Ep.11: Women's Rights, Feminism, and Satanism

# Satanists Nextdoor
# Ep.11: Women's Rights, Feminism, and Satanism

[Lilin Lavin]
Welcome, dear listeners, to Satanist Next Door. We're your hosts, Lilin Lavin and Tommy Lavin. Whether you're an open-minded, curious onlooker or a fellow Satanist seeking camaraderie, our goal is to share our personal experiences and delve into the intricate tapestry of Satanism in our daily lives, occasionally inviting other guests to share their unique perspectives, leaving no pentagram unturned.

We'll explore how our beliefs shape our views on society, dive into struggles and triumphs we've encountered, and reveal the humanity that unites us all. So grab your favorite chalice and join us on this captivating journey. Satanist Next Door is ready to peel back the curtain and offer you a glimpse into our world, one captivating episode at a time.

[Tommy Lavin]
Hello and welcome to another episode of Satanist Next Door. Today, we are going to be discussing women's rights, you know, how that fits into Satanism, and sort of the difference between what we're seeing out there in the world with, not necessarily just Christianity, but this extreme form of Christianity that seems to be prevalent, rising, growing, getting more power.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, and I don't think you could really talk about women's rights without discussing things like feminism, which thankfully is not a monolithic ideology, right? So one of the things I like to distinguish is that feminism, for me, in my opinion, is working to create a world where people of all genders have equal rights, opportunities, freedoms, and gender-based discrimination and violence are no longer tolerated or perpetrated. And when I say gender-related, I'm specifically saying, because something I see all the time, is a lot of anti-trans commentary, specifically around trans women, who people continually push the idea of them not being women and not belonging in the quote-unquote women's spaces.

And so that was something I definitely wanted to touch on, if we're, you know, discussing the topic.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I know, you know, sometimes when people say feminism, they're like, oh my god, you know, they think like, feminazi or, you know, all the other shit that you hear that goes along with that. But like you said, this is really more about equality.

You know, across the board.

[Lilin Lavin]
Right. It doesn't mean promoting misandry, where women are intentionally degrading men, or even other women, because unfortunately, a portion of the turf movement out there, that's not only attacking trans women, and denying their right to be women in women's spaces, but they also attack women, especially those who support trans women and try to really other people.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, so we kind of see it everywhere now. You know, I mean, you see the more modern, vocal, loud, I don't know what you want to call it, this evangelical Christian nationalism, that is just growing. And it's not just growing in the US.

I mean, I've noticed this movement is spreading and taking place in other countries as well. It's just, it seems like it's really, really gotten going in the US. Maybe that's kind of, you know, where its roots are or whatnot.

But, you know, and you see everything from, of course, we've talked about abortion. Abortion is still to this day, an issue. Every time abortion has been put on the ballot, it's the right for abortion has won.

You know, and so I think the Christian nationalists have learned, well, we can't put abortion on the ballot, because we're going to lose then. And so then they try and change the laws, you know, they just trying to change the law where they tried to make it so where it had to be 60% in order because they knew like 57.5% of the people were for abortion. So they thought, oh, if we can bump this up to 60%, then we can compete.

Okay, so now you're manipulating it. So where it's no longer the majority, it has to be a super majority. And so that means the minority viewpoint has power, right?

And, you know, so they're just going to continue to try all of these things to, I mean, I, from what I've seen, and what I hear on a pretty constant basis, it seems like their goal is to get women back into the home out of the workforce, or at least make it as uncomfortable or as difficult as possible for women to be equal with men when it comes to working, child care, you know, all of that sort of stuff.

[Lilin Lavin]
What is it they usually say, history may not repeat, but it certainly rhymes, um, you know, where you see a lot of this stuff. And there's a really great tick tock for people that like historical things. And I thought the parallels were super poignant, was that there's a tick tocker named Jacob dot Arthur.

And Jacob Arthur is also known as a human in Berlin. And he was discussing some of the parallels between things we're seeing now from conservative party talking points, and their paralleling similarities with the Nazis and the Nazi Party and the rise in again, extremist, fascist ideologies that would hide behind religion, which is what we're seeing. I would definitely argue that a lot of the people that call themselves Christian, especially the Christo fascist, evangelical portion of that, they are the same sort of liars that are hiding behind a name to approve their hateful behavior.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, I think it's gotten bad enough that lately. Anyways, I have seen an increase in even Christians saying way whoa, whoa, what the fuck, you know?

