Swiegelaar said he has looked at thousands of applications to the SA Satanic Church and that the majority of them are from people who have been hurt by Christians. “Religion has hurt a lot of people, including me,” he said, which is why he will not be attending a church. “I’ve never experienced Christ’s love in a church,” said Swiegelaar. “I’ve been hurt so badly by it and so have many, many people.”
Swiegelaar is still processing his experience and is doing a lot of writing about it. His goal moving forward is not to try to convert people to a certain belief system, but to help people to heal. “It’s such a precious, beautiful thing that I cannot keep it to myself,” he said. “God is love. That’s it. I get it. I really get it now.”
This article has been updated to reflect what Riaan Swiegelaar has expressed about his spiritual beliefs as of March 2023.
