by reverend bill m., church of satan. ©2014
written for the unofficial church of satan group on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/thechurchofsatan/)
Once in a while, a person will stumble across this forum and ask where they can get a “free” copy of the satanic bible, also known as an electronic copy (.pdf, .docx, etc.) or e-book. this is probably one of the most painfully stupid questions a person could ask here. this short essay explains why.
- at the time of this writing, the publisher of the satanic bible (harpercollins) has not authorized an electronic copy of the book. Like most books, the Satanic Bible is a copyrighted work. therefore, any electronic copy you might stumble upon is a case of copyright infringement and therefore illegal.
“Really?” yes, really!
This concept isn’t really that hard to understand, but you’d be surprised how many idiots hear this and still don’t get it. Or worse yet, try to make excuses and look for loopholes.
no, the fact that the author is dead does not make the book public domain.
no, the fact that you live outside the us. uu. it does not change the copyright status.
no, you have no natural right to obtain free copies of other people’s copyrighted materials. otherwise, the concept of copyright would not exist in the first place.
no, the fact that millions of people download stuff illegally, or that the act seems harmless, doesn’t make it any less illegal.
no, complaining that the satanic bible “should be” available for purchase as an e-book doesn’t change the fact that publishers at this point still haven’t made the book available for e-purchase.
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no, distributing free copies in the name of wanting to educate people about satanism is still not an excuse, and more importantly, it doesn’t actually help satanism. this religion is not for everyone, so we do not proselytize or distribute brochures. If you want people to learn the basics of Satanism, send them to churchofsatan.com.
and finally, no, the church of satan does not make money from sales of the satanic bible, and it would not make money from electronic sales either. that money goes to the author’s heirs.
“but what about this other book by anton lavey?”
However, some of Lavey’s work is available for purchase in electronic format. these include the satanic witch, the devil’s notebook and satan speaks!. these were published by a different publisher than the publisher that published the satanic bible and satanic rituals.
so, once again, an e-book version of the satanic bible has yet to be licensed by its publisher, harpercollins (formerly avon). why haven’t they done it yet? I honestly don’t know but if you find any website claiming to sell the satanic bible as an e-book then what they are doing is simply illegal. if you bought a copy through them, then you gave your money to a scammer who has no connection to the publisher.
People who think that this stance of ours is somehow antithetical to Satanism have clearly never stopped to think about it. it’s easy enough to imagine a silly imaginary scenario of extreme circumstances where breaking the law is considered the “right” thing to do. however, the reality is that any organization, satanic or otherwise, that publicly says “yes, we do approve of breaking the law in some cases” is really just asking for trouble. this issue would not only include receiving even more false accusations of criminal activity (as if we didn’t already get a mountain of that back in the 1980s), but also possibly accepting a host of criminal associates that are much better off not having. in the organization.
but on top of all that, criminal activity simply works against the satanic ideal of self-responsibility and, in some extreme cases, can also work against survival. Satanism does not embrace hedonism on the reckless and self-defeating level. This brings us back to the topic of this article. Simply put, there is no point in wanting to break the law (in this case, copyright infringement) on behalf of a religion and organization that is against breaking the law, no matter how harmless you try to rationalize the crime. . this is especially true when it comes to our own literature.
Still, people try to make excuses. they’ll say they’re broke, or even just too lazy to go through the process. well if you can’t find a way to save ten bucks to buy a fucking paperback, or you’re too lazy to get up and go to a bookstore or order the book from a place like amazon, then i say satanism is not for you. Not all Satanists are financially wealthy, however Satanism still advocates forethought and striving to get what you want responsibly. An act as mundane as going to the store and buying a book should not be seen as a treacherous Antarctic expedition.
Satanists in general tend to have fairly large personal book collections. the same goes for most brilliant people in general. As has been said, “Satanism calls for study, not worship,” and Satanists, by their very nature, are often eager to explore, investigate, and learn about different things that interest them. I don’t know a satanist who doesn’t enjoy flipping through a bookstore from time to time. It’s not that buying books in and of itself makes a person smarter, but you can usually tell something about a person by looking at his book collection, and having almost no physical books says a lot about that person. If he thinks “barnes & noble” is the name of a wine cooler, or is quick to tell people he’s “not much of a reader,” chances are he’s not getting much out of an illegal drink. electronic copy of the satanic bible anyway.
Go buy the hard copy. it’s worth it.
bill m. october xlix a.s. (2014)