If you are an ordained member of leadership in The Satanic Temple, then you are eligible to recommend members for candidacy. The process of recommending someone for candidacy only requires you to submit their name and email address on the Recommendations for Candidacy form on the Minister’s Dashboard; however, it is still important that you think carefully about who you choose to recommend.

The Satanic Temple ordains ministers as a of recognizing a person’s commitment to our religious values and connection to our community. The ordination program should not be used as a way for new members to learn about Satanism or decide whether they are a Satanist. Members in that position should be encouraged to register for the Non-Ordination (Coursework Only) program.

Even though recommending someone for candidacy does not obligate you to write their Letter of Approval (LOA) after they have completed the coursework, you should try to avoid putting someone in a position where they have completed the program but cannot get ordained because nobody will write their LOA. If you know a promising member who is newer, or who you have only started working with more recently, it may make more sense for you to wait and only recommend them for candidacy after you have enough experiences with them to feel confident that you would be able to write a solid LOA for them when they get to the end of the program.

Recommending someone for the ordination program is an endorsement, so making an uninformed or risky recommendation has the potential to reflect badly on you, as well. You will not automatically be held responsible for misconduct by any minister you recommended, of course; however, if a pattern of problems with ministers you have recommended emerges, that could call your judgment into question and have consequences for your future ability to recommend ministers or write LOAs.