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British Navy Recognizes Satanist Officer
alledan
Member Posts: 19,541
British Navy Recognizes Satanist Officer
LONDON - Britain's navy has officially recognized a noncommissioned officer as a Satanist, the Ministry of Defense said Sunday, adding that it believed this was the first case of its kind in the British armed forces.
Naval technician Chris Cranmer, 24, registered his belief in Satanism with the captain of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed that "an individual on HMS Cumberland approached his commanding officer to register his belief as Satanism.
"A decision was taken that he may indeed register his belief as such," a spokesman for the ministry said, without naming the individual.
"The criteria on which the decision was based was whether the individual's beliefs would impinge on the operational effectiveness of the ship or the general well being of the ship's company."
The spokesman said he believed this was the first time someone had registered as a Satanist in the British military, although there was no central register listing religious beliefs.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Cranmer, from Edinburgh in Scotland, has served in the Royal Navy for four years. It said he was promoted to leading hand - the naval equivalent of corporal - in July last year.
Cranmer told the paper he realized he was a Satanist nine years ago when he "stumbled across" a copy of "The Satanic Bible," written by Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey.
"I then read more and more and came to realize I'd always been a Satanist, just simply never knew," he said.
LaVey, who died in San Francisco in 1997, promoted a brand of Satanism that was not about evil or animal and child sacrifice, family members said after his death. It was more about rational freethinking and a disdain for the hypocrisy he believed corrupted Christianity, they said.
LONDON - Britain's navy has officially recognized a noncommissioned officer as a Satanist, the Ministry of Defense said Sunday, adding that it believed this was the first case of its kind in the British armed forces.
Naval technician Chris Cranmer, 24, registered his belief in Satanism with the captain of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed that "an individual on HMS Cumberland approached his commanding officer to register his belief as Satanism.
"A decision was taken that he may indeed register his belief as such," a spokesman for the ministry said, without naming the individual.
"The criteria on which the decision was based was whether the individual's beliefs would impinge on the operational effectiveness of the ship or the general well being of the ship's company."
The spokesman said he believed this was the first time someone had registered as a Satanist in the British military, although there was no central register listing religious beliefs.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Cranmer, from Edinburgh in Scotland, has served in the Royal Navy for four years. It said he was promoted to leading hand - the naval equivalent of corporal - in July last year.
Cranmer told the paper he realized he was a Satanist nine years ago when he "stumbled across" a copy of "The Satanic Bible," written by Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey.
"I then read more and more and came to realize I'd always been a Satanist, just simply never knew," he said.
LaVey, who died in San Francisco in 1997, promoted a brand of Satanism that was not about evil or animal and child sacrifice, family members said after his death. It was more about rational freethinking and a disdain for the hypocrisy he believed corrupted Christianity, they said.
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