Salem-Based The Satanic Temple Hosting SatanCon 2023 In Boston This Weekend

SALEM, MA — The Salem-based Satanic Temple, which uses satanic imagery to promote what founders call its nontheistic push for the strict separation of church and state, will host three days of events in Boston this weekend at its first SatanCon celebrating the organization's 10-year anniversary.

The event will be held from April 28 to April 30 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place on Huntington Avenue.

The SatanCon comes in the wake of an arson attempt at its Bridge Street temple last June and what was determined to be a false bomb threat called into Salem police at the temple in February. The Satanic Temple has become a frequent center of controversy — often which is self-perpetuated — stemming from its use of satanic symbols to wage battles against the impact of organized religions on society and laws that founders and members believe infringe on individual rights.

Founders Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jerry said that the Satanic Temple does not actually promote belief in the devil — or take souls — but instead uses dark imagery "as a symbol of their skepticism with the cultural dominance of Christianity."

The organization has publicly clashed with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in claiming that she "denied the group from delivering a satanic invocation at the Boston City Hall and has used unconstitutional efforts to keep The Satanic Temple out of the public spaces of Boston."

Organizers said that is the reason why Boston was chosen for SatanCon 2023.

The Satanic Temple's mission statement is to "encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits."

SatanCon 2023 will include a retrospective on the 10-year history of the Temple and panels that include "Reclaiming the Trans Body," "Deconstructing Your Religious Upbringing" and "Satanism and the BIPOC Experience."

There will also be a "satanic marketplace," a satanic wedding chapel and a featured "Witches' Night" gala marking the ancient pagan holiday of May Eve that organizers said is sold out.

The Satanic Temple said it has about 700,000 registered members across the world.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)