Anton LaVey

Anton Szandor LaVey (1930–1997) founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966. His books and public ceremonies gave a distinctive institutional form to modern Satanism. The Satanic Bible became the best-known statement of his philosophy.^[1]

A symbolic Satan#

LaVey's religion used Satan as a positive symbol of individuality, pride, and resistance to unwanted religious authority. The Church's public account is atheistic. Its use of infernal names and imagery therefore needs to be read through that philosophical setting, rather than assumed to describe worship of supernatural beings.^[2]

Ritual gave emotional and theatrical expression to the religion. LaVey developed this material in The Satanic Rituals, alongside the ritual theory in The Satanic Bible. The dramatic form of a ceremony could be important even when its participants did not accept a literal spirit behind every name.

Author, organizer, and public figure#

LaVey's institutional role, books, and public image made him influential far beyond the Church's membership. Later Satanic organizations accepted, revised, or rejected different parts of his approach. The Temple of Set emerged from this milieu and developed a separate religious identity. The High Satanic Church publishes a theistic position that differs from the Church of Satan's present account.

The Church's biography is a primary institutional source for how it remembers its founder. Claims about particular episodes in his early life should still be identified and assessed individually. His documented books and organizational work provide the clearest starting point for his place in the history of Religious Satanism.

See also#

• Church of Satan
• The Satanic Bible
• Modern theistic Satanism

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.