History of Satanism

In 1966 CE Anton Szandor LaVey founded his Church of Satan. Worldwide, the influence of the imagery and philosophy of the Church of Satan permeates Satanic thinking.

Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. The contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the Church of Satan in 1966, although a few historical precedents exist. Prior to the public practice, Satanism existed primarily as an accusation by various Christian groups toward perceived ideological opponents, rather than a self-identity.

During the Middle Ages, the Inquisition attached to the Roman Catholic Church alleged that various heretical Christian sects and groups, such as the Knights Templar and the Cathars, performed secret Satanic rituals. In the subsequent Early Modern period, belief in a widespread Satanic conspiracy of witches resulted in mass trials of alleged witches across Europe and the North American colonies. Accusations that Satanic conspiracies were active and that they were behind events such as Protestantism and the French Revolution continued to be made in Christendom during the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

The religious studies scholars Asbjorn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aa. Petersen stated that the term Satanism "has a history of being a designation made by people against those whom they dislike; it is a term used for 'othering'". The concept of Satanism is an invention of Christianity.

Satanism, any of various religious or countercultural practices and movements centered on the figure of Satan, the Devil, regarded in Christianity and Judaism as the embodiment of absolute evil. Historical Satanism, also called devil worship, consists of the belief in and worship of the Judeo Christian.

Allegations of ritual abuse at a preschool in Southern California led to the longest, most expensive trial in U.S. history. The McMartin Preschool case which resulted in zero convictions became emblematic of a much more widespread phenomenon known as Satanic Panic.