Questions about personal views and religions

[Quintessence]

You could always mix and match to suit yourself. Or just make up your own religion.

This is what everyone functionally does anyway - everyone is a religion of one. It's a unique product created by the relationships between environmental aspects and an individual creature. Even if that individual creature identifies with some particular group, it is still an individual with a unique and distinct perspective on things.

 

[yiostheoy]

This is what everyone functionally does anyway - everyone is a religion of one. It's a unique product created by the relationships between environmental aspects and an individual creature. Even if that individual creature identifies with some particular group, it is still an individual with a unique and distinct perspective on things.

There are indeed definitions for this sort of thing though --

- Theist (is associated with one group or another);

- Deist (on his/her own).

 

[LuisDantas]

Shucks! And here I thought all along that Jesus and Moses and Muhammad KNEW what they were talking about.

Jesus, specifically, barely said anything - if he even existed at all, which I find unlikely.

In any case, any religion worth its salt is far more than the vision of its founders.

I guess without the neophytes who came after them we would not know ANYTHING about Gods then.

Gods? That is another subject entirely. A much less important one.

 

[yiostheoy]

Jesus, specifically, barely said anything - if he even existed at all, which I find unlikely.

In any case, any religion worth its salt is far more than the vision of its founders.



Gods? That is another subject entirely. A much less important one.

Nobody eats salt anymore because it is really bad for your blood pressure -- jacks it up really high.

 

[Pastek]

I have two main questions in this topic. You can just answer the ones applicable to you.

1- What are some differences between your personal views (what you feel is right) and your religion (what the religion teaches is right)?

2- How does a person reconcile the difference between what they feel is right and what the religion says?

To expand on the questions, let's use an example: One's religion could forbid homosexuality but someone might personally feel the right thing to do is to support LGBT rights. How would one make these compatible or is it necessary to sacrifice one for the other?

I am asking this in effort to see if religions are really off the map for myself. I often struggle with some difference or another, so I want to learn from various perspectives about how to handle something like this. Perhaps other could use this topic too. As I have not grown in a religious household, I don't know anything about these things and books don't often talk about it.

So I hope someone at least will answer, otherwise I have no idea how I am supposed to learn about this.

I focus on myself not on people. I try to fix things for me and let God judge His people. I just listen to the message and do my best.

For exemple on things like homosexuality, i really don't care (it's their life). I care when it has an effect on people, like for exemple a murder.
A gay won't hurt me but a criminal can. I can be friend with homo but who can be friend with a criminal (i mean serial killer, pedophile etc...)
So there's things who are called "sin" who must be known by the believers to avoid them but it doesn't always implicate the fact that we should hate the person.


I saw once that an american familly forgave (on tv) the guy who killed their daughter. I don't know if he asked for forgiveness but anyway i remember they were christians and they forgave him. I was astonished because it's not easy to forgive this kind of things. Honestly i have to say that some chirstians inspire me.

Anyway what i mean is that you may love people and want the best for them and not necessarly judge them and in the same time believe in your religion and don't "pick and choose". For that it depends i guess how you interpret the texts and also depends on your personnality.

 

[Quintessence]

There are indeed definitions for this sort of thing though --

- Theist (is associated with one group or another);

- Deist (on his/her own).

I can't say I've ever heard someone using those definitions before. Nothing about being theist or deist (or atheist or agnostic for that matter) necessitates group or solo work.

 

[Riverwolf]

I have two main questions in this topic. You can just answer the ones applicable to you.

1- What are some differences between your personal views (what you feel is right) and your religion (what the religion teaches is right)?

2- How does a person reconcile the difference between what they feel is right and what the religion says?

1. None, because my religion doesn't deal in such matters as "right and wrong". ...except in terms of whether something is historically accurate, I guess.

2. That which offends one God will please another. Therefore if who you are displeases a certain deity, or if something about a certain deity displeases you sufficiently, just go to another.

 

[Gharib]

I have two main questions in this topic. You can just answer the ones applicable to you.

1- What are some differences between your personal views (what you feel is right) and your religion (what the religion teaches is right)?

2- How does a person reconcile the difference between what they feel is right and what the religion says?

To expand on the questions, let's use an example: One's religion could forbid homosexuality but someone might personally feel the right thing to do is to support LGBT rights. How would one make these compatible or is it necessary to sacrifice one for the other?

