So I recently discovered the temple of satan, a religious organization in which deals with community service and social justice issues. I like the idea, but I still think it’s very risky.
Community service means getting involved with the community, which is predominantly Christian or Christian-ish atheists. I fear if you advertise what organization you’re from, the community may not accept your services. This isn’t an attack on the temple.
Still, I actually prefer Satanism focusing on turning inward to the self as opposed to outward to the community. I consider it a greater service to foster introspection and self empowerment in a small group that’s willing to listen. That way, they can go out and do good for the community on their own terms. However, if you make a killing doing this, you can perhaps fund your own community service project.
I suppose I’m rather Laveyan in this perspective. “Love to those who deserve it, not ingrates.” Don’t get me wrong. I was raised on the idea of superheroes as a kid, so like them, I want to do good for my community. However, through highschool and college, I’ve learned what it can be like being a misunderstood outcast. The community of which you want to do good for can be very prejudice towards those who are different. They can easily shun those with good intentions and raise up those with bad intentions but good images. You just can’t count on people being logical. Some times, not even yourself. Sometimes you have to resort to trickery of some kind just to fit in.
I just feel like Satanism should take an indirect approach to community service. It should teach people various skills, then have those people utilize those skills to be active in the community. Satanic leaders would get involved as well, but not under the Satanic banner. They would work under their own name. Satanism would purely be intellectual (dealing with information and ideas), not practical (dealing with action). If I were to run a Satanic organization, that’s how I’d do it.