[Lilin Lavin]
That was kind of Yeah, that was weird for me to see some of that to where apparent. Well, we talked about it not that long ago, where you know, we have Christians, actual Abrahamic biblical based Christians who were saying exactly what's written in the Bible, and other Christians were saying, Well, where are you getting this woke propaganda? And again, they were saying, Well, no, it's literally word for word right here.

And that's very alarming. You know, if anybody that knows history out there sees this kind of extremist behavior, it's going to throw a lot of caution signs up there for you.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, I think what happens is, a lot of people think of something like a theocracy and think of, oh, this is going to be a utopia, because it'll be Christian based, it'll be Christian laws, we're going to, you know, go back to the 1950s, where everything was great. And you know, they've got this like nostalgia about leave it to fucking beaver or something like that, you know, the the woman's at home taking care of the children cooking dinner for the husband, husband goes out and works and he comes home and it's all of this shit. And that's nothing like it.

I mean, women were being beat. marital rape was still okay. You know, women were taking uppers during the day downers at night, you know, it was it was just all sorts of fucked up.

Abortion was illegal. Yeah, I mean, it can go on and on being gay was illegal. I mean, you could just keep going on and on.

And this is what make America great. You know, this is the nostalgia that these people have. And they look at it because oh my gosh, you know, that's a Christian based nation.

No, not a Christian based nation. Don't care what your preacher told you.

[Lilin Lavin]
And this is not a new phenomenon. So it's like a rosy retrospection, where, you know, psychologically people, actually, it's a real phenomenon. You're welcome to look it up where people disproportionately positively view past things as more positive than they ever were.

And it's that sort of thing. Like you said, marital rape was, you know, a thing. And women, they couldn't have credit cards, they couldn't get houses, they couldn't buy cars, everything had to be done by proxy through a man, usually someone you married, whether or not you were in love with them, it would be a setup from your family or somebody that you met.

In some cases, men were nice enough to, you know, set up situations where they'd be able to help women, just because they didn't have options, but a lot of other situations and they're being incredibly horrible.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, so, you know, how does this relate to Satanism? Well, I would say, you know, if you look at Satanism, Satanism is all about bodily autonomy. It's about equality, you know, so if when I look at it, and again, I'm, I'm a man, so I can't really speak for women, but I could see where Satanism would be very attractive from a woman's standpoint.

If I'm looking down the barrel of Christianity, this, this, you know, really extreme radical Christianity that we have going on where they're taking all my rights away, you know, I mean, just all the shit going on. I mean, they're trying to regulate birth control and take that away from women. So abortions off the table in a lot of states, then they're trying to take birth control off the table in a lot of states.

You know, sex is for procreation only.

[Lilin Lavin]
Which Hello, guys, are you just want to shoot yourselves in the foot with that one?

[Tommy Lavin]
I really don't understand where I, I seriously think like the men that are following this just like really have shitty sex lives, and they're upset that other men don't. And so they're like, well, if my life, sex life is shitty, then I'm going to make sure everybody else's sex life is shitty, too.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, and some of us just rage farmers, just individuals desperately trying to get attention and trying to cause havoc and issue. So I don't doubt that a portion of the things you see out in the world are just that just shitty people looking for acknowledgement, even crappy acknowledgement, or power.

[Tommy Lavin]
Sure. You know, I mean, at the end of the day, power is what, you know, a lot of people are looking for. They don't give a shit how they get it, as long as they get it.

They don't care who it affects. They don't even really care how it affects them in some ways, as long as they get the power.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. And it's not even just about being comfortable or rich. Because you could look at there's some really shitty, very wealthy people in the world that buy social media platforms, for example, just so that they can get attention and you know, have friends.

[Tommy Lavin]
I don't know who the hell you're talking about there.

[Lilin Lavin]
That was a weird one. What? Yeah, but Satanism, not to say it's rosy or perfect.

There's many aspects of it that are obviously things that align with people who understand what you're, what you're going in for what you what you're fighting against, what is it that appeals for you. And there's many types of Satanist, which we've talked about before. And I've met many different types of Satanist.