I am asking this in effort to see if religions are really off the map for myself. I often struggle with some difference or another, so I want to learn from various perspectives about how to handle something like this. Perhaps other could use this topic too. As I have not grown in a religious household, I don't know anything about these things and books don't often talk about it.

So I hope someone at least will answer, otherwise I have no idea how I am supposed to learn about this.

I was in this situation once. Having grown up in secular countries while being a Muslim eventually caught up with me when I started to learn more about Islam. It is easier when the faith you follow/wish to follow is practiced day in and day out by not only yourself but people around you and you have access to scholarly opinions through TV, Internet or some other means. I had these things but in a very very limited form and at the time I didn't know about them, which is where my answer to your second question begins.

So having said that, I strongly believe that due to a lack of knowledge and insight a conflict of ones feelings and religious teachings arises. Living in the west and not knowing Arabic myself, it is always a one sided argument if we look at homosexuality which you've mentioned. All we hear from the pro-homosexual side is that it doesn't harm anyone, which I believe is just a superficial claim. And from the anti-homosexual side we hear mostly personal feelings which at times have no sound foundation or structure.

For someone like myself who is a Muslim and does believe that homosexual acts are evil/a sin/crime just as adultery, I have looked into the matter in greater detail from an Islamic perspective and have laid to rest my struggle with having to accept homosexuality as wrong or any other act which from the surface seems harmless but in reality is not.

However, unless you as an individual accept ...............(enter religion of your choice), then you are agreeing to accept it without compromise. When a conflict arises, it must be investigated rather than denouncing the whole faith. If the religion of your choice condemns something which you think it shouldn't then think of it as someone who can't stand the sight of blood, they can't get themselves to operate on someone, but they don't denounce those that can because there is more good to it than evil.

It's like smoking, there is good from it, but the evil far outweighs it and therefore is prohibited to minors in western societies and completely by Islamic law. On the other hand though, we accept smoking as bad for minors as it affects their health, yet we turn a blind eye when it comes to ourselves as adults. We tend to get sidetracked by our desires/lusts/goals that we don't apply fair judgement to many things.

 

[arthra]

To expand on the questions, let's use an example: One's religion could forbid homosexuality but someone might personally feel the right thing to do is to support LGBT rights. How would one make these compatible or is it necessary to sacrifice one for the other?

Supporting civil rights for people doesn't have to mean we approve of their behavior...or have the same orientation. Religious ordinances can be apart from civil laws... for instance there are many behaviours such as gambling or drinking alcohol that can be legal in the general society and be forbidden in one's religion.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

This is what everyone functionally does anyway - everyone is a religion of one. It's a unique product created by the relationships between environmental aspects and an individual creature. Even if that individual creature identifies with some particular group, it is still an individual with a unique and distinct perspective on things.

I've come across quite a lot of people who feel they have to take on a package of beliefs in order to belong to a particular faith group. I don't think that's a good thing, but it happens.

 

[illykitty]

Phew, quite a lot of replies. I'm not sure I've entirely digested things, but I've learned a few things I didn't know.

@Quintessence This is one of the reasons why I like modern Paganism. I just am unsure of fitting in it, being agnostic and generally speaking unsure of what I want to do. I've seen people saying that if one doesn't believe in gods they're not Pagan and so on. I don't know how they thought they had the authority but... Yeah. I don't know, I'm a bit lost at the moment. I still regard nature/environment as being central to my life. I don't worship it, but revere it.

@Vouthon Didn't know this about Catholicism. It must be difficult for someone to do this though, I can imagine. Sometimes one gets ostracised by others for following the conscience because it's not conforming to what is accepted as doctrine. It's great however that personal conscience is recognised. Perhaps there's some examples with Saints doing such? I want to look into this, out of interest.

@Rival So you're saying Zoroastrianism isn't really dogmatic then? Are there moral guidelines or is it more focused on worship (or other, I don't really know much about it)? I admit of being quite ignorant about this religion.

@LuisDantas Ideally, I'd rather not follow something dogmatic. I'm not sure which religions are considered as such apart from a few. I just am puzzled as to how some people can live in seemingly contradiction to their religious authority and not somewhat feel weird about it. I don't know maybe it's just because I am out looking in. Or overthinking it. Perhaps it's as simple as to say that conscience often wins out over dogma.

