Hail Satan?

Worthwhile, and amusing documentary about the Temple of Satan, a group that has given atheism a religious footing and which especially fights for religious freedom and secularism in the USA. The movie also provides insights into Christian fundamentalism in the USA... which is perhaps not so much an issue in other parts of the world (but you never know what may happen once the * hits the fan). The church of satan tackles these issues by holding up a mirror, always tongue in cheek, but with an impressive consistency. The movie's message is: cool down folks, there will always be people with different opinions.

If the U.S. wants to proclaim religious freedom and then push Christianity in public, then it's only fair for the Satanists to do the same.

It's frustrating to watch these free thinking and harmless people, fail after fail in their every attempt to convince people theu are NOT violent and on the plus side; they all love theatrics, how cool is that

Occurred to me after watching that though out history if you want to stay in power create an enemy. So if you want your God to be #1 be sure he (she) has an adversary; an anti. One thing religions have in common is obedience - no thinking for yourself allowed.

Admittedly Satan has gotten a lot of bad press/reviews & even stories - print, movie, allegory over the past long while. Thus begins our tale of snake, Eve & apple.

So who/what is the new Satan? Well, they're The Satanic Temple w/small groups totally tens of thousands around the world. One goal is separation of church & state allowing all religions equal opportunity for expression. Another is promoting free thinking. Their tenants include: Compassion for all creatures; justice should be foremost; each of us commands our own bodies; respect other's freedoms; science factuality should be a part of your beliefs; mistakes are correctable; compassion, wisdom come first.

The Satanic Temples main adversaries come in the form of Fox News & Catholic Church (their record w/wars, gays, females, trials, priests & kids - not so good). One of Fox friends' vitriolic arguments is that our currency & pledge both reference their God as our national religion, but the Constitution purposefully stays away on that subject. God was added around the accusatory McCarthy era '50s as a counter to Communism.

It was repeatedly suggested in the doc that they should all (as non-Christians) go to Hell, but would that include Gandhi?

"Hail Satan?" (2019 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about the Satanic Temple (TST) and its search for the separation of church and state. As the movie opens, we are in "Tallahassee, 2013" where TST is holding a rally on the steps of the Florida statehouse. Hardly anyone is giving it any attention. We are introduced to Lucien, the spokesperson for TST. When TST wants to do a black mass in Boston, the catholic church and community in Boston organizes a massive protest against "these rapists and murderers", while of course the reality is that the Boston catholic church has allowed sexual abuse against young kids for decades and decades... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll jut have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from Penny Lane, who previously brought us "Our Nixon". Here she explores the hypocrisy in certain segments of the population, who are easily riled up by these satanists. Lane along the way brings us a History 101 of satanism. The core of the film goes to looking at the separation of church and state, which TST wants enforced. The segments dealing with the 10 Commandments are instrumental. So this documentary is not quite what I expected it to be, and in fact is likely to make you think about a few things in a way that you might not have expected. Kudos to Lane for that.

"Hail Satan?" premiered at the Sundance festival earlier this yer to positive acclaim, and recently opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (6 people, including myself). Hopefully this can gain a larger audience as it is released on other platforms. If you like documentaries, or have an interest in issues surrounding the separation of church and state, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.