Anton Levey (LaVey)

Born Howard Stanton Levey, Anton LaVey (1930- 1997) became a legend in 1966 when  he and his first wife Diane founded the Church of Satan.  It was a mimicry of the traditional church in America, except it was “Satanic.” It was even called the world's first Satanic "Church.”

It was like the church in that they held, “Satanic weddings, ” performed a baptism (for their daughter Zeena) and even had a Satanic funeral, and LaVey got a lot of notoriety from the media. Magazines like Time, Look, Newsweek and McCalls did stories on the man. Talk show hosts like Phil Donahue and Johnny Carson, made him a public figure. He had close associations with various celebrities including, Jayne Mansfield, Sammy Davis Jr., Elke Sommers, John Travolta, and Robert Fuest. 
He is also the author of what was published (by a group known as Avon Publishers) as the Satanic Bible.

The publicity from appearances on TV shows, articles in  magazines and reports of celebrity parties and multiple media blitzes generated a growth in church membership and made LaVey famous for his balsphemic renunciation of everything having to do with “God.”  He studied the works of Aleister Crowley, a well known religious non conformist who lived before his time, and when asked about his religion would tell people that he  had no special revelation for his religion and that he thought of his practices as  more as a way of “unreligion."

People who have chosen to join Levey’s religious thinking, do often call themselves “Satanists” and they claim that they do not subscribe to the idea of an all-encompassing deity who is worthy of worship. Instead of believing in God the Satanist actively renounces God’s existence or God’s power over himself.

What does LeVay have to say about Satan?

"Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates."
“Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!”
"Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification."

LaVey died in 1997 at the age of 67.