- South Africa’s first Satanic church was registered in February this year as a non-profit company, under the category of religious organisation.
- The co-founders felt the religion was misunderstood and needed an official body to represent it.
- The organisation will be translating the Satanic bible into Afrikaans, which will be published next year.
At the start of this year, co-founders Adri Norton and Riaan Swiegelaar registered the first official Satanic church in South Africa.
It was registered as a non-profit company, under the category of religious organisation.
“We need a body to represent us. Satanism is not being represented in our country. Other countries have organisations, we don’t; and Satanism is being blamed for a lot of things that isn’t even satanic,” Norton told News24.
She recalled an incident last year when she heard about the Curro student, whose art exhibition went viral due to a video of a shocked pastor describing his art as “satanic” and “evil”.
Satanic panic
“It just got a bit much for me. We’ve been having to deal with the ‘satanic panic’ for years and constantly knowing that Satanism is being used as the scapegoat for so much in this world that actually has nothing to do with Satanism… and that day, for me, was a turning point,” Norton said.
According to the co-founding pair, Satanism is not about devil worship, animal sacrifices or orgies, but rather about developing the truest version of oneself.
“A lot of fear was created within the satanic panic era and it was silly – it was like the Ninja Turtles are from Satan, and you can’t listen to AC/DC, or if you play the Beatles or the Rolling Stones backwards, you’re going to hear a message from the devil,” she said.
But Norton attributes this “nonsense” to a lack in education.
Religion
She said that Satanism and devil worship are terms used interchangeably when, really, they are totally different – completely forgetting that there is actually a religion called Satanism.
“The original Hebrew translation of the word Satan is the opposer, the adversary, the questioner. It’s not in opposition to Christianity, but rather that Christianity took the word and made it the scapegoat,” said Norton.
According to Swiegelaar, the Satanic bible, written by Anton LaVey in 1969, is the ultimate “self-help” book.
“Satanism is knowing yourself completely, understanding why you are reacting to things you do, and understanding why that is happening. At the same time, to know what your own shortcomings are, but also what your gifts are and applying that to get the best out of life,” he said.
The organisation will be translating the Satanic bible into Afrikaans to be published next year – Die Sataniese Bybel.
“The Afrikaans community as a cultural group, that’s where the root of the satanic panic sits in this country. I have personally put things out on social media in Afrikaans to try and educate Afrikaans people about what religious Satanism actually is,” said Swiegelaar.
