{{Short description|Co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple}} {{Use American English|date=November 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox person | image = LucienGreavesSASHAcon2016.jpg | image_size = | caption = Greaves in March 2016 | name = Lucien Greaves | birth_date = | birth_place = Detroit, Michigan | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = Douglas Mesner, Douglas Misicko<ref name="The Salem News">{{Cite news | url=https://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/satanic-temple-cries-foul-over-twitter-treatment/article_b67a2d87-b587-5fd8-9e11-5788c47a2668.html | title=Satanic Temple cries foul over Twitter treatment | last=Manganis | first=Julie | date=2018-05-30 | work=The Salem News | issn=1064-0606 | publication-place=Danvers, Massachusetts | publisher=CNHI | access-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref> | occupation = Social activist<ref name="Atlantic 2023" /> | spouse = | parents = | children = | website = {{URL|https://luciengreaves.com}} }}
'''Douglas Mesner''', better known as '''Lucien Greaves''',{{refn|<ref name="Atlantic 2023">{{cite magazine | last=Lewis | first=Helen | date=1 October 2023 | title=The Social-Justice Rebellion at the Satanic Temple | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/social-justice-rebellion-satanic-temple/675481/ | url-status=live | location=Washington, D.C. | magazine=The Atlantic | publisher=Emerson Collective | issn=2151-9463 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003214145/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/social-justice-rebellion-satanic-temple/675481/ | archive-date=3 October 2023 | access-date=4 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="Esquire">{{cite news | url=http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a39904/satanic-temple-founder-interview-muslims/ | title=Why the Satanic Temple Is Opening Its Doors to American Muslims | last=Miller | first=Matt | date=November 21, 2015 | work=Esquire | publisher=Hearst Communications | access-date=December 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="vice2013">{{cite web | url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/unmasking-lucien-greaves-aka-doug-mesner-leader-of-the-satanic-temple/ | title=Unmasking Lucien Greaves, Leader of the Satanic Temple | first=Shane | last=Bugbee | author-link=Shane Bugbee | work=Vice.com | publisher=Vice Media | date=July 31, 2013 | access-date=November 11, 2022}}</ref><ref name="DET1">{{cite news | url=http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/lucien-greaves-of-the-satanic-temple/Content?oid=2201492 | title=Lucien Greaves of the Satanic Temple | type=Interview | work=Detroit Metro Times | date=May 27, 2014 | publisher=Euclid Media Group | access-date=December 2, 2015}}</ref>}} is an American social activist, as well as the cofounder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple.{{refn|<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/us/a-mischievious-thorn-in-the-side-of-conservative-christianity.html | title=A Mischievous Thorn in the Side of Conservative Christianity | first=Mark | last=Oppenheimer | date=July 11, 2015 | access-date=November 8, 2021 | website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/22/us/satanic-temple-scholarship-trnd/index.html | title=The Satanic Temple is offering 'Devil's Advocate Scholarship' | first=Alisha | last=Ebrahimji | work=CNN | date=July 22, 2020 | access-date=November 8, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/27/satanic-temple-founder-accuses-boston-city-council-discrimination/tX2w9Czgn8N53UBFHEUUFP/story.html | last=Crimaldi | first=Laura | date=2019-02-27 | title=Satanic Temple cofounder accuses Boston City Council of discrimination | work=The Boston Globe | access-date=November 8, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/hell-yeah-how-the-satanists-became-the-good-guys-1.3991820 | date=24 August 2019 | title=Hell yeah! How the satanists became the good guys | first=Tara | last=Brady | newspaper=The Irish Times | access-date=November 8, 2021}}</ref>}}
== Early life == Greaves was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.<ref name="DET1" /> His mother was a Protestant who took him to Sunday School.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://religionnews.com/2016/10/18/after-school-satan-church-state-group-plays-devils-advocate-in-public-schools/ | last=Morrow | first=Sally | date=October 18, 2016 | title=After School Satan? Church-state group plays devil's advocate in public schools | work=Religion News Service}}</ref>
In 2002, Greaves took part in a podcast titled ''Might is Right'', to promote a reprint of an 1896 book of the same name. Greaves had also created illustrations for the reprinted edition. In the podcast, Greaves gave replies that some construed as antisemitic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Helen |date=October 1, 2023 |title=A Satanic Rebellion Social justice collides with the Satanic Temple |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/social-justice-rebellion-satanic-temple/675481/ |access-date=14 February 2025 |website=The Atlantic}}</ref>
== Activism == Greaves has spoken on the topics of Satanism, secularism, and The Satanic Temple at universities throughout the United States,<ref>{{cite AV media | url=https://www.law.uchicago.edu/recordings/lucien-greaves-satanic-temple-and-law | first=Lucien | last=Greaves | date=October 4, 2017 | title=The Satanic Temple and the law | publisher=University of Chicago Law School Secular Legal Society | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_30555057/satan-at-cu-student-group-brings-satanic-temple | last=Kuta | first=Sarah | title='Satan at CU?' Student group brings Satanic Temple leader to Boulder campus | work=Daily Camera | date=November 9, 2016 | publication-place=Boulder, Colorado | publisher=Prairie Mountain Media | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://usustatesman.com/satanic-temple-co-founder-promotes-respect-secularism/ | last=Berg | first=Alison | title=Satanic Temple