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First Church of Satan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satanism
Associated organizations
Church of Satan
First Satanic Church
Prominent figures
Anton LaVey | Blanche Barton | Peter H. Gilmore | Peggy Nadramia | Karla LaVey
Associated concepts
Left-Hand Path | Pentagonal Revisionism | Suitheism | Survival of the fittest | Objectivism | Might Is Right
Books and publications
The Satanic Bible | The Satanic Rituals | The Satanic Witch | The Devil's Notebook | Satan Speaks! | The Black Flame | The Church of Satan | The Secret Life of a Satanist | The Satanic Scriptures
In popular culture
Allegations of Satanism | Satanic ritual abuse
The First Church of Satan is an organization that split from the original Church of Satan in 1994. It was originally founded by John and Lillee Allee, and is run by them to this day.
John Allee (who uses the title "Reverend" in FCoS) was originally a member of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan, but as time progressed, he felt that elitism had become too prevalent within the Church of Satan, and that LaVey's ideas were slowly becoming dark and twisted. Believing that LaVey's ideas were simpler versions of those of dark magicians before him, most notably Aleister Crowley, Allee called his organization the "First" Church of Satan as it intended to go back to the pre-LaVeyan, more Thelemic Satanism of Crowley.
There are several noticeable differences in the organization of the First Church of Satan (FCoS) compared to the Church of Satan (CoS). Chief amongst them is the lack of any sort of hierarchy: the FCoS believes that individuality must be encouraged, and that attempts to bury it beneath titles is a terrible thing. For this reason, there is essentially no hierarchy within the FCoS, though there are titles ("High Priest/ess" for the Allees, "Priest" for others).
Allee was the first to coin the phrase, "Free Thought Satanism" and felt a Satanic organization should promote personal godhood while maintaining an attitude of sovereignty for all. He argued that "elitism" should be determined by nature, outside the framework of a political or religious institution.
