The devil supports a woman’s right to choose. Or does he?
The answer might be hard to find out because the Church of Satan seems split on the issue.
On the one hand you have the High Priest of the New York-based Church of Satan saying that Satanists are firmly in the pro-choice camp, according to a CNN report.
On the other hand, a group of Satanists in the United Kingdom disagrees asking, “Why wouldn’t Satanism be pro-life?”
The devilish duel between the Satanists started in early July when Texas legislators debated a law that would have restricted access to abortions in Texas.
During the debate a group of pro-choice activists tried to drown out the voices of their pro-life opponents by yelling “Hail Satan!”
The hashtag #HailSatan quickly gained steam on Twitter and the UK Church of Satan weighed into the debate on July 3.
Unfortunate to see Satan's name used in such a diabolical manner. Another example of what 'Satanism' doesn't represent. #HailSatan
— UK Church of Satan (@UKChurchofSatan) July 3, 2013
A few days later the UK Satanists expanded on their views.
Why wouldn't Satanism be pro-life? What else is there? We are all free to make choices. Agreeable or not. Everyone is entitled to choice.
— UK Church of Satan (@UKChurchofSatan) July 5, 2013
It seemed as if the issue had been settled, but that’s not the case according to Magus Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, who told CNN that the UK Church of Satan doesn’t even exist.
“I have not authorized any of our UK members to create such a thing claiming to represent our organization, its members and our philosophy,” Gilmore said. “So, whoever is behind that feed is committing a fraud.”
“Our organization, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966, is worldwide and we have many members throughout the UK and none of them have heard of any self-proclaimed ‘Church of Satan in England.'”
Gilmore went on to explain that many Satanists practice “rational birth control” meaning that individuals determine the morality of things like condom use or abortion.
“We generally consider the use of abortion to be the purview of the woman whose body is carrying the child,” Gilmore said.
“Freedom with responsibility is the hallmark of civilized behavior to the Satanist.”
Even though Gilmore’s position seems to put Satanists in the pro-choice camp, the High Priest does not look kindly on the Texas activists chanting, “Hail Satan!”
“Shouting ‘Hail Satan!’ to abortion protesters is both ludicrous and meaningless,” the magus said. “Only attention-seeking fools would do so.”