Why was my thread removed?

[MrsBunTheBakersMum]

I posted to see if anyone had the same religious beliefs as I did and within hours my post was deleted.
am I right in thinking now that mumsnet is happy for you to discuss your beliefs but only if they align with their own?
if you’re allowing discussions on religion then you should be open to discussions on all beliefs.
my religion is recognised as a belief system in the us and has all the same legal rights as any other.

these are the tenets I live by.
There are Seven
FUNDAMENTAL TENETS
I
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.

V
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.

VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

does that sound offensive and scary to you to be deleted?

Quite — I’m really surprised that people don’t know what this movement is (and why they have to call themselves satanists).

Time for a Satanism rebrand. Write to Hell HQ and take it up with them, op.

Admittedly that was an excellent deletion message 😂

@kittensinthekitchen thank you for that, I do love a good deletion message!

my reply would be

I would do anything for heat, but I won't do that!

I’m a member of the church of satan op. I’m sorry about your thread. I actually find what mnhq have said to you really fucking offensive.

Well I'm interested anyway.

So why is your religion called Satanism?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Satan

The church does not believe in or worship the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan.[12] High priest Peter Gilmore describes its members as "skeptical atheists", indicating the Hebrew root of the word "Satan" as "opposer" or "one who questions"

Bizarre. Why on earth would anyone choose the name Satanism for a such an organisation? And why should your average woman or man in the street be expected to see beyond the name?

I mean it literally says in your quote why. It’s opposing Christianity.

But that is whole point the OP is trying to make - she (he?) started a thread yesterday that was open and upfront about the religion (belief system, call it what you will) but it was deleted because of it's name.

The OP started another bread and deliberately didn't mention the name so that it wouldn't also be immediately deleted.

It's not hard to understand.

I am agnostic and have no axe to grind either way, but would happily learn more about satanism (as I would about any religion I didn't know much about) out of curiosity.

And so far what the OP has written is a lot less offensive than some of the stuff i have seen on the feminism board (which I now stay away from) which is allowed to stand 🤷

*thread, not bread!!

Isn't that the Satanic Temple?

Being honest, I started reading the thread thinking OPs religion was Scientology.
When I read it was Satanism I clutched my pearls a little, I then carried on reading thinking OP should do an AMA. I always thought satanism was evil. Well it does have the word Satan in. But now I am feeling like an AMA would be interesting.

I am not religious in anyway bug love learning about 'alternate' religions, beliefs or cults.
OP u could try to do an AMA. I have a billion questions!

I’m a very recent convert, I don’t feel really qualified to do an ama yet lol
mid there was enough interest an hq was up for it and not too baby happy I could try to find a more experienced person to sign up and do one.

i was surprised when I started learning about it all that it wasn’t what I thought it would be.
im an average, fat, disabled, middle aged, mum and wife, not a goth not an emo (not since my teens anyway) and I’ve been accepted 100%

that post made no sense! I’m not drunk honest!!
if there was enough interest
ban happy

How rude what on earth got your knickers in a twist

@MNHQ I think you’ve dropped a bollock here. Let the thread stand!

From what I've seen/read the Church of Satan is actually one of the more rational religions I've seen, I'm a little iffy on some of the wording in the tenets but really the work they do in the communities they are in, for schools and the underprivileged and the political lobbying they do looks to me like good work and sound judgement.

I know they have excommunicated people (is that even the correct term? I'm sorry if not) who have used the religion of Satanism to preach hate or violence.

I haven't come across anything unreasonable.

It's mostly the name people are objecting to but part of the reason I suspect they call themselves Satanists is because if they called themselves The Church of Common Sense or something, they wouldn't make so much of a splash. Part of their work involves getting their name out there, I can't blame them for clever PR.

I've just read this post and realised I may have named the wrong church too.

Sorry! The one I've read about does actual good work and sensible political lobbying.

blimey a few people have really got their knickers in a twist over someone having beliefs they don’t understand…

I had no idea that satanism was as you describe OP - would have thought it involved devil worship and eating babies 😬 - and am finding this post really interesting.

It's a cult!!

The church of satan and the satanic temple are two different things, the church of satan came first and as far as I’m aware the satanic temple basically started because some people didn’t agree with some of their ideas. I find the church of satan to be more selfish and hedonistic whereas the satanic temple is a bit more into the activism and basically doing as you want as long as you’re following the tenets to the best of your ability. There are no set rituals or events that you have to follow but if you want to do rituals you can (think more mindful meditation than wailing in Latin trying to sell our souls to the devil, we’re non-theistic so don’t believe in souls or heaven/hell any deity just science and common sense) Halloween is basically the same.
we do celebrate at “Christmas” but no angels on the tree! I have a little baphamet plush for the top of mine “Sol invictus” is on 25th December with decorating pine trees exchanging gifts, feasting and being with family and probably for me a quiet ritual in the evening alone.

there’s more but I’m off to bed so I do recommend anyone who’s interested look on the website (not trying to force people to join up as I’m sure I’ll be accused of but there’s a really good faq that will explain it all better than I can)

I’m glad a few people have managed to be openminded and not just jump on everything I’ve said or done.
and to the people who have been quite rude I will refer you to tenets 1 and 4

I'm sure there was a documentary on netflix about the satanic temple, it was pretty good and very informative I thought.

I'm with the op on this one. I was dimly aware that satanism - in spite of the name - isn't as horror films portray and was interested to learn about it in a non sensationalist way.

Albeit, op, your opening post didn't explain this so it could easily have attracted nutters.

I reported one response on the thread which was derogatory and insulting to anyone with any belief in a higher power.

It does seem that moderators jumped to conclusions on what was shaping up as a rational discussion. I can understand that though, what concerns me is the open declaration here that they'll shut down any further rational discussion, purely on the basis of the inclusion of the word 'satan'.

This is overwhelmingly a uk centric site and (generalising here) the Brits are geneally better at discussing these things without getting hysterical over it than some groups in other countries.

It was posted in an appropriate forum and its disappointing moderators didn't give it a chance.

I’ll just leave this here and go to sleep.

What is Article 9 of the Human Rights Act?
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.