasing numbers of young people disillusioned with “outdated” and “dogmatic” traditional religions to join its fold by offering an “alternative” to “stuffy”, traditional faiths.
One such organization in the UK, the Global Order of Satan UK, claims it has seen a 200% increase in membership over the last five years, according to the outlet.
Chaplain Leopold, a 32-year-old London-based undertaker, told The Telegraph two factors are responsible for new Satanism’s rise: the decreasing popularity of “traditional dogmatic religions,” and “a movement towards self-identification and self-realization.”
“This is particularly amongst younger people who don’t want to be identified as part of a prescriptive dogmatic religion and rather want to identify as their own self-beliefs and self-realization—which is what Satanism offers,” Leopold contends. “So we often say that we’re sort of the religion for those who don’t like the oppression of previous religions.”
As churches in the UK try to appeal to young people, society’s ongoing debate about gender identity, sexuality and gay marriage has also caused division inside the country’s largest Christian church, the Church of England.
As CBN News has reported, over the years the Church of England has made several doctrinal changes that seem to endorse the aggressive LGBTQ agenda on sexual morality rather than the teachings of the Bible. This has led to friction between the church’s leaders and members.
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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