Satan didn’t make them do it

The on-going court case about the horrific murder of Kirsty Theologo in an apparent Satanic ritual sacrifice raises an uncomfortable question that I’m sure many people don’t want to hear, so of course I’m just going to go ahead and ask it anyway.

I apologise in advance if this ruins your otherwise bright day, but why does every religion on the planet seem intent on fucking with women? No offence intended.

Last week a friend was wondering out loud how she could reconcile her feminism with the religion she was brought up to practise. “You can’t,” I shot back. “You can either be a crappy feminist or a crappy Christian, Muslim or Jew.”

Or Satanist, as it turns out. Is nothing sacred anymore?

Now just to be clear, the woman in the above exchange wasn’t one of those nutbag feminazis who hate men because we’re all just walking rape machines out to destroy everything that is good and pure.

Nope, she’s just a normal feminist who, like most decent people, believe that no matter the gender, we all deserve equal respect and opportunity in this crazy world.

But most religions, from the tinfoil-hatted loonballs to the socially acceptable and established loonballs (I’m just being fair), have a different agenda (don’t worry – we’ll get back to the juicy Satany stuff in a minute).

At best, religious dogmas perceive genders almost as separate species, with strictly defined identities and social responsibilities from which there is no escape.

At worst, they enter cruelty and oppression territory, where women are always at the sharp end of the stick – sometimes literally.

This is a difficult fact for religious people to hear, and even more difficult for them to accept. I think this is because the vast majority of Homo sapiens are NOT naturally inclined to be child beating, slave owning, genital mutilating oppressors of women, but rather find themselves born into a faith that tries to justify and historically contextualise these and similar atrocities.

Most people are far more ethical, moral, fair and gentle than the God (or gods) they believe in.

So on a lighter note, back to Satanism (finally!), the one faith most of us will agree is batshit insane. What person in their right mind believes in Hell and actively wants to go there? It’s mental!

But if conventional peace ‘n love religion can sometimes make good people do bad things, it stands to reason that a religion that preaches evil will attract bad people and make them even worse. After all, the scary-sounding Satanic Bible must be full of misogyny and instructions on human sacrifice, right?

Actually, no. Here’s a quote from that evil book: “The only time a Satanist would perform a human sacrifice would be if it were to serve a two-fold purpose; that being to release the magician’s wrath in the throwing of a curse, and more important, to dispose of a totally obnoxious and deserving individual. Under NO circumstances would a Satanist sacrifice any animal or baby!”

Loony stuff, undoubtedly, but relatively gentle, compared to many other religious texts.

Which is probably why the murder accused, while affirming that the killing was part of a Satanic ritual, nonsensically explained to the court that they were trying to act out this verse from Revelations, a book that any self-respecting Satanist should be burning, not reading: "The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire."

Scary, but stupid, so I’m calling bullshit on this religion blaming. I think it’s safe to say that if that Biblical quote didn’t exist, Kirsty Theologo would still be dead. They would have just used some other ridiculous reason to murder.

Fortunately, most religious people are civilised enough to simply ignore the nastier aspects of their religious texts. Because that’s what any decent society demands from us. Sure, be a Christian, Muslim, Jew or whatever, but make sure you’re shitty at it.

And when you see someone using your religion to support their misogyny, racism or homophobia, call them out on it. Name and shame, and perhaps even a sharp slap to the back of the head might be appropriate.

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