@9-10ths_Penguin True, the issue arises when one is truly at odds with something in the religion. What if someone was gay and their religion said it was a sin... But they feel it isn't? I don't know, it produces cognitive dissonance for me.

@crossfire That might be good advice but I am truly terrible at symbolic stuff. I really don't get it. Or at least I think I don't get it. I just end up endlessly questioning myself and my interpretation and causing anxiety.

@idav True, but some religions commend high standards and all too often when not following them, one is rejected from other followers or questioned. Are you a true (insert religion)?

@Laika That's perfectly fine. To be honest, a lot of ideologies can fit in my question so I appreciated your input.

@Orbit It's a solution... But I feel religion fills an important aspects of (some) human needs. There are non-dogmatic religions, so perhaps that is my solution?

@Vinayaka It's a great approach. I don't feel well when tied up to dogma.

@ShadowFire Thank you for the detailed answer, I am trying to find my core values and have sort of started to stand for what I believe in. I'm not sure however what this means, religion-wise. I just feel like one big "I don't know" for everything regarding that.

@Sees I agree, I am fine when it involves people or even some other topics. But when it comes to religion, I feel discomfort. Perhaps it's because you don't expect friends to force their views, or that in a lot of topics there's no right or wrong... But some religions expect certain conduct and there's doctrines, or even a culture which can make one feel alienated if not doing the same as others. Regardless, perhaps dogmatic religion are just not reconcilable with me.

@Pastek I appreciate your honest answer. I found it very difficult when I was trying to be a Muslim, because I care for how these people are treated and whether they have the right to chose what to do with their life. I mean I'm sure you know what happens to gays in certain countries, I can't turn a blind eye to that, even if I were to accept God doesn't approve of the act. So I sign petitions and such.

@arthra I didn't know this. To be honest, I am not that knowledgeable about Baha'i. I knew that one thing I disagreed with was the view on homosexuality but didn't know one could support the rights within secular society. It was just an example, but I'm glad you responded to it, because I found the response interesting. I just googled something to clear things up about participating in politics so you don't need to answer back. I'm glad to see one can take some social justice causes.

----

Is it best then that when one feels cognitive dissonance to abandon the religion? Or can something be done, is it best to persevere? I'm fine with disagreements among individuals, it's when there's dogma and hard rules that I disagree with, I experience uncomfortable feelings. Like I am going against something here and it could mean trouble. I'm still not sure what this anxiety is.

I know many people deal with this, I just don't really know how. Like secular Muslims supporting gay rights or Catholics taking birth control/not having children. They just live on, but I am puzzled to how. It seems like a contradiction to me. Perhaps conscience takes priority? I don't know.

I still don't have a clear cut answer for myself but I am getting some different views and angles in the replies so it helps!

 

[Laika]

Phew, quite a lot of replies. I'm not sure I've entirely digested things, but I've learned a few things I didn't know.

@Quintessence This is one of the reasons why I like modern Paganism. I just am unsure of fitting in it, being agnostic and generally speaking unsure of what I want to do. I've seen people saying that if one doesn't believe in gods they're not Pagan and so on. I don't know how they thought they had the authority but... Yeah. I don't know, I'm a bit lost at the moment. I still regard nature/environment as being central to my life. I don't worship it, but revere it.

@Vouthon Didn't know this about Catholicism. It must be difficult for someone to do this though, I can imagine. Sometimes one gets ostracised by others for following the conscience because it's not conforming to what is accepted as doctrine. It's great however that personal conscience is recognised. Perhaps there's some examples with Saints doing such? I want to look into this, out of interest.

@Rival So you're saying Zoroastrianism isn't really dogmatic then? Are there moral guidelines or is it more focused on worship (or other, I don't really know much about it)? I admit of being quite ignorant about this religion.

@LuisDantas Ideally, I'd rather not follow something dogmatic. I'm not sure which religions are considered as such apart from a few. I just am puzzled as to how some people can live in seemingly contradiction to their religious authority and not somewhat feel weird about it. I don't know maybe it's just because I am out looking in. Or overthinking it. Perhaps it's as simple as to say that conscience often wins out over dogma.