For me, again, I come from a COS background. I'm not trying to shit all over COS if you align with it. And this is not part of the viewpoint you hold.

Don't take it personal. Just keep on going. But for me, one of the things as I was reading through different things LeVay had written, I came across some very pro-life statements that just did not jive with my ideas of personal sovereignty and bodily autonomy, things that I personally felt Satanism represented.

Now, this is not going to be what everyone is drawn to, obviously, but it was something that was about empowerment for me. And as someone that has lived in a situation where I had literally no control over my life and went through really awful things that made me realize what it's like to be essentially helpless. I never wanted to be in that situation again.

And it was a long road to recover through that. And Satanism really helped me in that regard because it helped me find my own personal power and helped me embrace strengths that I needed to adopt in order to be a better functional person. Satanism didn't do this for me.

I did it through exploration, through my journey in Satanism.

[Tommy Lavin]
Dr. John Baxter Yeah. And I agree with that. What Satanism does is Satanism gives you the permission to do that.

When you're looking at Christianity, Christianity is telling you, as a woman, your job is at home. Your job is to produce babies. Your job is to care for your husband and your children.

That is your job. That is what should make you happy. Angela Right.

[Lilin Lavin]
But it's even more malicious than that from my perspective as a woman who's been through abuse and assault. You are the reason why in a lot of religious views. You are the reason why these things happen to you.

The way you dressed or the way that you addressed somebody or your behaviors or the way that you go out into the world and walk or talk. There's so many different things that are put back on you. You didn't dress right.

You weren't respectful. Just crazy things. And it doesn't help people to grow or to find any kind of confidence because you're in this cycle of constantly being the reason for the bad things and you're guilted, then you're shamed, then you're demeaned.

And it just keeps happening over and over. And to break out of that, you have to really find a different way of viewing the world and yourself in it.

[Tommy Lavin]
Scott Yeah. And that's why I like Satanism. And that's why I think Satanism is or could be very attractive to women because it empowers them.

It gives them that permission that, no, I am an equal. I have rights. I can dress however the hell I want with however much or however little I want.

And that does not give you permission to assault me. Amy Right.

[Lilin Lavin]
Or even guys that have been abused, same thing. You learn how to define your personal power and to find it in a safer way where you're not being told if you are more aggressive or if you are more this or that. You can be whoever it is that you are and have normal emotions and be supported in a process of finding real strength as a man.

[Tommy Lavin]
Scott And I would say, I would go further than that and say the same rules apply for the trans community, for anybody with inside the LGBTQIA community.

[Lilin Lavin]
Amy Or even survivors of religious abuse.

[Tommy Lavin]
Scott Yep. I mean, we talk to, every once in a while, we'll get somebody that will come to a book club or something like that. And you could just tell they have a lot of religious trauma that they are working through.

And often we'll tell them, one of the first things you should do is you should work through that trauma. Don't just jump in and say, I'm a Satanist today. I mean, you should really work through the trauma you have.

And if studying or being part of Satanism helps you with that, then great. But you shouldn't just jump from one, it's almost like a bad breakup or something like that.

[Lilin Lavin]
Amy No, I mean, you're not wrong at all. And I think that's something I do definitely try to caution people against because it's a natural desire to want to find a place where you feel empowered and strong. And it's not wrong to look for that.

[Tommy Lavin]
Scott And wanted.

[Lilin Lavin]
Amy No, yeah, you want to be wanted. Everyone wants to be wanted. But there's healthy ways to do that.

It's important to recognize, are you coming at things from a healthy perspective? And I would tell you that no matter what religion you're looking at, or group you're looking at, there's a very strong fear, especially when you're dealing with things from like a leadership perspective or something, and you're involved in organizations like this. You want to prevent people from jumping into something and making it their entire identity, losing themselves to it, and then becoming toxic to themselves and others.

[Tommy Lavin]
Scott Yeah, yeah. And to go back on something that you were talking about before, you know, we were talking about the nostalgia effect, and you were saying that it's an actual thing. And I would say it's the whole reason why like, when people get drunk, they call ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends, you know, things like that, because the nostalgia part of them forgets the whole reason why they're an ex, you know, they kind of think.

