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Chaplain Leopold co-runs the Global Order of Satan UK – Paul Grover for The Telegraph\u00a9\u00a0Paul Grover for The Telegraph<\/p><\/div>\n
In fact, as the Global Order of Satan UK \u2013 as well as other leaders and members of Satanic groups around the world insist \u2013 it would be difficult to spot a Satanist walking down the street.<\/p>\n
Yet while the macabre occult rituals, virgin sacrifices, chalices of blood and belief in the actual Devil are a thing of the past, Satanism is luring increasing numbers of young people disillusioned with \u201coutdated\u201d and \u201cdogmatic\u201d traditional religions to join its fold by offering an \u201calternative\u201d to \u201cstuffy\u201d, traditional faiths.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Telegraph has spoken to leaders and members of Satanic groups around the world who claim that the opportunities Satanism offers people to engage in activism and\u00a0campaign on issues such as gender and sexuality<\/a>\u00a0is part of the appeal for the younger members, particularly those who are increasingly less likely to declare themselves as Christian.<\/p>\n Chaplain Leopold, a 32-year-old London-based undertaker, co-runs the Global Order of Satan UK which he said has seen a 200 per cent increase in membership over the last five years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to be able to claim that we could pat ourselves on the back and say, yes, we\u2019ve done our infernal work here, and we\u2019re successfully declining the number of Christians, but I think it\u2019s a far more complex issue than that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n‘A movement towards self-identification’<\/h2>\n