co-founder promotes respect, secularism | work=The Utah Statesman | publication-place=Logan, Utah | publisher=Utah State University | date=October 15, 2017 | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> and he has been a featured speaker at national conferences hosted by American Atheists,<ref>{{cite press release | url=https://www.atheists.org/2014/09/press-release-american-atheists-tackles-bible-belt-for-2015-convention/ | last=Muscato | first=Dave | title=American Atheists Tackles Bible Belt for 2015 Convention | publication-place=Cranford, New Jersey | publisher=American Atheists | date=September 16, 2014 | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> the American Humanist Association,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://conference.americanhumanist.org/schedule2017/graeves/ | title=Lucien Graeves | website=Americanhumanist.org | access-date=November 8, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108205444/http://conference.americanhumanist.org/schedule2017/graeves/ | archive-date=November 8, 2017 | url-status=dead}}</ref> and the Secular Student Alliance.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://secularstudents.org/speakers/LucienGreaves | title=Lucien Greaves | website=Secular Student Alliance | access-date=November 8, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108205700/https://secularstudents.org/speakers/LucienGreaves | archive-date=November 8, 2017 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
Greaves has been instrumental in setting up the Protect Children Project, the After School Satan project, and several political demonstrations and legal actions designed to highlight social issues involving religious liberty and the separation of church and state.<ref name="NYT1">{{Cite news | title=A Mischievous Thorn in the Side of Conservative Christianity | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/us/a-mischievious-thorn-in-the-side-of-conservative-christianity.html | newspaper=The New York Times | date=2015-07-10 | access-date=2015-12-02 | issn=0362-4331 | first=Mark | last=Oppenheimer}}</ref><ref name="RollingStone">{{Cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/satanists-defending-abortion-rights-meet-5-conservatives-freaking-out-about-it-20150506 | title=Satanists Support Abortion Rights, Conservatives Freak Out | last=Marcotte | first=Amanda | date=2015-05-06 | magazine=Rolling Stone | access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref>
Greaves has received many death threats, and deliberately does not use his legal name to avoid threats to his family.<ref name="DET1" /><ref>{{cite book | last=Laycock | first=Joseph P. | date=2020 | title=Speak of the Devil: How the Satanic Temple Is Changing the Way We Talk about Religion | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPDGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 | location=New York, NY | publisher=Oxford University Press | pages=37, 72 | isbn=978-0-19-094849-8}}</ref>
Greaves and his colleagues envisioned The Satanic Temple as a "poison pill" in the Church/State debate: Satanists asserting their rights and privileges where religious agendas have imposed themselves upon public affairs, serving as a reminder that such privileges are for everybody, and can provide a religious agenda beyond the current narrow understanding.<ref name="vice2013" /> Neither Greaves nor members of The Satanic Temple claim to worship Satan; instead, their beliefs focus on personal sovereignty, independence, and freedom of will.<ref name="vice2013" />
Greaves appears throughout the 2019 documentary film ''Hail Satan?'' regarding religious freedoms and early days of The Satanic Temple.<ref name="straight">{{Cite magazine |last=Eisner |first=Ken |date=2019-05-01 |title=A Satanic panic over church and state in Hail Satan? |url=https://www.straight.com/movies/1235221/satanic-panic-over-church-and-state |access-date=2019-05-06 |magazine=The Georgia Straight |publisher=Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corporation |language=en |publication-place=Vancouver}}</ref> Greaves contributed the foreword to ''The Little Book of Satanism'' (2022) by La Carmina<ref>{{cite book | last=Carmina | first=La | date=October 25, 2022 | title=The Little Book of Satanism | url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Little-Book-of-Satanism/La-Carmina/9781646044221 | publisher=Ulysses Press | isbn=978-1-64604-422-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/religion/article/88497-religion-book-deals-february-9-2022.html | title=Religion Book Deals: February 9, 2022 | publisher=Publishers Weekly | date=February 9, 2022 | access-date=July 27, 2022}}</ref> as well as artwork for multiple endeavors by Shiva Honey.<ref>{{cite book | last=Honey | first=Shiva | year=2020 | title=The Devil's tome: A book of modern Satanic ritual | language=en | publisher=Serpentīnae | isbn=978-1-393-76364-2}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == <!-- Per WP:ELMINOFFICIAL, choose one official website only --> * {{Twitter|LucienGreaves}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170930031246/http://dougmesner.com/ Lucien Greaves Archive] * {{cite web | url=http://www.process.org/discept/ | title=The Process Is... | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112005428/http://www.process.org/discept/ | archive-date=November 12, 2020}} group blog, primarily 2008–2013 * [https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/ArticleArchives?sortType=release&tag=lucien%20greaves ''Letters to a Satanist''], column by Greaves in ''Orlando Weekly'', 2014–2015
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Activists from Michigan Category:American atheism activists Category:American critics of Christianity Category:American founders Category:American Satanists Category:American social justice activists Category:Converts to new religious movements from Christianity Category:Founders of new religious movements Category:Living people Category:Religious leaders from Michigan Category:Satanist religious leaders Category:The Satanic Temple