The Temple of Satan gains ground in Chile as faith in traditional religions wanes

Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — It’s Friday night in Downtown Santiago, the capital of Chile, and a group of 15 people gather around a table. They share a bottle of wine as the smell of tobacco and incense fill the air. Black candles burn atop an altar decorated with chalices and knives. The members of the Temple of Satan are about to start a ritual. Five years after the Satanic Temple of the United States made headlines when it was designated a church, a similar organization in Chile, a conservative country where half of its population of 18 million identifies as Catholic, is asking the government to recognize them legally as a religious association.