Selected news items from the Swedish edition. If you have something suitable, then contact us.
Selected news items from the Swedish edition. If you have something suitable, then contact us.
Topical headlines
Latest news and ongoing projects
Earlier year 2001-2003
Earlier year 1998-2000
Topical headlines
Latest news and ongoing projects (16 August 2005)
Belial.org is now going through a major makeover. Because of this, certain pages of the site has been temporarily shut down, however, we plan to be done and ready to start up our new server software in late September. All sections and our web store - today with 155 products in stock - will be totally multi lingual and accessible for people outside Scandinavia. Our goal is to be the number one informative meeting-place, where like-minded individuals all over the world who have chosen to walk along the left hand path, can interact and learn from each other. To be able to post material, an account has to be created and then verified through SMS or a letter to a physical address. This is necessary for our continuous growth and positive development. Some sections of the site will be available only to people having undergone a certain screening process.
Some smaller scale advertising on the site will also be presented, due to an expected rise in expenses for running this enterprise. If your company is interested in advertising on the site, please contact us at advertising@belial.org. On the other end are we on the look-out for professional graphic designers, programmers, musicians, and translators (Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, German, and French). Interested parties should contact us with names of references and salary claims.
Swedish police scrutinized (12 July 2005)
Swedish police has been accused of registering citizens’ personal opinions in their central database. Apparently, the deal is about “certain interest groups”. The code R207, for instance, allegedly means “connections to Satanism”. David Säfwe on the Swedish Data Inspection Board told Swedish magazine GP how they’d received a report telling how the codes were not only used for statistics, but are also linked to individuals in a way making it easier to access the information. The Swedish Data Inspection Board will now investigate whether the police themselves have broken the
law or not.
Satanism equal to other religions (30 May 2005)
Isn’t it ironic how a Satanist, whose appeal has gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, has guaranteed the rights of internees to practice their religions? A state prison in Ohio tried to ban certain literature and such, and several internees, among them a Satanist and a Wicca-practitioner, felt mistreated compared to the ones confessing to “traditional religions”, and the prison is now forced to behave according to the first constitution. However, the U.S. Supreme Court points out that security must not be jeopardized, and that an internee who needs naked dancers, drugs, and items that can be used as weapons will not be given that.
Boyd Rice lecturing at M.I.T. (5 April 2005)
On 3 April, 2005, Boyd Rice, well-known representative of Church of Satan, gave a lecture about evil at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rice lectured about the mysterious subject known as evil and its “transpolitical behaviour, charismatic aesthetics, and symbolical power”. More topics included evil as an “uninvited guest in our universe” into whose “equation we must include ourselves”. Rice is said to have done drugs in front of the audience, played such controversial classics as “Total War”, and explained how “I felt drawn to LaVey and the Process Church in the early 70s since everyone else was preaching love of neighbour ... nobody else was saying you should HATE PEOPLE”. It’s probably safe to say that this statement alone made sure Rice lived up to his reputation.
For those unfamiliar with Boyd Rice, he was appointed priest in the Church of Satan by LaVey himself. He has also, among other things, been active as a musician, entertainer, and actor. In the late 1960s and 1970s he was known as a pioneer within noise-music, and ever since he’s been known to create disturbance within stagnated, normative culture with his radical and often uncomfortable thoughts. He has been described as some sort of “social demiurge” whose paradoxical incarnations include that of multimedia-trickster, Gnostic philosopher, uncompromising social Darwinist, Satanic spokesman, and self-appointed heir to the Christ related by blood. Rice is also known as probably being the only now living individual who is a close friend to both Marilyn Manson and Charles Manson
The return of Radio Free Satan (28 March 2005)
Infamous radio station http://radiofreesatan.com is back, now under command by Shane Bugbee – known for, among other things, http://evilnow.com and http://clubhate.com. Matt G. Paradise, Magister of Church of Satan, leader of alternative media company Purging Talon (responsible for Not Like Most Magazine). The previous owners, Dr. Jest and Honey Hellfire, continue with their own Dark Dungeons program.
