Established in reaction to the "intrusion of Christian values on American politics",[4][9] congregations have also formed in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

[10][11] Co-founded by Lucien Greaves, the organization's spokesperson, and Malcolm Jarry,[12][13] the group views Satan neither as a supernatural being,[1] nor a symbol of evil,[14] but instead relies on the literary Satan as a symbol representing "the eternal rebel" against arbitrary authority and social norms,[15][16] or as a metaphor to promote pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy, and curiosity.

"[23] The organization participates in political actions such as lobbying efforts,[24][25] with a focus on exposing Christian privilege when it interferes with personal religious freedom.

[31] In an interview with The New York Times, Malcolm Jarry stated that the idea of starting a Satanic faith-based organization was first conceived to meet "all the Bush administration's criteria for receiving funds, but was repugnant to them".

Jarry and Greaves decided to retaliate by going to Meridan, Mississippi, to perform a "pink mass" over the grave of the mother of the Westboro's founder, Fred Phelps Sr. During the July 2013 "pink mass", gay couples made out over the grave and the Temple announced that this ritual would turn Phelps' mother gay in the afterlife.

The organization was unwilling to assist members in establishing chapters where the risk of religiously motivated violence was considered too high (such as Peru and Uganda) out of concerns for their well-being.

[43] According to the organization's website, the mission of the Satanic Temple is to: ...encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.

The Satanic Temple has publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property, provided religious exemption and legal protection against laws that unscientifically restrict women's reproductive autonomy, exposed harmful pseudo-scientific practitioners in mental health care, organized clubs alongside other religious after-school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations, and engaged in other advocacy in accordance with our tenets.

The sculpture, Baphometic Bowl of Wisdom, a Satanic monument intended to pay homage to veterans, was approved for installation on public grounds.

[57] Subsequently, the city retracted its permission for the installation just days before the scheduled event, leading to the removal of both the proposed statue and the existing religious sculpture.

[60] A display in the Florida State Capitol rotunda in 2014 featured an angel falling from the sky into a pit of flames,[61] which was vandalized and then modified as a result.

[62] That same year a display at the Michigan State Capitol featured the message "The Greatest Gift is Knowledge" and a depiction of a snake wrapped around a black Leviathan cross.

[73][74] Following a pandemic hiatus on holiday displays in their State Capitol, the Illinois congregation announced a new sculpture for the rotunda in celebration of Sol Invictus 2021: Baphomet as a newborn baby.

[76][77] Illinois congregants returned to the rotunda in 2022 with a crochet display of apples and the serpent of Genesis, paired with a book by Copernicus that had been banned by the Vatican for centuries.

[78] New displays were organized by local congregations in 2023, with a decorated tree at the National Railroad Museum in Wisconsin,[79] as well as a mirror-covered, red-cloaked Baphomet statue at the Iowa State Capitol.

[102][103][104][105] Guided by a Satanic Temple minister, patients participate in the abortion ritual, reciting tenets about bodily autonomy and the importance of science.

[107] As part of the protest the Temple held a guerrilla theatre performance that included two men dressed as clergy pouring milk on kneeling actresses.

[109] On April 23, 2016, led by Jex Blackmore, members of the Detroit chapter of the Temple counter-protested the Citizens for a Pro-Life Society's protest of Planned Parenthood.

[118] In response, Jezebel magazine critiqued the organization's position that a religious exemption would guarantee its members freedom to seek abortions even in states where they were no longer legal, criticizing its position as overly-simplistic, unproven, and put pregnant people attempting to use the Satanic Temple's religious exemption to have an abortion in legal jeopardy.

The faction has protested conferences held by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, which advocates the discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy.

[125][126] In July 2013, the Satanic Temple held a "Pink Mass" over the grave of Catherine Johnston, the mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps.

[128] Queerty.com suggested they had based the idea of the mass on similar activities held by factions of the Latter Day Saint movement, where they would perform proxy baptisms.

[130] Shortly before Phelps's death, on March 19, 2014, the Satanic Temple expressed interest in holding a similar ceremony for the church founder.

[133] In November 2015, the Temple received media attention for offering to take in Muslims or refugees that were afraid of experiencing backlash over the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

[134][7] The Temple's Los Angeles Chapter has also protested the canonization of Junípero Serra by Pope Francis and in October 2015 they held a ceremony where they "demonized" the Christian missionary,[135] stating that Serra helped enslave thousands of Native Americans and that he "also led The Spanish Inquisition in his territories, trying residents of the Missions for the crimes of sorcery, witchcraft and devil worship.

Greaves clarified in a 2013 interview that the Temple could be both satanic and satirical,[25] and maintains that freedom of speech prevails regardless of political opinion regarding such criticism.

[160] An Oklahoma man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly throwing a pipe bomb at The Satanic Temple on April 8, 2024.

[161] Salon's Valerie Tarico described the Tenets as egalitarian, conducive towards equanimity, "truer to the words of Jesus than most Christians", expressing both compassion and empathy.

In a later interview, Blackmore criticized TST as corrupt: "The organization badly yearns to be deemed legitimate in the eyes of those in power but they will never achieve this aim, even if their litigious activities are successful.

[179][180] Amidst a flurry of disaffiliations and resignations in May 2024, several state groups–including Colorado, Florida, and Minnesota–severed ties with the national TST organization and formed the independent Coalition of Satanic Congregations.