Is the Catholic Church a Satanic Cult?
137933
Now that the Pope is a former Hitler youth, there is a good chance.
967907
Like Christian churches, there are different Satanic groups. Some are simply Christians who choose to worship the negative side of the religion, hence Satan.\n\nOthers are groups who follow such leaders as Anton LaVey. \n\nMost Satanists are people who urge peace and tolerance, and have a desire to fulfill their desires in a peaceful fashion.\n\nMany Christian curches would define anything other than Christianity as Satanism. Most believe that Pagans are Satanists.\n\nIf you want more information on the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey, check the link below.
398479
what kind of cult are you looking to view.  There are a lot out there.  I know that there was a church in Dallas that went to a cult view and praises the Devil now.  Is that really what you want to do?  Think about it because it will only make your life more turbulent.
941960
Do you mean the Vampires and the Zombies (Church-goers) who go to MASS on a Sunday Morning to DRINK THE BLOOD & EAT THE FLESH of their saviour so as to gain ETERNAL LIFE?\n\nYes, I beleve that people who go to Church & Religious people in general are secret sadists!
88696
The Catholic Church is a Church of sinners and much suffering. It is also a Church of saints and scholars. The story of the Catholic Church is a divine and human story. The Church is divine in its Founder, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only founder of a religion who claimed to be God, and proved that claim by rising from the dead. The Catholic Church is also human - afflicted with all the frailties of human nature - the sin and suffering, but also the saintliness and scholarship. When the Church was failing God, God raised up prophets or reformers. A reformer is one who changes people's hearts, not revealed doctrine. There have been thousands of great reformers in the Catholic Church, like St. Francis of A$$isi, St. Clare, St. Benedict, St. Teresa of Avila, etc. The Catholic Church and the Bible have not, in 2000 years, changed any of the many truths revealed by God; among these truths: \n\na) that Holy Communion is really and truly the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, \nb) devotion to Mary, \nc) confession, \nd) praying for the dead (Purgatory), \ne) the Pope is the visible head of the Church on earth. (Christ of course, is the invisible head of the Church.)\n\nThe following is a brief chronological listing of some of the significant events in Church history from its beginning:\n\nc. 32 Jesus Christ promised to found His Church. "... you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church..." Matthew 16:18\n \nc. 33 Jesus, the Good Shepherd, fulfills His promise to Peter by commissioning him to "Feed My lambs... Tend My sheep... Feed My sheep." John 21:15-18\n \nc. 33 Pentecost - The Holy Spirit came upon Mary, the Apostles and about 120 Disciples. Three thousand came into the Church that day. Jesus' followers took Him seriously. They preached the Gospel.\n \nc. 34 Judaizers begin teaching that one must become a Jew before they can become a Christian. The Council of Jerusalem answered the Judaizers in c. 50 (Acts 15).\n \nc. 45 The Didache, an important record about the beliefs, practices and rule of early Christians, was in existence. We have it today.\n \nc. 67 St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred (killed for their faith).\n \n70 The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.\n \nc. 50-313 Emperors Nero, Domitian, Decius and Dioletian persecuted the Church.\n\nIn Rome, the Church had to meet in secret to worship, receive instruction, and receive the Sacraments.\n \n96 Clement of Rome settles a dispute in the Corinthian church by exercising his papal authority as successor of Peter. St. John is still alive.\n \n108 St. Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to be martyred in Rome, was the first to call the Church "Catholic".\n\n370-405 The Catholic Church decided what books were inspired by God, and put them into one book, "The Bible". The list of the 73 inspired books, as we have them today in the Catholic Bible, was first compiled by St. Athanasius (c.297-373). This list was confirmed by the Council of Hippo (393), Council of Carthage (397) both in North Africa (St. Augustine was active in both councils), Pope Innocent I (405), and the Council of Trent (1545-63). The Bible was preserved by the monks, who copied it over and over again in handwriting for the next 1000 years until the printing press was invented in 1450.\n\n1450 Printing was invented by Johann Gutenberg, and the first book to be printed was the Catholic Bible. It is called "the Mazarin Bible" which was printed in 1452 in Mayence, Germany, at the request of Cardinal Mazarin.
87355
Satanism and Devil worship are completely different.  What the Christian church calls Satanism is actually "Devil worship", which the church invented in the 16th century and which was used to justify the burning of witches.\n\nThose who call themselves Santanists do not believe in any notion of Satan as an actual living being.  Here is an excerpt from www.religioustolerance.org, which I recommend for understanding any religion:\n\nTheology of the Church of Satan:\n- People have created Gods in many forms; pick one that might be useful to you. \n- Heaven and Hell do not exist. \n- Satan is not closely related to the modern (post 1400 AD) concept of the Christian devil. Satanists view Satan as a pre-Christian life principle which represents the carnal, earthly, and mundane aspects of life. \n- Satan is not a being, a living entity; he is a force of nature. \n- Human life is held in sacred regard. Children in particular are not to be harmed. \n- "Satan...represents love, kindness and respect to those who deserve it." \n- Black Masses (parodies of the Roman Catholic religious service) are not normally performed by Satanists (except on rare occasions for their entertainment or publicity value). \n\nTo read the full explanation of Satanism see the source.
106105
Early leaders of the church tried to make everyone feel welcome, even pagans. In doing this they incorporated many pagan practices into the church by mixing them with Christianity. Because of this, A lot of Catholic ritual has obvious pagan aspects. This by itself makes Catholicism open to criticism by those who think theirs is the ONLY religion. And then of course the pedophile priests don't help things either. When I was growing up in a Catholic part of New Orleans, every kid knew of some other kid that had been molested by his priest. My friend got all of his buddies fraudulent baptismal certificates from the priest that was molesting him. We used the certificates to get ID with drinking ages on them. One guy even used his to join the military at 14. With stuff like this going on for decades, the religion is very open to criticism.
