UPDATED::The Church of Satan wants you to stop calling these ‘devil worshiping’ alleged murderers Satanists - The Washington Post

UPDATE: Satanist Awaiting Murder Trial Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

A self-described Satanist facing murder charges was found dead in his North Carolina prison cell in an apparent suicide, authorities said.

Pazuzu Algarad, 36, was found unresponsive about 3 a.m. Wednesday by correctional officers in Central Prison in Raleigh with a wound to one of his arms, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

Doctors and medical staff tried to revive him for more than an hour, but he was pronounced dead at 4:20 a.m., officials said.

Algarad was transferred to the facility in May at the joint safekeeping request of his attorney and the District Attorney’s office for reasons that have been sealed from public view, District Attorney Jim O’Neill said at a press conference.

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As many of you may have noticed I have an interest (some say unhealthy interest) in the more obscure religious systems of the world. Because of my personal experience with the Satanic Panic of the 80s-early 90s many of the stories I follow have a tendency to fall under the guise of "all things demonic." More important, who may be pushing said agenda and for what personal gain (a la Bob Larson and the Catholic Church).

One of the issues I have come across is the "labeling" of crimes as satanic or "demonic" in nature; worse, the use of religious belief in the demonic (possession and/or exorcism) as the justification for a crime. It is no surprise that Magus Peter Gilmore of the Church of Satan had to release a statement in regards to the recent Algarad-Burch killings.

The headline-grabbing allegations against Algarad and Amber Burch have prompted the Church of Satan to comment on the case. In short, the Satanist organization says that its members, unlike Algarad, do not worship the devil.

In a statement, the organization’s leader, Magus Peter Gilmore, said the Church of Satan “stands firm in opposition to criminal acts, whether or not they are perpetrated in the name of any deity.” People like Algarad, Gilmore said, are really “devil worshipers.” Calling them otherwise gives Satanists a bad name.

Gilmore also said that the Church of Satan’s “hate mail remains steady,” whether cases like Algarad’s are in the news or not. But the group doesn’t limit distancing statements like these to instances of criminal activity. There are several different groups out there using the term “Satanist” to refer to their beliefs, and they’re often at odds with each other. This has been going on for awhile.

There are people whom Gilmore would call “devil worshipers,” for whom a belief in the existence of actual demons and worship of Satan is a part of their practice. A tiny subset of that group include people like Algarad, alleged or convicted criminals who act in the name of a stated belief in Satan or demon worship.

The Church of Satan, Gilmore said, is a “rational, atheist philosophy” based on Anton LaVey’s “Satanic Bible” from 1969. The Church of Satan is generally quite protective of that claimed lineage and has a specific, somewhat rigorous membership application process. The group believes that it is the only “authentic” Satanist group in existence.

The organization’s leadership, according to Gilmore, believes that “the purpose of the Church of Satan is solely to communicate its philosophy to a worldwide audience with utmost clarity and precision.” Gilmore regularly uses the Church of Satan Web site to comment at length on instances of devil worship in the news, other “Satanist” groups and the qualities that the Church of Satan believes make a good Satanist — namely “pride, liberty and individualism.” Satanism, as defined by the Church of Satan, believes in Satan only as a symbolic, rather than as a supernatural, representation of these values.

“Satanism is an atheist philosophy which does not condone sacrifices nor does it support murder,” the statement said. Referring to a photograph of Alagrad, Gilmore called the murder suspect a “theist,” and not a “Satanist.”

“Regardless of what fictional entity is being worshiped, many now grasp that extremist theism worldwide promotes acts of savage injustice,” he said.

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Corrective statements like these are routine for the Church of Satan, which has an improving relationship with law enforcement. “I have been a consultant for law enforcement on local, state and federal levels for years,” Gilmore wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Post. However, he added, “many police departments have not trained their officers to evaluate such instances, and unless they contact experts, they could misinterpret the data.”

Ohlheiser also touches on some of the differences between CoS and The Satanic Temple led by Lucien Greaves. Mentioning as well as Dakhma of Angra Mainyu and the Temples of Satan run by Rev. Tom Erik Raspotnik.

The Church of Satan wants you to stop calling these ‘devil worshiping’ alleged murderers Satanists - The Washington Post