“They don’t believe in God, they don’t believe in nothing, they really don’t even believe in themselves,” said Earnest Coleman, who was cleaning up the fire site.
This guys summed it all up completely. To call these bozos satanists is simply lazy journalism. Just because they used “satan” and could get the pentagram upside down with a can of paint does not make them anything but vandals without a clue or purpose.
The fools did not even have the sense to hide what they stole. And yet, they plead not-guilty. The easy sentence would be jail. But I think they ought to be compelled to help rebuild the churches they destroyed. It is a lot harder to destroy the property of people you know than it is to simply lash out at something big or obvious.

I agree with jestrfyl – these two sound like they would be better described as “anti-christians” than “satanists,” but I’m sure the word “satanic” sells more papers.

To call them satanists makes the story much more dramatic. The are not- so- bright vandals who obviously had nothing to do…so decided to burn a church and mess things up.
I agree that they should not only have some jail time, but also work on rebuiding the church. Of course they should work by day , sleep in jail by night…kind of like a work release program…with guards,not trusting them to return to the jail at night!

“He and a friend, described as Satan worshipers…”
“‘Their motive was `the devil made me do it,’ said Jim Cavanaugh, regional director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”
Now, the article makes this a little ambiguous. “Described as Satan worshipers.” By whom? Themselves? Yes, they put that stupid note, but that seems more like a prank. That being said, they could well have described themselves as Satan worshipers, as Mr. Cavanaugh seems to indicate. Though even then, pretty much anyone who describes themselves as a Satan worshiper is really just a.) a Marilyn Manson fan and/or b.) a hedonist (such as the Church of Satan) who like to use the title for shock value. Which is not to say they can’t also be legitimately f*cked up individuals, of course.
God bless.

Satan worshippers do not have to be “bright,” to qualify as Satan worshippers, all they would have to do is to worship, praise and promote satan and for these two target Christian churches. They did all of the criteria and were self profess Satan Worshippers.

These two chuckleheads were about as “Satanist” as the KKK are “Christian”. Just because you use the symbols and phrases doesn’t mean you actually understand the belief system.
Of the three main denominations of Satanism (LaVeyan, Setite and Luciferian), none contains a commandment or even an encouragement to destroy Christian property although we remain the only faith it is socially acceptable to slander in this fashion. Two dimwits calling themselves Satanists does not mean they actually are.

How can that be Ebon when everyone who says they are Christian and do stupid things must be Christian.

Is that where you really stand, cknuck? As long as you’re fair about using that logic both ways I won’t fault you for it, but I get the impression you’re one of those who believes that someone who says they follow Jesus but do unchristian things aren’t really christians.

A satanist is anyone who worships satan and not Almighty God. If you do not obey God or walk with Him, then you are in satan’s domain whether you recognize him or not. That is a fact from God.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, I am not perfect, I am human and do stumble and fall; but I am not going to be wilfully sinning, going around and destroying things.
Jesus said, you will recognize Christians by the love they have for one another, they will be people who reach out in kindness and love, and also with discipline and caring (discipline doesn’t mean abuse)
Many “claim” to follow Jesus, but they don’t worship Him or obey Him, if we say we love God but hate our fellow man, where is God in that!

A Christian is going to resemble Jesus Christ in actions, not just words. I am a sinner, saved only by God’s grace.
I was once angry, having been a foster kid and I hated the world and for a time, I walked in satan’s world;but Praise to Jesus, HE showed me that I was not created for that, I was created to love and be loved, first by Him, The Creator and then as HE abides in me; HIS love motivates me to reach out to others in that same love and caring.
I tried the occult and all those other things to fill the huge vacuum inside of me and nothing satisifed until I surrendered my heart to Jesus Christ and HIS love enveloped me like a living flame; and the once violent and angry woman is becoming a kinder, gentler, person, I still have problems and I do get angry at times, but now I talk things over with Jesus and my life is so much better!
These men appear very angry at God/people, I know that feeling; but God is not the enemy, HE is the best friend that we will ever have.
Satan comes to “steal, kill and destroy” he is out to deceive man out of his eternal inheritance, if you trust in Jesus and give your life to Him, that can never happen. We live in the End Times my friends-things are going to get more violent and ever-increasing in wickedness, as a sign of the times we live in, as satan’s end is coming praise be to God!