1046400
The catholic religion is in reality based on traditions created by the church, not Christ.  They do however claim that they follow Christ, but actions speak louder than words.  Catholicism is primarily a pagan religion.\n\nThis I believe; http://homelessheart.com/testimony.htm
963157
I'm not a Satanist, but I know a little about the Church of Satan (LaVey's group).\n\nThe Satanic Bible teaches that all men (and women) are their own gods.  Since you are a god, there can be no greater holiday than your own birthday!  They also celebrate the various solstices and equinoxes (or, actually, holidays related to them).  Hallowe'en (October 31) and Walpurgisnacht (April 30) are the two biggies here.\nSatan does not exist per se.  They believe in worshipping the flesh and its desires.  Since the churches have always attacked them, and exist to keep power in the hands of priests, they worship the enemy of the church, Satan.\n\nYes, they have "churches" (there used to be one in San Francisco at one time, I assume it is still there).  \n\nWebsite of the official church below.  Enjoy your quest!
751002
Do mean the Church of Satan?  If so, then they believe that God and Satan do not exist.  That may sound odd, but there's a reason for LaVey's decision when he formed the Church of Satan.\n\nThe Church of Satan was not established to worship Satan but to oppose the Christian church.  In fact, since Satan is the Hebrew word for "adversary," LaVey took this name to describe his role in opposing the Christian church.\n\nWhile Christianity (the nice kind) preaches unconditional love and turning the other cheek, the Satanic Bible teaches that only those who earn your love deserve it and that you should let your enemy know that you will not tolerate his incursions.  \n\nNow, as for people who really worship Satan…I'm not sure those people exist.  There are cultists who may claim to worship dark powers, but I think most of those are simply posing.   After all, if you honestly believed in a lord of lies in contrast to a benevolent god, how could you actually worship the lord of lies?  If you believe in Satan, then you have to believe in God.  And belief in Satan means that you know what the afterlife has in store for you if you serve Satan.  No sane person would take that option.  \n\nSo, I doubt you'll get any responses from Satan-worshipers.  At least, not Christian Satanists.
718825
No they are not the band HIM is satanist.  Trust me I'm the System's biggest fan.
404366
It's possible that their new religions that are gaining popularity fast and some followers of older religions see them as a threat.  Also some people who claim to be practitioners go out of their way to make idiots out of themselves.\n\nTo all of the people who obviously don't learn about a religion before they make judgments about it, Satanists do NOT sacrifice babies, molest children, torture animals or any other thing you saw in a movie.  That would be considered Satanic dabbling, devil worship, or is an entirely different belief system.  Satanists do not believe in the Christian concept of Satan and they don't even see him as a literal entity, more like an ideal of human nature.  They don't suppress their nature and attempts to make life as pleasurable as it can be for them.  However, they don't believe in attempting to harm someone unless they feel that person strongly deserves it.  \n\nWhew, sorry about the rant.
1005780
Any church can be considered a cult.  It's a very subjective term.
923304
Not Occult, but Cult.\n\nMilitant, in this sense:  \n\n"the Church Militant (Ecclesia Militans), comprising Christians who are living, \nthe Church Triumphant (Ecclesia Triumphans), comprising those who are in Heaven, and \nthe Church Suffering (Ecclesia Penitens) or Church Expectant (Ecclesia Expectans), comprising those Christians presently in Purgatory. This last term is used mainly in Roman Catholicism."
579631
Depends on which form of "Satanism" you're referring to.\n\nWhat most people think of as Satanism is the rather pedestrian schmucks who worshop the christian devil. They apparently believe in the trinity and all that rot, since they're rebelling against it. They really just reverse christian ceremonies. They tend to be harmless kooks that think they're being extremely naughty by saying the lord's prayer backward and screwing on church altars...\n\nModern Satanism, or LaVey Satanism, was conceived by Anton Szandor LaVay back in the 70s. LaVey Satanism rejects the idea of the christian god and all the associated mythology and asserts that the force they call Satan is the only power. The Satan of the LaVey Satanist is more like the Force in the Star Wars films, the sum total of all life and nature on the planet.\n\nHowever, LaVey admits that the entire religion is just to satisfy the apparent human need for dogma. Satan was chosen as its figurehead, because he is a symbol of opposition to the tyranny and just poor ideas of the christians and their ilk.\n\nThink of LaVey Satanism as rehab for recovering jesus freaks. Gives them some dogma to follow, teaches self-reliance and self respect, then will hopefully lead to the rejection of all religion so that one can then get on with the business of living one's life.
858157
Are you kidding? People calling themselves Satanists is like hanging a target around their necks. They are tailoring their worship to be opposed to Christians--who historically had to manufacture enemies for themselves from various nonchristian religions whom they had to label Satanists. People actually choosing to follow Satan is giving in to every Christian's paradigm of the world as the devil's empire and all nonchristians as followers of the devil. They've made the Christian's day by giving them a real and living enemy.\n\nI imagine Satanists, for the most part, do this intentionally to antagonize Christians. I can't imagine a Satanist just joining up because the doctrines are interesting or to give himself a strong moral framework. It's antagonism. That's the whole point--and if you antagonize people they tend to get mad.\n\nIf Satanists wanted to exist peacably they would do what most other marginallized groups do--find an obscure name for their system of belief, a less well known name for their demonic patron, and promote their canon of ideology as its own thing rather than trying to take on the Christian movement head on.
75953
An exorcism is something that the Catholic church made up, just like they made up "possesion by the devil."