And I think in many ways, these Christian nationalists and maybe even people that aren't quite Christian nationalists, but are nostalgic about what they think America used to be like, they forget all the shit that people couldn't do. They forget the civil rights that anybody, you know, that if you weren't a white man, you didn't have, you know, whether you're an immigrant, a woman, you know, African American, you know, the 1950s and that were not leave it to fucking Beaver, or any of that sort of shit.

[Lilin Lavin]
It is like you said, it's a very insidious thing. And I think it comes through, maybe stories you've been told by your grandparents, times were simpler back then, you know, things were affordable, and blah, blah, blah. They don't sit there and focus on the, we couldn't, you know, afford coal for our heater.

And there was no cars everywhere. And, you know, people struggle just as much as they do today. But they had a lot less opportunity for things like medical advancements, or there's a lot of things that people leave out.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. Oh, and I beat my wife and my kids when I got home from work, because I had a bad day or shit like that. You know, I mean, sadly, that's not a nostalgic thing.

No, but that's kind of like, again, the part that kind of gets left out. And oh, by the way, if the cops were called, the cops were okay with it, because they're like, he's your husband, you know, of course he can do that.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, that's a bizarre thing. And it didn't just happen to wives, and it still happens to wives, to be very clear, or even husbands, because husbands, I'm going to be very upfront, I've seen men that are being abused by women, and they literally get laughed at. There is nothing funny about that situation.

And just because of this is another one of those weird sexism things, right? Just because a woman is the one doing it does not mean it's okay, or funny, or you should ignore a man.

[Tommy Lavin]
No, no. And like you said, it's about equality. So again, not okay to treat a woman like that.

Not okay the other way around, either.

[Lilin Lavin]
No, but what I was going to say is, it's not just women that these things happen to. I remember when I was younger, I had a lot of weird home things. And one of the times I ran away, it was because I was being abused, just physical violence sort of stuff at that point.

But the cops brought me back, and then pretty much chastised me and were joking with my uncle, who at the time was the one physically abusing me, because he was in the military, and he was a respectable guy. And I'm just, you know, a kid. And obviously, I'm the problem.

And that's the kind of dismissive behavior. And that's another group of people who are often treated like crap. I'm not saying that they should be Satanist, obviously.

But children, children are often abused, and just completely invisible to a lot of the horrible things that happen to them in the world. And maybe one day they grow up, and they decide that sucked. And they're interested in something like Satanism or the hundreds of other opportunities out there to grow personally.

But that's another group of people that are there.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, definitely. So I mean, so kind of back on subject where, you know, we're, we're kind of talking about women's rights and how it lines up in, you know, the things that they're going after that I think they were pretty clear when, when SCOTUS, you know, made his decision on society. I'm sorry, when they made their decision on DOPS.

I mean, they they kind of put the tea leaves out there for everybody to read.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, you know, and as states have done away with abortion rights, and opportunities for people, a lot of foreshadowing is now being put out about birth control. And it's really bizarre, because how can you be responsible with your reproductive health, if you can't even choose birth control? So again, back to what you were saying, it's another one of those weird, well, what is the end goal?

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, to me, it seems like the end goal is pretty, pretty clear. I mean, I've heard them say it, but I also just, you know, I can kind of read the tea leaves. But, you know, you talk to somebody, and you'll be like, okay, well, if you're taking birth control away after you took abortion away, then what?

And then you get the answer of well, that you should be abstinent, you know, they're there, unless your sex is for procreation. And I'm like, I don't know what the hell kind of sex you're having, because obviously, it's not fun or enjoyable.

[Lilin Lavin]
But well, and you're not coming away pregnant from every sexual interaction. So let's just be honest about that. I don't want to hear jack diddly from the religious leaders that are pushing a lot of this nonsense, because a lot of them have like weird sex things going on.

Not all of them. Not saying it's everyone. But there's a whole lot of weird crap that they hide from everybody and pretend that they're purest on sexuality.

They're not.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. And one of the things that I know I hit up on social media all the time is because the, you know, the Christian nationalists are doing their damndest to point and, you know, try and paint the LGBTQIA community as, as, you know, perverts and pedophiles and stuff like that. But yet, every single day, not a day goes by that I do not see a Christian man in a position of power, some way, shape or form, arrested and convicted for child rape, or child porn or some shit like that.

And most days, I see multiple things come through and women. Yeah.

