An old roommate of mine used to be a LeVeyan Satanist (though now he's into one of the side split offs).

The main thing with LeVey was that he made Satanism not as a religion, per se, but as a statement against the cultural norms that tend to restrict freedom and individuality. He created "Satanism" not as a means of devil worship (an atheist can be a Satanist), but merely to antagonize the status quo. And what better name to choose to be a thorn in the establishment's side than Satan?

What I find odd is that a lot of people view Satanism (and the Black Mass) as "devil worship" and what not. It's not. It's all actually rather silly, and LeVey liked to make his social statements theatrical and intentionally offensive to those he viewed as closed-minded. It's less a religion and more closer to a philosophy.

Personally I find the idea of basing my life on the ideas of someone else's rebellion against society to be rather silly, but hey, to each his own.

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