Is it really so strange?

I've been thinking some more about the satanist being allowed to perform his "rituals" while at sea with the Royal Navy (as mentioned on 25.10.04). Firstly, I'd like to know what these rituals are. A bit of background reading informed me that, contrary to popular belief, it doesn't involve sacrificing goats or virgins (nor, for that matter, virginal goats). Which I found a bit disappointing frankly. So what DO they do? Pray? Meditate? Repeat mantras? Worship the sun? That's a bit ordinary isn't it? There isn't a religion in the world that doesn't involve a lot of that. Which moves me onto my second point. As a staunch atheist, I don't find Satanism any more ridiculous or offensive than any other unfounded belief system. Christians! Jews! Muslims! Buddhists! Hindus! Sikhs! You are all mistaken! Listen to me! Worshipping a horned fallen angel is no more absurd than avoiding certain foods on a Friday, or finding cows "sacred" (you ever been near a cow? Sacred isn't the word that springs to mind. Stupid maybe. They stink of shit too.), or fasting, or taking the bible literally. Don't you see? THEY ARE ALL UTTERLY PREPOSTEROUS!

So what do these "satanists" believe in? I checked out the Church Of Satan website for more information. There's an awful amount of waffle on here, but from what I can gather, it amounts to putting man before nature, "vengeance instead of turning the other cheek", "indulgence instead of abstinence", etc, etc, etc. Funny, I thought that was called "capitalism".