[Lilin Lavin]
There's literally a list out there that you can find, and you're free to validate all of it. But it's a list of Republican, Republicans that have actually been, yeah, been involved in actual either having photography or and having inappropriate relations with children being a pedophile. And it's appalling.

I'm not saying that that doesn't happen on both sides of the aisle. I'm certain it does. But there seems to be an overwhelming amount of questionable behavior happening in the conservative side.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. And again, you know, yes. Are there bad people in every community?

Yes. My issue is when a single community ignores all the bad shit in their community and tries to point at another community and make them out to be the bad guys. And it's like, you know, what's that saying about don't throw a stone, you know, stones in a glass house.

Yeah, you know, it's that sort of thing. It's like, look, you know, I wouldn't be pointing out all of these Christian men that are getting busted for child rape if, you know, you guys would just acknowledge that the problem is in the churches. And it's not in the LGBTQIA community.

[Lilin Lavin]
It's in so many communities. It's a pervasive issue. And it's something that as society, we have to do a better job standing up to because there's something seriously wrong when this can happen over and over and over again.

And the jail time a lot of these people get is just unacceptable. I'm not saying everyone should just be put in jail. I don't agree with that.

And I don't like like for profit prisons or anything like that. But if you are a pedophile and you're harming children, there's not a lot of.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I think at that point that, you know, if you've raped a child, you should be in jail for the rest of your life. You have essentially murdered that.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, they will probably be able to live sometimes, unfortunately, you know, but they will never be the person that they would have been before that happened to them.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. And so, again, you know, kind of circling back around to this whole thing that we're talking about, which is, you know, why, why women's rights? Why are they under attack?

Why is it that, you know, Satanism, again, is something that would be attractive. And again, I'm not saying everybody should run out of now Satanist. I don't want everybody to be a Satanist.

But I do want people to use critical thinking skills. And I do want people to look around and at least say, you know, screw this. These Christian nationalists are going way too far.

This is not what Jesus said to do. This is not what Christianity was all about. Yes, I have my issues with Christianity, and I am glad to have a theological – I would love to be able to go back to just simple theological arguments.

I mean, versus, you know, hello, are we going, you know, instead of this hate-filled, you know, narrative.

[Lilin Lavin]
For me, it's simple. The Christian conversation is easy. I don't care what you believe or the faith that you practice.

I care if you're using it to legislate and to inject your life and your beliefs into others' lives. And that's the only time I'm going to ever have a problem with the religion. And people say, well, what about Satanism?

You're drawn to it because blah, blah, blah, women's rights and feminism and – no, those are part of my beliefs, those are part of my religion, but that's not all it's about. And I don't believe my religion or my beliefs belong in legislation either. If it just so happens some of those things are just common sense, kind, compassion, empathy, and stuff like that should be used in society, sure, but not from my framework, just in general.

[Tommy Lavin]
No, and choice isn't pushing something on people. Giving people choice isn't pushing it. If Satanists tried to push laws that said everybody has to get an abortion after the third child, I would highly be against that, you know, because, again, you're forcing – And it's anti-Satanic.

Yeah, it is, but you're also forcing a decision on another person. If you were to try and pass a law that said – I mean, and these are getting stupid, but it's how stupid some of these Christian laws are. It's like if you have to marry the same sex and you're not gay, then that's wrong.

Again, you're taking people's choices away from them. And so choice in no way is pushing a religion or a belief or an ideology on people because you're giving people choice to if they want to be a certain religion, great. If they don't want to be a religion, great.

If they want an abortion, great. If they don't, great. It's giving people choice, which I guess you could say goes back to – I mean, biblically, it goes back to Lucifer, I guess, right?

He gave knowledge and choice.

[Lilin Lavin]
It depends on which particular storyline you're going after. I mean, there's some argument as to whether or not Lucifer is the same character as Satan. It really just depends on where you're coming at it from.

But at the end of the day, whichever figure you're selecting, the goal for me in Satanism metaphorically was that this character fought against arbitrary authority, which means in small terms, stupid laws that infringe on other people's rights. And it's about standing up for marginalized groups, which means every single person that's under attack right now. The bigotry and racism is rampant and it's terrifying.

And all of us have the same capability that I try to use to stand up to it safely and intelligently and not by hurting people. Obviously, that's not the kind of crap I support. But there's nothing wrong with standing up for someone and telling someone, no, you're not going to call them that.

