Seven Tenets

As of 2021, The Satanic Temple describes itself as having "seven fundamental tenets."

The Satanic Temple

Nine Fundamental Tenets (original)

First appearing in January 2013, an archived version of The Satanic Temple's website indicates there were originally nine fundamental tenets, apparently aligning more closely with the Nine Satanic Statements and Nine Satanic Sins as described by Anton LaVey in his book, The Satanic Bible.

There are nine fundamental tenets — with nine being a significant Satanic number. Each tenet is represented by one of the choir of nine Angels sent from Heaven to oversee Earth.

1. People should be guided by compassion and wisdom and follow the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
2. The Circle of Compassion should extend to all species, not just humans.
3. People are fallible, and although we should all try to do our best, poor judgment is inevitable. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it, and resolve any harm that may have been caused by our misdeeds.
4. The Satanist should ever be self-reflective.
5. All life is precious in the eyes of Satan.
6. The freedoms of others should be respected, even the freedom to offend, but great care should be exercised to avoid wrongly encroaching on the freedoms of others.
7. There are things we don’t understand, and it is appropriate to acknowledge that. It is not appropriate, however, to be proud of ignorance.
8. While proselytizing might have noble intent, it is not acceptable to coerce or push your beliefs on others. It is always best to lead by example.
9. Every tenet is a guiding principle to designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion and wisdom should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

Nine Fundamental Tenets (June 2013)

Sometime between March 2013 and June 2013, the tenets changed but remained nine in number. Notably, a reference to "Satan" as if he were an actual entity was removed during this time and a minor typo was corrected.

There are nine fundamental tenets — with nine being a significant Satanic number. Each tenet is represented by one of the choir of nine Angels sent from Heaven to oversee Earth.

1. People should be guided by compassion and wisdom and follow the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
2. The Circle of Compassion should extend to all species, not just humans.
3. People are fallible, and although we should all try to do our best, poor judgment is inevitable. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it, and resolve any harm that may have been caused by our misdeeds.
4. The Satanist should ever be self-reflective.
5. Our beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
6. The freedoms of others should be respected, even the freedom to offend, but great care should be exercised to avoid wrongly encroaching on the freedoms of others.
7. There are things we don’t understand, and it is appropriate to acknowledge that. It is not appropriate, however, to be proud of ignorance.
8. While proselytizing might have noble intent, it is not acceptable to coerce or push your beliefs on others. It is always best to lead by example.
9. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion and wisdom should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

Nine Fundamental Tenets (July 2013)

By July 2013, the tenets remained the same number but had been revised yet again.

There are nine fundamental tenets — with nine being a significant Satanic number. Each tenet is represented by one of the choir of nine Angels sent from Heaven to oversee Earth.

1. Strive to act with compassion and reciprocity toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing pursuit.
3. People are fallible, and although we should all try to do our best, poor judgment is inevitable. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it, and resolve any harm that may have been caused by our misdeeds.
4. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
5. Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
6. The freedoms of others should be respected, even the freedom to offend. To willfully encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forego your own.
7. There are, and will continue to be, things unknown and misunderstood. We must recognize this, never taking pride in ignorance, never assuming the unknown to be forever unknowable.
8. While proselytizing might have noble intent, it is not acceptable to coerce or push your beliefs on others. It is always best to lead by example.
9. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion and wisdom should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

Seven Fundamental Tenets (January 2014)

Between December 2013 and January 2014, the tenets were reduced from nine to seven, where they have remained ever since. Tenets seven ("things unknown and misunderstood") and eight ("proselytizing might have noble intent") were dropped.

There are seven fundamental tenets.

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forego your own.
5. Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
7. 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.

Seven Fundamental Tenets (September 2017-Present)

By September 2017, TST had slightly updated their tents to be in the third person singular rather than the first person plural.

There are seven fundamental tenets.

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

Reason Alliance Ltd.

Values (2016)

In parallel, the 501(c)3 nonprofit Reason Alliance Ltd. also published a list of its own tenets/values, closely mirroring The Satanic Temple's, as both the for-profit United Federation of Churches, LLC and Reason Alliance were legally formed in 2014 by Cevin Soling and Doug Misicko. This was largely similar to the January 2014 version of TST's seven tenets, but still used "we/our/your" rather than "one/one's" in some places, and the first half of the seventh tenet was moved to a prologue for the rest of the values.

Our tenets are our guiding principles, designed to inspire nobility in action and thought:

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One’s body is inviolable and subject to one’s own will alone.
4. We must respect the freedoms of others, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo your own.
5. Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We must take care to never distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm caused.
7. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written and spoken word.

Values (August 2020)

By August 2020, following a site redesign, the tenets were moved their own section under "values we promote", and language was slightly modified to better align with TST's version of the tenets.

Our tenets are our guiding principles, designed to inspire nobility in action and thought:

• One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
• The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
• One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
• 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.
• Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
• People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and remediate any harm that may have been caused.
• 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.

Values (November 2020-Present)

With a site update in the fall of 2020, the order of the values were desynced from TST's and "tenet" was finally replaced.

• One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
• 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.
• 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.
• One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
• The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
• Every value 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.
• 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.