Lucien Greaves has described the Temple as being a progressive and updated version of
LaVey's Satanism.
[57] The Temple sees itself as separate and distinct from LaVeyan Satanists, and feels that its principles and tenets represent "a natural evolution in Satanic thought". Greaves has said that the elements of
Social Darwinism and
Nietzscheanism within LaVeyan Satanism is incongruent with
game theory,
reciprocal altruism, and
cognitive science.
[58] He has also criticized the
Church of Satan for its lack of
political lobbying and what he sees as their exclusivity, referring to them as
autocratic and
hierarchical, and saying that the Church fetishizes
authoritarianism.
[11][47] Conversely, the Church of Satan has made statements claiming that The Satanic Temple are only "masquerading as Satanists
[59] and do not represent Satanism.