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When The Satanic Temple was formed in 2013 they immediately sparked a debate in American media through their political activism. With a Satanic discourse they both confused and angered many people, especially persons from the Christian Right-Wing and other Conservatives. With themselves in focus, they also initiated a debate of what a religion is or should be, after starting to demand religious rights through their activism. The idea of using a Satanic discourse in order to emphasize Left-Wing politics is not a new idea though. Already the Romantic Satanists used a similiar strategy some 200 years ago, and The Satanic Temple is quite vocal about the fact that they see them as forerunners. But traces could also be found in the Anarchistic Satanists of the middle 1800’s and the Feminist Satanists around 1900. This essay shows the inheritence of the political Satanism of the 18- and 1900’s through a discourse analysis of these movements compared with The Satanic Temple. The essay also discusses what defines a religion, viewed through The Satanic Temple’s fight for the status of one and compared to academic research on the subject, mainly the idea of viewing religion as a discourse.

Fondé aux États-Unis fin 2012 par Malcolm Jarry et Lucien Greaves et se voyant comme une évolution de l’Église de Satan, groupe fondé par Anton LaVey en 1966, le Temple Satanique est à la croisée entre satanisme, sécularisme et religion non-théiste, en plus de s’appuyer sur un activisme politique explicite en faveur de la séparation entre Églises et État. Il s’appuie sur une lecture non-théiste de la figure de Satan comme symbole de libre-pensée et de compassion, inspirée notamment des lectures romantiques et de La Révolte des anges (1914) d’Anatole France. En se positionnant comme religion dans la sphère publique, l’organisation souhaite contrer l’hégémonie du christianisme et assurer le respect d’un réel pluralisme religieux, qui prendrait en compte les récentes mutations démographiques et culturelles américaines. Cette thèse emploie une approche interdisciplinaire. Sur le plan théorique, elle analyse ce groupe se disant religieux à l’aide de l’histoire des idées ainsi que d’une analyse sociologique, politique et médiatique. Elle met en œuvre une méthodologie qualitative et quantitative, documentant plusieurs aspects du groupe à l’aide d’entretiens et d’un questionnaire qualitatif en ligne. Les principales innovations de cette thèse sont les suivantes. Nous analysons le Temple Satanique comme un mouvement social mettant en avant le concept de communauté, et nous situons l’organisation dans un paradigme ultramoderne (concept de Jean-Paul Willaime), selon lequel un certain nombre de sous-cultures sont générées, cherchant à créer des ressources de sens. Ces sous-cultures émergent comme des systèmes de sens identitaires et politiques s’alimentant à des sources mythiques et esthétiques pour élaborer du sens, puisant largement dans les domaines religieux et spirituels. Il s’agit d’un laboratoire d’étude de la complexification du milieu séculariste et de ses profondes divisions, ainsi que du satanisme moderne et contemporain. Sa particularité est de proposer un satanisme politique rationaliste. Notre recherche se situe au croisement de trois champs d’études : celui des nouveaux mouvements religieux, celui du satanisme et de l’ésotérisme, ainsi que celui de la religion digitale. Cette religiosité, largement diffusée sur Internet, redéfinit les cadres institutionnels et de croyances, les adeptes ayant accès à des ressources presque illimitées, informant un mode du croire caractérisé par son individualité et sa méfiance institutionnelle, mettant en exergue une tension constante entre individualité et communauté. Par ses procédés ultramodernes, le groupe se pose en contre-mythe, afin de questionner l’héritage chrétien américain revendiqué par la Droite chrétienne comme une religion civile. En effet, par l’usage du symbole de Satan, l’organisation met en tension l’identité nationale américaine en posant la question de l’intégration des populations non-chrétiennes au sein d’un cadre culturel fortement imprégné de christianisme. Le Temple Satanique pose ainsi la question de l’intégration des communautés marginalisées, comme les athées, ou la population des sans-religion, dans la sphère publique, à l’heure où elles deviennent des forces politiques potentielles. C’est sans doute pour cette raison qu’il compte déjà des antennes dans d’autres pays. Le Temple essaye de dépasser l’aporie entre religion et mode de vie séculariste, en mettant en avant une religion non-théiste s’appuyant sur des valeurs partagées au sein d’une communauté. / Founded in the US by Malcolm Jarry and Lucien Greaves at the very end of the year 2012 and thought as an evolution of The Church of Satan, the first satanic organization created by Anton LaVey in 1966, The Satanic Temple is both a non-theistic religion, a secularist group and a satanic group fighting for the strict separation of Church and State. Drawing especially on romantic and Anatole France’s Revolt of the Angels (1914) readings of Satan as an embodiment of freedom, justice and science, The Satanic Temple uses its position as a religion in the public sphere to denounce what is considers the marks of Christian hegemony within public institutions or places, and stands for other discriminated groups by defending a respectful and inclusive religious pluralism for all faiths, and taking into account the recent cultural and demographic changes in the US. This dissertation uses an interdisciplinary approach. In order to analyze this aspiring religious group, it combines a sociological analysis, the study of history of ideas as well as political and media studies. It also uses a quantitative and qualitative methodology to understand several dimensions of the group, with interviews and an online survey. The main innovations of the dissertation are the following. The Satanic Temple is a social movement building a community of like-minded people and transforming the concept of religion. I consider it a direct result of the ultramodern paradigm described by Jean-Paul Willaime that gives birth to a number of subcultural movements that struggle to create sense for their members. I analyze these subcultural movements as political meaning systems creating a sense of identity. They draw on mythical and aesthetical sources to create meaning by using religious and spiritual resources. This paradigm enables us to analyze the increasingly complex secular milieu and its divisions, as well as the evolution of modern and contemporary Satanism. Political rationalist Satanism is one of its new developments. Our research stands at the crossroad of three areas of studies: new religious movements studies, esoteric and satanic studies, and digital religion studies. I shall analyze the individualization of religious beliefs on the Internet, and the growing mistrust towards institutions or the process of formalization, perceived as threats to the unlimited religious resources offered by digital platforms. The tension between individuality and community is constantly at stake for a group such as The Satanic Temple. As an ultramodern movement, The Satanic Temple takes the stance as a counter-myth in order to question the Christian legacy of the country claimed by movements, such as the Christian Right, that want to turn it into the one and only possible civil religion. Indeed, The Satanic Temple aims at raising the question of the integration of non-Christians as respectful and respected citizens within the public sphere, thus negotiating the tensions at the core of the American national identity and of its civil religion, both heavily influenced by Christianity, with the help of Satan’s symbol. The rise of the « nones » as a new political force also raises the issue of their integration, as The Satanic Temple asks the tough question of taking into account marginalized communities that want their voice to be heard in a changing public sphere. Despite being primarily US-based, the organization has chapters in other countries such as Canada, and in Europe.