@9-10ths_Penguin True, the issue arises when one is truly at odds with something in the religion. What if someone was gay and their religion said it was a sin... But they feel it isn't? I don't know, it produces cognitive dissonance for me.

@crossfire That might be good advice but I am truly terrible at symbolic stuff. I really don't get it. Or at least I think I don't get it. I just end up endlessly questioning myself and my interpretation and causing anxiety.

@idav True, but some religions commend high standards and all too often when not following them, one is rejected from other followers or questioned. Are you a true (insert religion)?

@Laika That's perfectly fine. To be honest, a lot of ideologies can fit in my question so I appreciated your input.

@Orbit It's a solution... But I feel religion fills an important aspects of (some) human needs. There are non-dogmatic religions, so perhaps that is my solution?

@Vinayaka It's a great approach. I don't feel well when tied up to dogma.

@ShadowFire Thank you for the detailed answer, I am trying to find my core values and have sort of started to stand for what I believe in. I'm not sure however what this means, religion-wise. I just feel like one big "I don't know" for everything regarding that.

@Sees I agree, I am fine when it involves people or even some other topics. But when it comes to religion, I feel discomfort. Perhaps it's because you don't expect friends to force their views, or that in a lot of topics there's no right or wrong... But some religions expect certain conduct and there's doctrines, or even a culture which can make one feel alienated if not doing the same as others. Regardless, perhaps dogmatic religion are just not reconcilable with me.

@Pastek I appreciate your honest answer. I found it very difficult when I was trying to be a Muslim, because I care for how these people are treated and whether they have the right to chose what to do with their life. I mean I'm sure you know what happens to gays in certain countries, I can't turn a blind eye to that, even if I were to accept God doesn't approve of the act. So I sign petitions and such.

@arthra I didn't know this. To be honest, I am not that knowledgeable about Baha'i. I knew that one thing I disagreed with was the view on homosexuality but didn't know one could support the rights within secular society. It was just an example, but I'm glad you responded to it, because I found the response interesting. I just googled something to clear things up about participating in politics so you don't need to answer back. I'm glad to see one can take some social justice causes.

----

Is it best then that when one feels cognitive dissonance to abandon the religion? Or can something be done, is it best to persevere? I'm fine with disagreements among individuals, it's when there's dogma and hard rules that I disagree with, I experience uncomfortable feelings. Like I am going against something here and it could mean trouble. I'm still not sure what this anxiety is.

I know many people deal with this, I just don't really know how. Like secular Muslims supporting gay rights or Catholics taking birth control/not having children. They just live on, but I am puzzled to how. It seems like a contradiction to me. Perhaps conscience takes priority? I don't know.

I still don't have a clear cut answer for myself but I am getting some different views and angles in the replies so it helps!

Glad to be of use.

Cognitive dissonance is an alarm bell and recognising it is an important step. The trouble I have found is that it is not possible to chose to abandon a belief system in its entirety. Our brain is simply trained into certain thought patterns so you have to go through a considerable period of evolution of learning to think in new ways before you can let go of one system (as in essence you'll have to replace it with another).
The best solution to cognitive dissonance is personal growth. If you reached a dead end it was not an accident that you got there but is a product of many the past decisions. Our beliefs are all fairly closely linked to our identity so with changes in our beliefs we start to change how we see ourselves. It means revisiting the past and seeing it in new ways. It's better to think of shifting the emphasis gradually on some issues rather than thinking in absolute terms of this is right or wrong. The latter can be psychologically very cruel. In the end you are looking for a belief system that fulfills you and so listening to what you feel is often a better guide for what is going on and whether an idea is actuall "hurting" you in some way. There isn't an easy answer so you have to preserve at being true to yourself if your beliefs have become an unreliable guide for how to live.

 

[Unfathomable Tao]

I have two main questions in this topic. You can just answer the ones applicable to you.

1- What are some differences between your personal views (what you feel is right) and your religion (what the religion teaches is right)?

2- How does a person reconcile the difference between what they feel is right and what the religion says?

To expand on the questions, let's use an example: One's religion could forbid homosexuality but someone might personally feel the right thing to do is to support LGBT rights. How would one make these compatible or is it necessary to sacrifice one for the other?

I am asking this in effort to see if religions are really off the map for myself. I often struggle with some difference or another, so I want to learn from various perspectives about how to handle something like this. Perhaps other could use this topic too. As I have not grown in a religious household, I don't know anything about these things and books don't often talk about it.

