You’re supposed to cook the potato first.

The CRA doesn’t use the word “and”. It’s “or”.

manifesting, promoting, sustaining, or increasing belief

Meaning it’s optional. Also, “promoting” is quite vague. TST doesn’t qualify in any case, though, because what are they “manifesting, promoting, sustaining, or increasing belief” of?

a religion’s three key attributes, which are: faith in a higher unseen power such as a God, Supreme Being, or Entity; worship or reverence; and a particular and comprehensive system of doctrines and observances

So yeah. Non-theistic Satanism doesn’t apply. We have reverence, we have doctrines and observances…we do not have a Supreme anything.

TST primarily operates in the USA, so the IRS code is much more relevant. Let’s see which part of this applies:

advancement of religion

That’s it? “Advancement” is even more vague than “promoting”! I can do a lot of things that “advance” my religion without trying to recruit people. Adding more programs to my congregation, for example. Hey, now we have a book club! Satanism has been advanced.

In fact, I think that most Satanists would say that trying to recruit wouldn’t be advancement at all…it would be a big step backwards.

How are those not embracing the material world? The 5th tenet makes it explicitly materialist.

The leaders aren’t sitting around meditating. They’re in court, doing material things.

Yeah, you can give up on superstition without giving up on religion.

Agnosticism is just saying “I don’t know”. If you know that gods don’t exist, I’d like to hear about how you got this knowledge.

Agnostics are just people who are willing to admit when they don’t know something. It’s a quality that a lot of people seem to lack.

Secular humanism isn’t a religion. “Secular” means “non-religious”.

The Church of Satan are atheists. They might worship the self, but they don’t think the self is a god. I don’t have the patience if you want to split hairs in that, but it isn’t a kind of theism as it’s commonly understood. It’s like saying that vegetarians eat meat because the edible part of a nut is called “meat”.

I’ve never heard of TST proselytizing. When and where have you seen this?

Also, proselytism is part of the definition of a church in most countries, that is why, for instance, the Church of Satan is not legally a church in the US, because they do not proselytize.

Please post evidence for this.

The US government is pretty hands-off when it comes to deciding what is and isn’t a religion. It’s that whole First Amendment thing.

As much as they are a religion legally, they are atheists and their symbols are not religious, just fancy branding.

They are religious, because Satanism is a religion. I am a member of TST and a religious Satanist. This is covered in the FAQ on TST’s website.

TST is an atheistic religion. That is not a contradiction because you don’t need to believe in gods to have a religion (see also Buddhism).

I’ve encountered several TST members who also practice Buddhism. It seems to be the religion that overlaps the most. It seems odd to me, because I thought Buddhism rejected the material world while TST embraces it, but I’m probably missing something.

The issue I had with calling myself “agnostic” is that most Christians think of it as “undecided” (which it isn’t), so they’ll try to convert you. If you tell them you’re an atheist, they’re more likely to leave you alone (in my experience).

Agnosticism isn’t a lack of certainty; it’s a lack of knowledge. I am agnostic about many, many things. For example, Bigfoot. I haven’t seen any good evidence for the existence of Bigfoot (i.e., I have no knowledge of the existence of Bigfoot), so I don’t believe in Bigfoot. I’m the same way with the existence of gods.

Theism is belief in gods; atheism is the opposite of that: non-belief in gods.

Gnosticism is knowledge of gods; agnosticism is the opposite of that: no knowledge of gods. (There is also a religious movement called gnosticism. That doesn’t relate here.)

The first is about belief and the second is about knowledge.

These are not incompatible. You can believe in something and claim to have knowledge of it (gnostic theism) or you can believe and claim to not have knowledge of it (agnostic theism). I have encountered Christians of both varieties.

For atheists, many (perhaps most) claim to have no knowledge of gods (agnostic atheism), and some claim that gods certainly do not exist (gnostic atheism). The latter demonstrate that the Christian exist, because logically an omniscient and omnipotent God can’t also be omni-benevolent, since suffering obviously exists.

The US should be working towards disarmament, and they’ve been going in the opposite direction. It’s hypocritical for the US to demand that other nations not have nukes when they’re stockpiling them.

Yes, that’s where I live, too. Most of us are pretty chill. Our gun laws are ridiculous, which is why stuff like that happens, but the vast majority of us are not walking around and shooting children.

This is due to a bunch of big, powerful countries teaming up and bullying everybody else.

Why do you think it’s such a big deal if Iran has nuclear weapons? After all, the US has nuclear weapons. Russia has nuclear weapons. Israel has nuclear weapons. So why can’t Iran have nuclear weapons?

Because if Iran had nuclear weapons, then those big and powerful nations might have to give Iran a seat at the table. It wouldn’t be so easy pushing Iran around anymore, because if you pointed nuclear missiles at Iran, you’d have nuclear missiles pointing right back at you.

Personally, I don’t think that any country should have nukes. They’re too dangerous. I think that all countries should be working towards mutual nuclear disarmament. This can be done through treaties and so on. But if any country is allowed to have them, then every country should be allowed to have them.

Brevity is a sign of good writing.

The consequences can’t simply be monetary, because these people are stupidly wealthy. If they’re found culpable, send them to prison.

Jesus, where the fuck do you live.