Satanism

Satanism, n. the organized worship of the Christian Satan, so as to gain arcane powers and to bring about Armageddon; as imagined to exist by Christians. [GJ1]
----
Addendum: Since role-playing games are so often associated with "Satanism," it's interesting to examine what Satanism really is. Satanism does not exist; even those who claim to practice it, such as the followers of the late Anton Szandor LaVey, are not "real" Satanists. Satanism is an imaginary conspiracy invented by certain Christian sects as a "logical" consequence of their belief in a supreme supernatural evil. If such an evil exists, it must exist to corrupt humanity; if humanity is corrupt, but the existence of Satan is not obvious, then there must be a secret conspiracy. Usually, this conspiracy is identified with non-Christian groups; Jews, Muslims, atheists, pagans, homosexuals, scientists, artists and progressives. It can also be attributed to rival Christian sects.
 "Who will the antichrist be? I don't know. Nobody else knows. Is he alive and here today? Probably. Because when he appears during the tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish." - "Reverend" Jerry Falwell
But to Christian believers, Satanists do not just worship Satan; they get powers through this worship, and this is what makes belief in Satanism a purely religious belief. Someone can buy every Anton LaVey book, but it won't give them "magic powers." It also won't compel them to eat babies, rape virgins, burn down churches, or any of the other things Christians imagine Satanists would do.
Belief in Satanism has been very dangerous throughout the ages; the Inquisition and the witch trials are just the most famous examples. In the 1990's, a movement spread throughout America's conservative Christians resurrecting the Satanism conspiracies. The mania spread to psychiatry and law enforcement, with thousands of people compelled to invent "recovered" memories of Satanic ritual abuse. Countless people have been jailed based soley on these recovered memories. Only in the last few years has this hoax been thoroughly discredited; it has been pointed out that if every charge of Satanism were true, then half of the U.S. population would be secret Satanists, and the other half would be their "recovered memory" victims.
On a final note, I'm reminded of a kid in high school who told us we should stop playing Dungeons and Dragons, because it was Satan worship. We replied that we did not spend any of our gaming time worshipping Satan. He said that every time we used words like "demon," "devil," "Beelzebub," "Asmodeus," "Tiamat," etc., we were giving these creatures power. When we replied that we didn't believe any of these creatures existed, I think he wrote us off as Hell-bound sinners. Oh well. Won't he be disappointed when he dies, and discovers that he has ceased to exist? </ramble> [EDE]
Addendum#2: I don't mean to nitpick, but in the definition on Satanism there's references made to Anton Szandor LaVey and his philosophies. I just wanted to point out that he even says himself he doesn't worship the Christian Satan, but chose that name since his ideals opposed their (Christians') backwards oppressive concepts, using my own words. More accurately referred to as LeVeyism, it focuses on following man's natural instincts, with the restriction of "and it harm none, do as you will." [JMB]
Addendum #3: We here at GJ Wiki try to be neutral in any subject, Addendum #2 has been left in due to the inisghts on LaVey Satanism, though the original argument between JMB and EDE has been cut.