So I hope someone at least will answer, otherwise I have no idea how I am supposed to learn about this.

It is difficult to put your questions into a Taoist framework that I could answer, but I will attempt it. I like a challenge. To your first question: I think it could be said I hold ideas outside the traditional Taoist worldview, but I don't know if those ideas would be called wrong in Taoism. Taoists don't necessarily see 'right' as anything other than a perception based on human feelings, while the fact is 'right and wrong' come from the same existence. That being said, I am a philosopher, so naturally I hold a few non-Taoist positions. I am favorable to some Epicurean and Stoic ideas, and to Merleau Ponty's phenomenology. Merleau Ponty isn't so far off from Taoism, since Taoists have a similar idea of how people form impressions via interaction between two bodies. Epicurean and Stoic atomism are pretty non-Taoist by contrast.

Your second question is more difficult to answer. Not only because of how Taoists see right, but as how subtle and 'gut instinct' we tend to treat virtue. Virtue is something that arises from practice of the way, but it cannot necessarily be put into words. I'm speaking as a philosophical Taoist though, while traditional ritualistic Taoism definitely does have some traditional Chinese norms. The union of male and female is pretty strongly emphasized in folk Taoism, yet I do not oppose homosexuality for example.

Because I reject these as later cultural innovations into Taoism, I do not feel conflicted about them. Taoism introduces very little room for conflict, since ultimately all we humans are grasping in the dark. The Tao is beyond our ability to conceptualize, and it does not hate anything, is not repulsed by anything, and is utterly indifferent to human pettiness. It is the universal mixer of dusts, and so forth.

 

[Vouthon]

@illykitty Yes, there are many examples of canonized saints following their conscience and resisting church authority.

St. Hildegard of Bingen wrote this in a letter to Pope Anastasius IV:

“...O man, you who sit on the papal throne, you despise God when you don’t hurl from yourself the evil but even worse, embrace it and kiss it by silently tolerating corrupt men. And you, O Rome, are like one in the throes of death. You will be so shaken that the strength of your feet, the feet on which you now stand, will disappear. For you don’t love the King’s daughter, justice...”​

I doubt that even any non-Catholic has been so forthright in their condemnations, yet St. Hildegard is today a Doctor of the Church.

Or consider Saint Symeon (949–1022 AD). In one of his hymns, Saint Symeon had Christ speaking the following rebuke to the bishops:

"...They (the bishops) unworthily handle My Body
and seek avidly to dominate the masses...
They are seen to appear as brilliant and pure,
but their souls are worse than mud and dirt,
worse even than any kind of deadly poison,
these evil and perverse men!" (Hymn 58)
​

He was canonized.

The most tragic example is, of course, St. Joan of Arc.

In terms of the vexed contraception issue that faces many Catholic couples, see this:

What does the official Church say about the problem? The person listens to what the Church says with great respect -- but that's not the be-all and end-all of the matter. According to Vatican II, in forming her conscience, a Catholic must pay "due respect" to what the Church teaches (see the Decree on Religious Liberty--Dignitatis humanae ).

Before he became Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that sometimes a Catholic must follow her conscience, even when this means disagreeing with the Pope.

"Over the pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority there still stands one's own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, if necessary even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority. Conscience confronts [the individual] with a supreme and ultimate tribunal, and one which in the last resort is beyond the claim of external social groups, even of the official church"

(Pope Benedict XVI [then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger],Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, ed. Vorgrimler, 1968, on Gaudium et spes, part 1,chapter 1.).​

I'll write more on this when time permits.

 

[Rival]

@Rival So you're saying Zoroastrianism isn't really dogmatic then? Are there moral guidelines or is it more focused on worship (or other, I don't really know much about it)? I admit of being quite ignorant about this religion

No, there is very little dogma. The motto is Good thoughts, good words and good deeds. It is more focused on one's own conscience and understanding that there will be a judgement after death. But even then, all go to be with Ahuramazda in the ultimate end. Hell or whatever you want to call it is not permanent.

 

[Jainarayan]

What are some differences between your personal views (what you feel is right) and your religion (what the religion teaches is right)?

