Anthony Czandor Lavey (1930-1997), founder of Satanism.
I have been writing some copy for the Dutch Wikipedia in the last few weeks. Most interesting was some work I did on articles on Satanism, specially the contemporary Satanism of Anton LaVey (Church of Satan) and Michael Aquino (Temple of Set).
I have come to respect the satanic philosophy, specially as developed by Michael Aquino. Satanism attracts a lot of attention as soon as the word is mentioned because of its connotations with Christianity. I believe, however, that it is the Christians themselves that have created Satanism. The whole concept of Satanism is nothing more than a counter reaction on Christianity. The knee-jerk reactions of Christians as soon as the subject gets mentioned shows that it has the desired effect! LaVey’s Black Mass is a great example of the provocative and theatrical aspects of Satanism.
The Satanic philosophy is ant-Christian in that it is a mirror image of Christianity, but because of this it is also inherently Christian as it defines itself in opposition. Satanism does not proclaim that one should go around and whack everybody on the head and other forms of unruly behaviour. Satanism is a philosophy which embraces personal freedom and places the source of morality within ourselves, while Christianity seeks to find truth in a transcendent reality.