One story is interesting, two stories even more so. But six stories are a trend, in this case a particularly appropriate one: Satanists are become a leading public voice for abortion rights. In their mockery of Christianity they reveal the dark heart of abortion-on-demand: the radical worship of self.
In 2013, during Wendy Davis–inspired protests in favor of late-term abortion, pro-life demonstrators dueled with abortion-rights advocates. The pro-life contingent sang “Amazing Grace.” Their opponents brought children to the Texas Capitol toting signs with slogans such as “stay out of my mommy’s vagina,” and spent much of the day chanting “F**k you” and “Hail Satan” in response.
In May and June, the Satanic Temple filed much-publicized state and federal lawsuits challenging Missouri’s abortion waiting period. Slate’s Amanda Marcotte gave the Satanists an “A-plus” for their “public act of trolling.” And many on the Left gleefully passed around a Salon article declaring that a Satanic Temple spokesperson took Megyn Kelly “to law school” in an appearance over the Temple’s desire to place a statue of Baphomet at the Oklahoma state capitol.
With the release of the Planned Parenthood videos, abortion sympathizers are upping their Satanic game. At a Chicago Planned Parenthood protest, speakers apparently located inside the clinic broadcast “horror music” at pro-life advocates in an effort to drown them out.
That seems civil compared to the Satanic Temple of Detroit’s latest antics, in which Satanists poured milk all over women, allegedly simulating the oppression of breast milk and motherhood. The video is bizarre, with women acting like they’re choking in front of praying Christian protestors:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0qAn36QwOlI
The Satanists adhere to such edifying statements of principle as “Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!” and “Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!” They also declare that man is “just another animal.” It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate set of doctrines for the rutting life of the sexual revolution, where restraint is evil, physical experience is king, and people are simply sentient mammals trying to get the best out of life. A baby is thus no more sacred — and often less — than any other animal. Just ask Cecil the Lion.
#related#While the vast, vast majority of abortion-rights supporters don’t identify with Satanists and would recoil from comparison with the Church of Satan, prominent Satanist involvement in the abortion debate does have a clarifying effect. A person who is willing to kill another person for the sake of preserving their own prosperity or emotional health is declaring that their life is supreme — their existence is at the center of all things. This is the core of Satanist theology. So when Satanists declare their creeds, they strike uncomfortably close to the rotten core of the abortion-rights regime.
Moreover, the secular Left truly has been radicalized outside the American mainstream if it’s willing to gleefully identify with the worshipers of Baphomet. It’s all fun and games until the public starts to identify a movement by its more prominent public supporters, of course. For years abortion-rights advocates have delighted in blasphemy, doing their dead-level best to shock sidewalk counselors, nuns, priests, and other pro-life advocates. For years their horrible behavior has largely been hidden from public view, as the media shamelessly covers for their obscenity.
It’s a new era, however, and as the Center for Medical Progress demonstrates with a new video every week, the pro-life movement no longer needs the mainstream media to share its message — or to expose its opponents. Good luck pouring that milk, Satanists.
— David French is an attorney and a staff writer at National Review.