Lucien Grieves

Lucien Greaves is the co-founder of The Satanic Temple.

Greaves was born in Detroit, Michigan. He studied neuroscience with a specialty in false-memory syndrome and graduated from Harvard University.

Greaves has spoken on the topics of Satanism, secularism, and The Satanic Temple at universities throughout the United States, and he has been a featured speaker at national conferences hosted by American Atheists, the American Humanist Association, and the Secular Student Alliance.

Greaves has been instrumental in setting up the Protect Children Project, the After School Satan project, and several political demonstrations and legal actions designed to highlight social issues involving religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

He says he has received many death threats, and deliberately does not use his legal name to avoid threats to his family.

Greaves was featured in Hail Satan? (2019), a documentary film about the The Satanic Temple and religious belief.

In an interview, Greaves describes how the idea for The Satanic Temple was conceived. Greaves and his colleagues envisioned The Satanic Temple as a “poison pill” in the Church/State debate. Their idea was that Satanists, asserting their rights and privileges where religious agendas have been successful in imposing themselves upon public affairs, could serve as a reminder that such privileges are for everybody, and can be used to serve an agenda beyond the current narrow understanding of what the religious agenda is.

Greaves has publicly stated that he does not worship Satan nor do followers of The Satanic Temple. Greaves claims that the idea of worship is insulting to people who identify with Satanism, because it implies a sense of servility. Instead, Greaves claims that Satanism is more about personal sovereignty and independence and freedom of will.