I guess a Christian is a person with an imaginary friend they call Jesus (or is it God or maybe God-Jesus-Holy Ghost), but many expect that imaginary friend has to meet some additional requirements such as the Nicene Creed.
It seems reasonable to me a Satanist would be one whose imaginary friend they call Satan, though perhaps there are other names for the same entity. And since Christians generally get to establish whatever additional requirements their invisible friends (or the invisible friends of those worshiping with them), the Satanists should get to establish any requirements for their imaginary friend. And according to Wikipedia (you find it; if I post an URL it often gets held up) they have.
At any rate, just calling yourself a Satanist apparently doesn’t make you a Satanist in the eyes of most who call themselves that any more than calling yourself a Christian makes you a Christian in the eyes of most who call themselves Christians.
But those Satanists who in fact worship a “Satan” probably owe that idea of Satan to Christianity.

anniefourjesus:
“A satanist is anyone who follows satan and not Almighty God. If you do not obey God or walk with Him, then you are in satan’s domain whether you recognize him or not. That is a fact from God.”
If that was an accurate defination, there would be a heck of a lot of so called Satan Worshipers in the world! There are so many folks in the world who aren’t Christians that don’t believe in your god. I don’t think they are any worse off for it. I don’t believe in your god…nor in a make believe creature, made up by Christians, called satan. There are many gods and goddesses in the world…yours isn’t the only divine being.
As to living in the End Times? Little pessimistic aren’t you? If indeed we were living in the so called End Times, and I think that is a lie perpetuated by the folks who follow the god you worship, it would have nothing to do with the dude you call satan!
The fellows who destroyed the church aren’t following satan. They were out to cause trouble and they did. Writing the message and putting an upside down pentagram on the wall doesn’t make them satan worshipers. The should certainly be punished as I mentioned above, but I have a feeling they have no idea what it is to be a satanist.

What a couple of idiots ! And undoubtedly, Satan sells – call someone a satanist and instant interest. These two are simply vandals who should have to repair what they have damaged – AFTER spending some solid time locked up.

I really don’t understand how people can deny these guys the right to be satanist. Who gets to say? personally I think they get the right.

They certainly have the “right” to be satanists…I just don’t think, from reading this, that they have enough intelligence to be satanists. They are punks, redneck punks, but punks all the same. It takes intelligence, usually, to follow a religion, and to do what they did certainly didn’t take any intelligence.

As I said before – its fine if you accept that anyone who call themselves a satanist is a real satanist. The only catch is that you must then also accept that the Inquisitors, the KKK & Jeffrey Dahmer are true-blue christians as well. Still, unless there is another article I haven’t seen, this one makes no mention that they themselves claimed to be satanists, only that they were “described” as such. If you are going to vandalize a church, you don’t need to be a Satan worshiper to know that making references to the devil and drawing inverted pentagrams will get under a believer’s skin.
There are plenty of other groups that don’t like christians.

The Bible clearly talks about our shortcomings and mistakes; confession of our wrongs and faults is built into our religion.
What I don’t understand is the thought that Satanist have supreme intelligence, and not do wrong, shall we look for the intellectual to be a Satanist?

I don’t know who was claiming that Satanists are more intelligent or less likely to do wrong than other people, but I think I see what you are getting at.
Ebon made the point earlier that there is no Satanic doctrine that endorses random acts of violence & vandalism against Christians. There is an “eye for and eye” mentality, but unless the congregations of these churches got together to rob & vandalize the boys’ homes first, there is no justification for their actions within their religion (if, once again, they really claim to be Satanists to begin with).
In other words, by any measure they could not be considered “model” Satanists any more than Hitler could be considered a “model” Christian.

I suspect that Satanists have dumb members, and intelligent members, just like all religions. However when it comes to the article and the so called satanists that vandelized the church….they were’t representing the best of that group! In fact, I still contend they really aren’t members of any group except stupid.