You're not going to make immigration jokes or be hurtful to someone because of their color or their gender or any of that stuff. You don't have that right. You can feel whatever you want to feel about yourself.

You can do what you want with yourself. Leave other people alone.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, exactly. I mean, so yeah, I'm not sure how to follow that up.

[Lilin Lavin]
Sorry, this was my tangent. I will get off my soapbox.

[Tommy Lavin]
No, no, no. It's a good, it's definitely a good soapbox to have. I mean, because again, I just see so much of this hate out there on a daily basis.

And yes, a lot of this is because they're keyboard warriors and they can do whatever they want. But the sucky part is this is bleeding into laws.

[Lilin Lavin]
It's not just keyboard warriors because there was a woman who was unalived not that long ago in California because why? She had a flag outside of her business. And what flag was it?

It was an LGBTQ flag. What did she do wrong? She said, no, you're not going to say this to me.

I can fly that outside of my business. Now I'm paraphrasing. I don't know the whole conversation.

This individual did not agree with her, took offense to them speaking back and it turned out really bad for her. And then the other person, the police ended up, you know, unaliving them. But the situation is not just keyboard warriors.

It's bleeding out into everyday life. It's bleeding out into, I mean, like what happened with the COVID. The Asian American community was completely harassed and just treated awful because a few people kept making these horrible statements and acting as it was the Asian community's fault.

Nobody's at fault for a damn virus unless it came out of some kind of like intentional behavior. And I don't see that being the thing.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. Now we'll go all into conspiracy theories and shit like that.

[Lilin Lavin]
Unless we're going to go off that meme with a cat and it was a cat. Yeah.

[Tommy Lavin]
I mean, so, but yeah, I mean, I would definitely say right now in this day and age, you know, 2023 women's rights are very much under attack and trans rights are very much under attack. LGBTQIA, the whole LGBTQIA community is under attack and that needs to stop. And as a Satanist, you know, I kind of look at it.

I'm like, you don't fix anything. You don't help anything by sitting in the corner with your thumb up your ass, doing nothing.

[Lilin Lavin]
No.

[Tommy Lavin]
You know, to say, Oh, I'm a Satanist and I'm against all this. And I'm going to sit over here and just say, I'm a Satanist, but I shouldn't be speaking up or anything like that because that's not our place. Well, you're sitting in the corner with your thumb up your ass, you're doing nothing, right?

You're allowing it to happen.

[Lilin Lavin]
That's a choice. And if there are people that have reasons, they can't go out and do things, then that's fine. There's ways to get involved from the comfort of your own home.

You can be involved with different outreach programs that work through text or email or online. So there are ways that you can combat the things you're seeing without having to leave your home or put yourself in any physical danger. Because let's be real, the more this hateful mentality thrives, the more risk all of us are in.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. And yes, in the ideal world, in utopia, religion does not belong in government. The reality is religion is being mixed with government.

And if you don't, if nobody stands up and says, no, that's not okay, because I'm another religion. And by the way, that doesn't represent my beliefs, then you're de facto allowing that to happen. You're not even giving an opposing voice.

Right.

[Lilin Lavin]
And that's my biggest issue. And it's not just within the satanic community, because it happens in our community. It's the Christian community.

It's the Buddhist community. It's the Jewish community. It's everyone that's dealing with this pervasive hatred right now.

Take a good look around and ask yourself, is this the world that I want to leave for my kids or future or any of that stuff? Is this where I want to leave things? I would hope the answer is no.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. And I would also say that you watch what's happening to one group of people, and you cannot be naive enough to think that, oh, okay, once they're done with the LGBTQIA community, they're going to leave everybody else alone. No, it's just going to move on to the next, you know, they'll, they'll go in even harder against women, then it'll be against somebody else.

[Lilin Lavin]
One other thing with Satanism, we value education, we value intellect, we value striving to learn and accountability, right? Yep. The other kind of crappy thing that I'm watching happen is the destruction of education as we know it.

The PragerU being pushed as educational material, guys, go look up PragerU. You do not want that in your schools. You do not want your kids watching their little short clips.

They are horrible. Okay? It's just pervasive racism.

[Tommy Lavin]
Which one's the PragerU again?

