1. Home
  2. Resources For Ministers
  3. What titles are prohibited, even informally?

What titles are prohibited, even informally?

The only title ordained members of The Satanic Temple may use in any formal setting or capacity is Minister, or more completely: Minister of Satan. Although ministers have some flexibility in what titles they may adopt for themselves in informal settings, there are some guidelines to follow which are covered in: What titles are Satanic Ministers allowed use?

However, there are some specific titles that a Minister of Satan must never use, even informally, because use of those titles could be viewed as fundamentally dishonest, and in some cases is illegal.

The two most important examples are “Counselor” and “Chaplain”: both of these titles have specific well-defined meanings and require special certifications and training. To adopt these titles, even playfully, could be construed as you representing yourself as having specific training or certification that you do not have.

(If it happens to be the case that you are a certified counselor and also an ordained Minister of Satan, you should also be careful to not mix or merge these two titles. Although in that scenario it may be technically accurate to refer to yourself as, for example, and “Ordained Satanic Counselor” describing yourself in that manner runs the risk of creating a great deal of confusion about what role you are performing in any given situation. It would be better to keep these roles, and therefore also the titles, separated.)

You should also avoid titles strongly tied to specific roles within a particular religious denomination (e.g. Priest, Pope, Bishop, Imam, Rabbi) for similar reasons. These titles are associated, within their respective religions, with training and/or authority you do not have.

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles