The Reprobate

I often refer to myself as a reprobate. How someone reacts to that word tells me everything I need to know about them. Some people show suspicion, knowing that it could mean you’re just an unsavory person, but 5 minutes in my presence proves that wrong. Others react with horror, the thought that you’re soulless, damned, and proud of it is frightening to them beyond the comprehension of flesh. Then there are those who understand and welcome fellow compatriots in the struggle against Christo-fascism.

The term was originally used against me as a child in an attempt to shame me into conformity. Those who know me are aware that compliance with authority has never been my strength. Force has never worked on me. It doesn’t inspire obedience so much as it earns resistance, scrutiny, and disrespect. I accepted the label, after all, from a certain perspective it’s absolutely true.

               I seized on the term, making it a part of myself. If I don’t have a soul that needs saving their threats and their leverage vanishes. I stripped away the pressure to fall in line and ignored the warnings that I’d be absent of moral legitimacy. I waved away the pressure to abandon my conscience and to follow the lead of people who walked guided by hate. Frankly, the idea that prejudice is goodness was a huge part of growing up Christian and the easiest part to let go of.

Reflection

               Satanism isn’t about Satan. Satanism is what happens when Christians are forced to live under their own rules. Satanists and reprobates use the legal and cultural infrastructure Christians built to privilege themselves and simply insist it be applied universally. There is no answer to the argument that if Christianity were so persuasive it should survive just fine with equal treatment and doesn’t need these exceptions. Satanism exists to apply the test and figure out the truth.

When they put up monuments on the grounds of our secular government buildings there is one truth to explore. Either religious monuments belong on government property, or they don’t. Christians insist strongly on the former, Satanists merely agree and insist that this includes everyone. When they’re forced to make an argument against pluralism, they expose the weakness of their position and project their desire for special treatment in no uncertain terms.

I harbor no shortage of respect and admiration for the literary character of Satan who defied ultimate authority with no chance of victory because it was the morally courageous thing to do. Whether Satan was right or wrong is irrelevant. What matters is that unquestioned authority is never moral, and that Christianity is helpless without it. The lasting legacy of Satan is that of the Morning Star, the adversary of unaccountable authority, the bringer of forbidden knowledge.

The trick to effective Satanism is to be a mirror of the faithful. To use their own arguments against the points they have already made and can’t take back. Christian nationalism holds itself as the moral authority while excusing its own cruelty. Satanism makes no demands of you and promises you no reward for your goodness or punishment for your wickedness, only the knowledge to do better. Christo-fascists are great at proclaiming their righteousness, but their repugnant ideology leaves them nowhere to actually demonstrate it. It calls for them to lie, profoundly and frequently. It calls for them to hate without cause.

To be an effective mirror is not to mimic their behavior, but to allow their own accusations to bounce back at them. They build a moral hierarchy and put themselves at the top. There are only two tiers, “Us” and “Them.” From their position as “Us” they find no need for temperance or cautious expression of their beliefs. You let them say what they will about you, and they will, they can’t resist it. You’re the bait for the trap because once they’ve run their mouths and spewed their bile at you it’s remarkably easy to demonstrate that they’re wrong about you and more accurately describing themselves. It doesn’t take long for people to realize that from a Christian nationalist every accusation is a confession.

Anti-Fascism

Many Christians hope to conflate themselves with righteousness, justifying their own violence and condemning yours whether it exists or not. They interpret calls to resist, expose, and refuse Christian Nationalism through speech, law, and culture as violence that justifies their own need to do pre-emptive violence on occasion.

Fascism demands submission, punishes dissent, and sanctifies power. As a reprobate I’m immune to those demands and the desires that lead someone to make them. Fascism needs a moral hierarchy, and in America, Christian nationalism provides it. Reprobates loudly refuse them, a boisterous bulwark monopolizing your attention. While our allies work to dismantle you in the court of law, we expose you in public by letting you say what you really mean on camera.

There is no place in a Christo-fascist America for Reprobates, or Satanists which is why we aren’t going to let them forget that we’re here. We’re never going to accept your rule; we’re never going to acquiesce to your demands, and we’re not going anywhere. The fight against all forms of fascism and authoritarianism is baked into Satanism so completely that you would have a hard time having one without the other.

Be the Mirror

                We don’t need to invent your hypocrisy; we just need to stand still and let you project it to the world. When a ravenous Christian nationalist spreads violent rhetoric and hate towards you, turn the other cheek. We demonstrate nonviolence when threatened with violence the way your book commands, yet you cannot abide. We accept your moral judgement and show that unlike you we don’t shame, surveil, or purity test. We show that Satanism doesn’t care who you sleep with or what you believe, only that your actions don’t harm others and that your foray into secular government culminates in equality, or neutrality towards religion. When you lambast your neighbor, we show your neighbor our love. We defend their right to bodily autonomy and to marry who they please. Satanic compassion doesn’t require conversion, there is no alter call, no repentance clause, no call to follow the words “I love you,” with the word “but.”

                We are generous with the least among us, oppose your austerity politics, and let your prosperity gospel speak for itself. We let your moral gatekeeping show the world that Satanists don’t ask whether someone deserves help, we help. Your obsession with punitive retribution is your Achilles heel. Your bloodthirst for vengeance shines while we emphasize forgiveness and rehabilitation over cruelty for its own sake. Most importantly, when faced with your worst representatives we let them destroy their own credibility. When we are targeted by your attacks we make sure that you swing wide and hit the audience too. We don’t defend ourselves, we defend everyone that isn’t a part of “Us.”