The new playlist includes such infernal DJs as Amy Bugbee (“The Whore of Horror Herself”) who offers both music and “dangerous” subliminal messages, and Heavenly Devil, who plays “psychobilly, gothabilly”, and “spookysurf”. DJ Darvulia’s show “Black Bedtime Stories” includes a mix of strange stories and black/death/trash metal – nightmares are guaranteed to follow. All sorts of underground music will be available, as well as “Satanic talk radio, comedy and novelty, classical, gothic, and more”.
Ya! Iblis! Zat-i Shaitan! (1 February 2005)
Something’s happening in the Muslim world. While extremists of the Al-Qaida gain more and more sympathisers as the ridge between the West and Islam get wider, something else is brewing in the younger generations. Faiths are being questioned and atheistic thoughts are spreading. Apparently the spirit of rebellion and heresy is strong in the old kingdom of Allah...
It’s safe to say that the increased use of Internet is responsible for some of this. A recent poll by Google showed that the word “Satanism” gave 461.000 hits. That’s more than both “Lutheranism” and “Calvinism” (the two oldest Protestant traditions) put together! The American “Church of Satan” had 56.000 hits, while the “Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” (with 5 million members) only had 15.000. Obviously, figures such as these don’t say much about the importance of the different ideologies, still, we’re happy (and the Christians are horrified) to see how Satan, also known as Iblis-Shaitan, magic, the occult, witchcraft, and so on generate a much greater interest than old, watered down desert religions. Warnings have been issued by various Muslim authorities in magazines – especially Arabic – about “the satanism”. The chairman of the Islamic Enlightenment Society, Shaikh Saeed Al Noori warns that the number of Satanists will increase heavily unless religious leaders decide to fight the phenomenon using united efforts.
Crowley on the big screen (27 January 2005)
Aleister Crowley, the world’s most notorious occultist, was obviously going to be portrayed on cinema sooner or later. And now it’s well on the way. On http://www.revoltofthemagicians.com one learns that the movie will be a “historical fantasy based on real events”. Several interesting characters (based on real historical individuals) will appear, such as Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (leader of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn), Moina Mathers (MacGregor’s wife), famous poet William Butler Yeats (who was involved with the Golden Dawn), Bram Stoker, actress Florence Farr, and more. It’s too early to say anything about the quality of the movie, but we sure do look forward to seeing it. In the meantime, we’re glad to note that Lon Milo DuQuette has been hired as an adviser.
Satanism goes to university (9 December, 2004)
The ancient battle between ”Satanism” and Catholicism never seems to end. A university with ties to the Vatican is now to offer a class on “Satanism”, witchcraft, demonology, black magic, and exorcism”. The papal academy, Regina Apostolorum, is run by conservative Catholic order known as “The Legionaries of Christ”. Its teachers consist of, among others, exorcists and psychiatrists, which we assume is necessary in order to keep all the demons under control. According to a press release, there’s an increase in Christian worries about the spread of Satanism in the world, and apparently more and more young people are developing personal satanic worldviews, outside of the sects that are already “watched by the police”. Spokespeople for the class says that while the “sect” known as Church of Satan claims to teach a combination of hedonistic philosophy and magical rituals which gives its members freedom from traditionalism and conventions, the truth is that Satanism offers no freedom at all. Instead, it focuses on a craving for dependency, and thus it enslaves the youth, or so it’s said. Furthermore, priests are taught “warning signs”, such as when youths are seen wearing “black clothing, studs, and horrible makeup”. A Christian reverend warns explicitly: “Don’t believe that these instances are just entertainment. They can be signs of enslavement under a growing, deadly faith”.
All priests and theologians are, however, not as gullible. Famous theologian father Gerry O’Collins of Gregorian University in Rome says in an interview that there’s an obvious danger in this focus on demons, reflecting over both medieval and contemporary witch-hunts as examples of how people lose touch on things. “They become superstitious and see the Sign of the Devil in everything”. What we want to know is: when will there be genuine, scientific classes focusing on Satanism, its history, phenomenology, and worldview(s)?.
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