I can't say I have many disagreements with what Hinduism teaches. It's wide open enough for many beliefs and practices. Ask 1 billion Hindus a question and you'll get 2 billion answers. There are some things in some ancient writings that I don't believe apply today. Many writings in the Manusmriti, for example, an ancient legal text, are unbelievably archaic. I think Hinduism has survived for as long as it has because it's open to growth and evolution.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

@9-10ths_Penguin True, the issue arises when one is truly at odds with something in the religion. What if someone was gay and their religion said it was a sin... But they feel it isn't? I don't know, it produces cognitive dissonance for me.

In that case, I suppose the thing to do is to ask yourself a few questions (that are all easier to ask than to answer):

- what am I actually being asked to believe as a member of this religion? Is the thing I disagree with really part of the religion, or is it an artifact of the culture that produced the religion? Is the teaching I'm having trouble with mandatory or a guideline? Is it for all believers or only a select few (e.g. clergy)?

- what do I actually believe?

- what is the justification for my religion's position? How reliable should I consider it to be?

- what's the justification for my position? How reliable should I consider it to be?

- (and if I feel my position is justified and my church's position isn't) Is there any compelling reason to stay? Can I reconcile my disagreement with staying?

I think the last question is the one that keeps a lot of Catholics in the Church: "yeah, I disagree with the current Church position on gay rights and contraception, but it's the only place to get the 'real' sacraments."

 

[Riverwolf]

@Quintessence This is one of the reasons why I like modern Paganism. I just am unsure of fitting in it, being agnostic and generally speaking unsure of what I want to do. I've seen people saying that if one doesn't believe in gods they're not Pagan and so on.

I've seen it, too. It's something I vehemently disagree with, because many Paganisms are far more about what we do than what we believe.

I don't know how they thought they had the authority but... Yeah. I don't know, I'm a bit lost at the moment. I still regard nature/environment as being central to my life. I don't worship it, but revere it.

To me, and other Pagans, there's no difference.

Is it best then that when one feels cognitive dissonance to abandon the religion? Or can something be done, is it best to persevere? I'm fine with disagreements among individuals, it's when there's dogma and hard rules that I disagree with, I experience uncomfortable feelings. Like I am going against something here and it could mean trouble. I'm still not sure what this anxiety is.

I know many people deal with this, I just don't really know how. Like secular Muslims supporting gay rights or Catholics taking birth control/not having children. They just live on, but I am puzzled to how. It seems like a contradiction to me. Perhaps conscience takes priority? I don't know.

Cognitive dissonance is a very difficult thing to deal with. For myself, it hits hard when I'm listening to some Heathen-themed music that has lyrics which go against my core values, such as Manowar. I'm a very nonviolent person by nature, and yet here I am listening to this music that glorifies killing and warfare. On the other side is the song "Hold The Heathen Hammer High" by the band Tyr, which has a very strong anti-Christian sentiment near the end; I don't want to have an anti-Christian sentiment, not only because some of my best friends are Christian. For those particular examples, I've taken them on as being metaphoric: the battles in Manowar's music are the inward battles I face in my personal life, and the "Christianity" in Tyr's song is, for me, my own puritanical attitudes from the past (I was never Christian but by the GODS was I puritanical.)

And I think that's really the best way to deal with such cognitive dissonance. Find some reason that works for you. There's no dogma in my religion; I'm under no obligation to even listen to these songs, let alone find some way to reconcile them with what I truly believe regarding interpersonal interaction. And I have no time for those Pagans who feel the need to "test" others for "genuineness." I prefer to leave that to Theodsmen.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

The inscriptions outside the sanctuary at Delphi started with the advice

> Know yourself
> Obey the law
> Worship the gods

Paganism requires only that one respects oneself, the society in which one lives, and the gods. I'd be hard-put to differ from that!

 

[VioletVortex]

Theistic Satanism is a philosophy. It doesn't have a defined set of morals. Some are very anti authoritarian with heavy emphasis on personal liberty, others are fascist and essentially Nazis who use Satanism to describe their views. That doesn't make much sense to me. Others are Diabolical, meaning, they worship Satan as a tyrant and evil being. Those are three vastly different philosophies that fall under the same term.

My philosophical views are highly individualistic. I don't associate with a particular group of Theistic Satanists. Individualism is one of the main aspects of Satanism to me.