Editing Church of Satan (section)

===Schisms===
Starting in the early 1970s, the Church faced internal [[dissent]] and a series of [[schism]]s. The first breakaway was by the Babylonian Grotto and its leader Wayne West, who LaVey [[Excommunication|excommunicated]]. A bigger schism happened with the excommunication of the Stygian Grotto, whose leader established the Church of Satanic Brotherhood in 1973 with units in Dayton, Indianapolis, Louisville, New York City, and St. Petersburg (FL). From the Church's Belphegor Grotto, another splinter group created the Order of the Black Goat, which was allegedly [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] in orientation, led by Michael Grumbowski. A later, more resilient offshoot was the World Church of Satanic Liberation, which ran from 1986 to 2011.<ref>Foertsch, Steven. "An organizational analysis of the schismatic Church of Satan." ''Review of Religious Research'' 64, no. 1 (2022): 55-76, pp. 61-62</ref>

In 1975, the Church of Satan underwent a significant fracture. [[Michael A. Aquino|Michael Archy Aquino]], the editor of the church newsletter and a fairly high level leader in the church, who disagreed with LaVey's changes, left to found the [[Temple of Set]], taking a significant portion of the CoS leadership with him. This schism involved the largest Church branch, the Nineveh Grotto in NJ, and the Lilith Grotto in NY, among others. The Temple of Set reportedly had more than 500 members at its founding, although Anton LaVey claimed that only 29 people left.<ref>Foertsch, Steven. "An organizational analysis of the schismatic Church of Satan." ''Review of Religious Research'' 64, no. 1 (2022): 55-76, pp. 63-4</ref>

LaVey announced that the Temple of Set schism was not a setback but "Phase V" of his master plan,<ref name="JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise" /> however, according to author Amina Lap, from this point on Satanism became a "splintered and disorganized movement".{{sfn|Lap|2013|p=84}}

Schisms from the Church were caused by several factors, according to sociologist Foertsch. He focused on differences in costliness or [[barriers to entry]] for members, disputes over authority and [[doctrine]], and opportunities for [[Niche market|niche development]] in the American [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counter-culture]] world of [[occult]]ism, and persecution of alleged Satanists during the [[moral panic]] (described below) of the 1980s.<ref>Foertsch, Steven. "An organizational analysis of the schismatic Church of Satan." ''Review of Religious Research'' 64, no. 1 (2022): 55-76.</ref>

The same year LaVey painted the Black House beige to lessen unwanted attention and "largely retired from public life".<ref>R. van Luijk, ''Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 363</ref>  (In 1986, the Black House was repainted black.) According to at least one critic, James R. Lewis, LaVey  was not instituting "a Master Plan" but demonstrating that he "was not up to making the necessary personal sacrifices that being a founding prophet and leader required" because his motives for founding the Church were personal enrichment and self-aggrandizement, not spreading some religious truth.<ref name="Footnote-118">R. Lewis, ''Legitimating New Religions'' (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003), p.111.</ref>