Editing The Satanic Temple (section)

==Comparison to LaVeyan Satanism==
Lucien Greaves has described the Temple as being a progressive and updated version of [[LaVeyan Satanism|LaVey's Satanism]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Asbjørn |last1=Dyrendal |first2=James R. |last2=Lewis |first3=Jesper Aagaard |last3=Petersen |title=The Invention of Satanism |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195181104 |page=220}}</ref> The Temple views itself as separate and distinct from its forerunner, representing "a natural evolution in Satanic thought". Greaves has shared a detailed refutation of LaVey's doctrines,<ref name="Greaves-CoS-v-TST">{{cite web |last1=Greaves |first1=Lucien |title=Church of Satan vs. Satanic Temple |url=https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/church-of-satan-vs-satanic-temple |website=The Satanic Temple |access-date=11 January 2024 |date=c. 2019}}</ref> and claims that the elements of [[Social Darwinism]] and [[Nietzscheanism]] within LaVeyan Satanism are incongruent with [[game theory]], [[reciprocal altruism]], and [[cognitive science]].<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://davidpakman.com/interviews/douglas-mesner/ |title=Satanic Temple Founder Talks Atheistic Religion |work=[[The David Pakman Show]] |date=October 9, 2014 |access-date=November 29, 2018}}</ref> He has also criticized the LaVeyan [[Church of Satan]] for its lack of [[political lobbying]] and what he sees as their exclusivity, referring to them as [[autocratic]] and [[hierarchical]], and saying that the Church fetishizes [[authoritarianism]].<ref name="greaves"/><ref name="AfterSchoolSatan">{{cite web |title=FAQ |url=https://afterschoolsatan.com/educatin-with-satan/faq/ |website=After School Satan |access-date=November 29, 2018 |archive-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116170111/https://afterschoolsatan.com/educatin-with-satan/faq/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Conversely, the Church of Satan has claimed that Anton LaVey "codified" Satanism "as a religion and philosophy" with the Church of Satan in 1966, so that we have "five decades of a clearly defined belief system called Satanism expounded by a worldwide organization", namely the Church of Satan.<ref name="CoS-TST-FS">{{cite web |last1=Ethan |first1=Joel |title=The Satanic Temple Fact Sheet |url=https://www.churchofsatan.com/the-satanic-temple-fact-sheet/ |website=Church of Satan |access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref> Members of the Satanic Temple, in contrast, are merely "masquerading as Satanists"<ref name="COS1">{{cite news |title=Third Side Intelligence: Missouri Abortions |website=Church of Satan|url=https://www.churchofsatan.com/third-side-intelligence-missouri-abortions-the/ |date=October 10, 2017 |access-date=November 29, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/satans-lawyers-try-christian-right-tactics-to-erect-winged-goat|title=Satanists Go to Court Seeking Right to Pray at City Meetings|website=Bloomberg Law|last1=Larson|first1=Erik|date=March 22, 2021|access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref> and do not represent Satanism.<ref name="COS2">{{cite web |first=Reverend Joel |last=Ethan |title=The Satanic Temple Fact Sheet |url=https://www.churchofsatan.com/the-satanic-temple-fact-sheet/ |website=Church of Satan|access-date=November 29, 2018}}</ref>

Joseph P. Laycock attributes the origin of the Temple and the difference between the two groups to the "[[Culture war#United States|culture war]]" between traditionalists/conservatives and liberal/secularists "fueled by demographic changes".<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.7>[[#JPLS2023|Laycock, ''Satanism'', 2023]]: 7 Contemporary Developments in Satanism.</ref> At least in the United States where the temple is based, the number of adults identifying as Christian is shrinking (63% as of 2021 down from 78% in 2007) and those identifying with no religion is growing (29% in 2021, up from 16% in 2007),<ref name=Footnote219>{{cite news |author=G. A. Smith |title=About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated |publisher= Pew Research Center |date=December 14, 2021 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/ |access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref> Christians have become alarmed. At least some observers have suggested that the increasing political activism of American conservatives in the 1990s and 21st century on issues such as [[abortion]], teaching of the theory of evolution, [[gun politics]], [[separation of church and state]], [[privacy]], [[recreational drug use]], [[homosexuality]], [[censorship]], is an attempt to "compensate" for their loss of cultural power "by using the power of the state".<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.7/> In the meantime the growing number of secular/Religiously Unaffiliated have also become politically aroused.  In addition, the sizeable number of people who were told as adolescents that the "rock music or the game ''Dungeons and Dragons''" they enjoyed were satanic, are now grown and have a very different idea than earlier generations as to the relative merits of Satanism versus Christians—or at least politically active conservative Christians.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.7/>
Laycock argues that the shift in interest among Satanists toward political activism, between the founding of the Church of Satan and the establishment of the Satanic Temple, can be explained in part by their desire to counter the influence of conservative Christians.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.7/>