In Defence of Satan.

The Devil.
            Beelzebub.
                       Lucifer.
                              The Prince of Darkness
Whatever name is attributed to this character, he is usually pictured thus in popular culture:-

However, In biblical literature he was actually one of the highest honoured archangels. Lucifer. There are also numerous depictions of him in this guise.
                   
When you try and read further, what you find out is that Lucifer was cast out of heaven, along with many rebellious angels. There is not a great deal of detail- but the general consensus is that Lucifer tried to make himself as great as god, due to self pride- and God chucked him out. Wiki annotates the following:-

A number of catalysts have been proposed to explain the rebellion of Satan. All of them essentially stem from his pride, via various means. The possible means suggested include:

• A refusal to bow down to mankind on the occasion of the creation of man as in the Armenian, Georgian and Latin versions of the Life of Adam and Eve^[19]
• The culmination of a gradual distancing from God through use of free will (an idea of Origen of Alexandria).^[20]
• A declaration by God that all were to be subject to his Son, the Messiah (as in John Milton's Paradise Lost).^[21]
• A disagreement about God's plan of salvation (the Latter-day Saints view).^[22

What I can draw from this, is that Lucifer had ambition, passion. He was against favouritism, (in the case of man) he refused to bow to another simply because he was told to, and he stuck to his guns in debate when it came to something he didn't agree with, instead of just going along with it to keep everyone happy. None of these I would list as inherently evil properties, would you? Indeed, I would like to count them among my own. He sought to further himself, as all of us humans should be allowed to do. Just for contesting  "the way things were," he was cast out of heaven. Could it have been that god was afraid of him? Or Jealous? Whatever the reasoning, this is the rationale of most religions today, and since their inception- you either believe, or you need to be "saved" so that you can live forever in paradise. Either that, or God will put you where he put Lucifer. In Hell, to be forever tortured. It is nothing more than a manifestation of In-group vs. Out-group mentality; complete with an incentive designed to terrify. 
On a side note, I can think of no greater torture than eternal life. But I'll deal with that issue at length at a future post.
                       
To look at this wholly from a biblical point of view would be a grave mistake, as it would be very one sided in opinion. Let us now turn to the Church of Satan. You might think of this as just an anti-Christian movement but it is a separate belief system, complete with  rules and even "sins". I wish to take the opportunity to have a look at a couple of these now, but the full list of 9 can be found here

1. Stupidity—The top of the list for Satanic Sins. The Cardinal Sin of Satanism. It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable. Satanists must learn to see through the tricks and cannot afford to be stupid.
2. Pretentiousness—Empty posturing can be most irritating and isn’t applying the cardinal rules of Lesser Magic. On equal footing with stupidity for what keeps the money in circulation these days. Everyone’s made to feel like a big shot, whether they can come up with the goods or not.
3. Solipsism—Can be very dangerous for Satanists. Projecting your reactions, responses and sensibilities onto someone who is probably far less attuned than you are. It is the mistake of expecting people to give you the same consideration, courtesy and respect that you naturally give them. They won’t. Instead, Satanists must strive to apply the dictum of “Do unto others as they do unto you.” It’s work for most of us and requires constant vigilance lest you slip into a comfortable illusion of everyone being like you. As has been said, certain utopias would be ideal in a nation of philosophers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, from a Machiavellian standpoint) we are far from that point.
4. Self-deceit—It’s in the “Nine Satanic Statements” but deserves to be repeated here. Another cardinal sin. We must not pay homage to any of the sacred cows presented to us, including the roles we are expected to play ourselves. The only time self-deceit should be entered into is when it’s fun, and with awareness. But then, it’s not self-deceit!
                           

Sounds fairly sensible to me- Stupidity is one of humanity's greatest foes- And the list goes on in similar fashion. The language is somewhat crude in places, and a tad brash, but its non-alienating. The Bible, the Koran and other religious texts allow for multiple interpretations and thereby- misinterpretation. Satanism places oneself higher in importance than other religions, Is that so bad, to wish to realise more of your potential? I quote this time and again, but yet again it shines in relevance. 

"We are all better than we know, if only we can be brought to realise this, we may never again be    prepared to settle for anything less"
-Kurt Hahn 

One thing I am sure we can all agree on, whether we are religious or not, is that killing another is not acceptable. That said, with Satan's much maligned biblical portrait, you'd think he'd have quite a high kill count, compared with, say, a God who is proclaimed to have love, grace, compassion...
           
God's kill count in the bible- according to the creator of the online Skeptic's Annotated Bible (he counted)- is 2,476,636
Impressive.
Satan's, by comparison, is 10.

Note that these are only the numbered killings in the Bible. 
And it is here that I rest my case. The Devil- it would seem- is a much lesser evil than the Christian God, who can convict you of thought crime,  before you've even done it, and is himself judge, jury and executioner. I do not believe such a God exists. If he does, then I would still sooner have a pineapple inserted violently into my posterior before praising him.
Hail Satan, or at least cut him some slack.