[Lilin Lavin]
PragerU is the one that Florida recently added that use individuals and discuss things like why I left the left.

[Tommy Lavin]
Oh.

[Lilin Lavin]
And these are supposed to be, you know, educational videos for children. It also talks about things like critical race theory, and why it's really racism, and how black people were never actually oppressed or enslaved.

[Tommy Lavin]
Oh, and does this go into the whole, you know, slavery actually helped the African American?

[Lilin Lavin]
It's in the same vein, for sure. It's just the PragerU thing. And I bring that up because I saw earlier, there were some Texas folks that were actually trying to push for PragerU to be adopted into our schools.

And I really, really don't want that because it is a horrible, hateful bunch of crap. But PragerU is the one that, gosh, it was, you know, the southern strategy crap. Oh, God.

Okay.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. See, and I remember, you know, seeing as our daughters started high school, they've, you know, there is no sex ed, especially in some of these states like Texas, there is no sex ed. It is abstinence based, which is religious based, you know, again, religion doesn't belong in school.

And what happens when you have a bunch of kids with raging hormones that have no idea about sex? You get teen pregnancies, and you get a lot of STIs. And, you know, because I'm sorry to break it to you.

And the fucked up thing, the most fucked up thing that I about this is, some of these parents that I see, I'm like, I knew you as a teenager. Yeah, you, you are having sex as a teenager, you're full of shit. Why do you think that all of a sudden now your child isn't going to have the same, you know, wants or, or curiosities or anything like that?

Sure. Yeah, I there's things I did as a teenager, I don't want my kids to do, but I'm still going to educate my kids. I'm going to educate them so that they have a better, you know, they have a better reason of why not to do the dumb ass things that I did.

You know, this again, the same kind of thing, such titles as playing the black card, suicide of Europe, are the police racist, blacks in power don't empower blacks. Wow. Yeah, this is pretty fucked up shit.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. So you haven't heard of PragerU. Please look it up and understand why regardless of your personal positions, you might want to not encourage that to be educational material.

But this is, again, a satanist telling, you know, what do we value in society, thinking society, a philosophical society, a compassionate society and empathetic society. I'm not talking like free for all and equality, like everything is never going to be 100% equal. That's just a fallacy to believe that it all be perfect world fallacy is not a realistic viewpoint, but we can work together to make things better.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, we can definitely work to make things and some things should be equal. If a woman is doing the exact same job as man, they should have equal pay.

[Lilin Lavin]
That seems like common sense opportunity, regardless of what your color is your nation, like your national origin. If you've moved here from Mexico or from China or from Israel or from wherever, if you've moved here and you're working on or have become a citizen, you should have the same rights as other citizens.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, especially if you're paying taxes.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah.

[Tommy Lavin]
I mean, if you're paying into the tax system, then I don't know what the fuck the problem is. You know, you should have the exact same rights.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, the only difference if you're not a citizen that I definitely I'm not going to pretend I'm the voting thing when you are familiar with the voting of a different country. And if I were to move somewhere overseas, I too would give myself time to get my citizenship and understand the landscape. So I don't do damage to a place that I'm moving to.

But that's the same thing I would want from people that are moving to this country. If they're not familiar with the politics, take time to understand the political landscape so that you're making the best choices for your future, which is why you came here.

[Tommy Lavin]
Well, voting is another thing that I mean, I've seen a lot of talk about it too, is as women are trying to take away women's rights to vote that this is this is another one of those things on this, you know, extreme Christian nationalism that, you know, they're they're either okay to not vote, or I will just vote whatever my husband tells me to vote, which, you know, I'm sorry, but women are not property. You do not own your wife or your girlfriend or whoever it is, or your children.

Yeah. And it's just this sort of I don't even know where this this how this thought process has sort of evolved. But it's getting more and more pervasive.

[Lilin Lavin]
devolved.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, devolved. I would say devolved is probably the right word there. But it's it's getting more and more pervasive in our country.

And that is pretty fucking scary. It is.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, and it's something that everyone deals with, you know, power struggles or things like that are normal. You know, there's never going to be like this whole everyone's equally proportioned, whatever it is. But you work on things the best you can, even like relationships, our relationship is not always PG keen, I do things that piss you off, you do things that piss me off.

And then we try to work out ways that we, you know, can move forward and come to good understanding with one another. And that's like society needs to do the same shit. It's a relationship, whether or not you know, obviously not the same kind of relationship, but it's a relationship.

We depend on one another. And we all kind of live and share the same spaces.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, definitely. I do things that piss you off.

[Lilin Lavin]
No. Yeah. And I do things that piss you off.

My dog is one of those things that piss me off.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, so it's, it's, I don't know, you know, it was something that we've had a lot of talks about lately. So it was like, you know, we should actually just jump on here and have a conversation about this, because it is really important to It's scary.

[Lilin Lavin]
And I'm sure we're not the only ones that feel that way. And you know, all I can try and do is give words of encouragement that we do still have the power as you know, the mass majority of human beings, what we're going to just stand by and accept and what we're going to push back against.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, again, and, and, you know, whether it's one party or another party, I really don't give a shit on that. What I give a shit about is there, the things that they're pushing, you know, so if there are representatives, or there are people, or there's a certain party that is pushing a certain ideology, then I will speak up against that ideology, not the party itself. Because, you know, as, as a Satanist, I don't believe that I should tell anybody how they should vote or which way they should vote.

And especially in a ministerial, you know, I shouldn't be doing that. Even though Christian churches do it, and they get away with it without any issue, but guarantee you, you know, somebody from TST or something did that they, you know, they'd be all over their asses. But I will say what ideologically lines up with being a Satanist and things that are wrong.

You know, controlling women is wrong. Treating women as possessions is wrong. You know, this inequality that we see inequality is always wrong.

Yeah, you know, and, and again, it doesn't, like I said, you know, a lot of this has been women, but I do keep trying stressing that there's a lot of bleed over into the LGBTQIA community as well.

[Lilin Lavin]
And children in general, I feel like children are, like I said, often overlooked and constantly being, you know, treated in ways that are just not acceptable. You know, as we brought up in the state of Texas, corporal punishment, it should be gone in schools, still a thing. What did they use to argue?

The Bible. So that right there is a weird issue. And another freaking thing, I was learning, like, I forgot about this.

This morning, I was reading that Arizona, they have their voucher program, right, which is the thing that they're pushing in a lot of schools, they actually want to use voucher money, which Arizona or not our Arizona, Arkansas, Arkansas, folks, vouchers come from tax funds, right? They want to use this money in the neighboring state of Tennessee.

[Tommy Lavin]
So you can go from Arkansas to Tennessee or?

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, Arkansas voucher money.

[Tommy Lavin]
To Tennessee.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. So that's a little bit weird. But these voucher programs, that's another thing.

It's a way to take away from marginalized communities that can't afford, because let me tell you what, these vouchers don't take away all the cost.

[Tommy Lavin]
Oh, no.

[Lilin Lavin]
It will. It helps people that are in the middle class to be able to afford it, especially upper class, you know, definitely helps. But, you know, people that are in lower brackets are still struggling and struggling worse, because now what happened?

Public school is further defunded, there are less opportunities, less programs, and it affects society.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I've never understood the whole, you know, I don't have kids or, you know, I don't have kids anymore. So I'm not gonna, I don't want my money going to school. Well, dumbass, at some point in your life, you went to school.

Yeah.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, as an older person, don't you want to be able to ensure that the community around you is healthy? And, you know, educated?

[Tommy Lavin]
You would think so.

[Lilin Lavin]
But I mean, you still interact with society, don't you? Maybe you don't.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I don't know. All right. Well, you know, I think we, I think we did a pretty good job, hopefully, of covering this topic.

I'll leave that to the listeners. We'll leave it to the listeners to see. But, you know, it was, it was something that was on our minds.

So we thought, you know, we should talk about it, because it is getting pretty rampant out there. And I'm sure as the political season heats up, it's only going to get more and more rampant.

[Lilin Lavin]
Don't remind me.

[Tommy Lavin]
With all the, all the shit that people are going to do to try and one up each other and, and stuff like that. So I guess we can, we can probably leave it at that for now.

[Lilin Lavin]
So I... As always, I'm going to tell you, folks, if you have any thoughts or ideas or feedback about this episode, please let us know. Ideas about other episodes, again, let us know.

We're always happy to connect with you.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yep. All righty. Well, hail Satan.

Hail Satan.