A satanist faces daily death threats after turning to devil-worshipping following a horror ordeal that saw him nearly stabbed to death.
Tristán Kapp says he faces extreme prejudice on a daily basis and is called the "epitome of evil". He has also been banned from TikTok for his religious beliefs despite having 78,000 followers.
The 25-year-old research associate follows the religion of Satanism, finding inclusivity within the religion despite constant slander against him for his choices.
Tristán suffers verbal abuse, harassment, and slander on a daily basis, even receiving death threats over social media. He has been told on many occasions that he is “the devil” and is “going to hell”. He has been told he would “burn in hell” and that “God will strike him down”.
Strangers ask if he sacrifices babies and drinks blood. He was asked “do you sacrifice virgins”, “can you do magic” and “can you fly.”
Tristán was brought up in Centurion in a Christian home, following the Dutch Reformed Church traditions. He was baptised as a young boy and attended Sunday school regularly.
At the age of 16, Tristán became involved with evangelical Christianity after attending a youth camp meant to guide his prospective studies. Following this, in 2016 Tristán enrolled to study a Bachelor of Divinity in theology at the University of Pretoria.
During his final year of study in 2019, Tristán began questioning his beliefs following a rise in controversy in the Dutch Reformed Church regarding homosexual marriage. A series of events then led to him questioning his entire religious beliefs.
After conducting his own research on the ethics of sex and marriage, Tristán concluded that the Bible was nothing but outdated.
Due to his strong convictions, Tristan, from Pretoria, South Africa, was shunned by the fundamentalist Christian faction and turned to atheism.
In 2018, he suffered a near-fatal stabbing incident during a mugging in his home town by an unidentified assailant. He was knifed nine times in the torso and once in the chest.
The stab wound was four centimetres away from his heart. He lost a litre of blood and suffered a punctured lung.
Luckily, Tristán was found alive by a stranger and was rushed to the hospital where he spent three days in the intensive care unit and a further two days in the high care unit at Midstream Mediclinic in Centurion.
He suffered more misfortune when his girlfriend of over a year broke up with him, following her cheating on him. She called him “insecure”, “immature” and a “control freak”.
Tristán became severely depressed, spiralling into a faith crisis following these horrific events.
In 2022 Tristán began to study for a Masters of Divinity in Theology, specialising in Systematic and Historical Theology.
During his studies, Tristán began exploring Satanism, discovering similarities between his beliefs and that of Satanism.
Tristán embraced the religion and saw a significant improvement in his mental health, finding acceptance within Satanism.
In 2020 he was appointed the Gauteng Reverend of the South African Satanic Church, resigning a year later to pursue his Ph.D. and open his own secular spirituality counselling practice.
Due to his religion, Tristán has lost many close friends and family members who refused to be associated with him. When travelling to visit a friend, he was refused entrance into their house, being called “the personification of evil”.
Tristán also receives many racist slurs, and homophobic and transphobic insults despite being a straight, cis white male.
Once, on a flight to Johannesburg, Tristán was asked if he sacrifices babies and drinks blood. He was asked “do you sacrifice virgins”, “can you do magic” and “can you fly”, by a curious traveller.
Despite all of this, Tristán has remained positive, amassing followers on social media who support him in his endeavours. Tristán quickly grew 78.8K followers on TikTok before his account was banned for his religious beliefs. He has also created a viral hashtag, #thefriendlysatanist with over four million views on TikTok.
Tristán hopes to educate people on the truth of Satanism, and common misconceptions of evil creating a harsh stigma around the religion.
He is continuing his academic studies, hoping to one day become a professor in religious studies, as well as gain further qualifications.
Tristán also hopes to open an official branch of The Satanic Temple in South Africa, encouraging others to join and educating people on his religion.
“I was raised in a traditional Christian home,” said Tristán.
“My sister and I were raised in the Dutch Reformed Church, a church well-known for its inclusivity and progressiveness during the Apartheid struggle.
“At 16, I became involved with evangelical Christianity, after attending a youth camp meant to guide us into prospective studies and career paths for our lives.
“During the final years of my Bachelors, I started questioning the dogma of the church which has been taught to me, after a major controversy in the church arose about homosexuality in 2019.
“I realised the Bible is a product of ancient social constructs.”
Tristán describes his series of unfortunate events that led to his acceptance within his religion.
“I had a near-fatal stabbing incident where I was mugged for my phone by an unknown assailant,” he said.
“I was stabbed about nine times in the torso, with one wound in my chest about four centimetres away from my heart.
“I lost one litre of blood that evening.
“I was fortunate to be alive by an unknown stranger who stopped to assist me and phone an ambulance. I spent three days in the intensive care ward and a further two in high care until I was released.
“It was a series of excruciating emotional turmoil that sent me into a spiral of depression for a period of six months.
“My girlfriend of a year and three months and I broke up because she cheated on me.”
Following this, Tristán was forced to re-evaluate his life.
“I realised that my faith in God was a product of my broken relationship with an absent father,” he said.
“I suffered immense degradation from the far-right fundamentalist Christian faction about my opinions on the ills within the Christian religion.
“I embraced atheism, yet still in search of something more meaningful.
“That’s when Satanism came along.
“I chose Satanism because, for the first time in years, I felt valid in acknowledging and loving myself while pursuing what makes me happy and content towards achieving my ‘higher self’, along with being proud of what I’ve achieved, also what I could achieve with my talents, while also indulging in my passion for knowledge and life.
“For the first time I felt rooted within myself, with no holds barred in regard to my self-exploration.
“My mental health improved because I confronted my emotions and I was free to take ownership of myself completely, without apologising to a god for being 'sinful'.”
Tristán recounts the negativity he has encountered because of his beliefs.
“I lost some of my closest friends; some family members refuse to be associated with me,” he said.
“My friend’s husband and daughter refused to allow me near their house because I am 'the personification of evil'. 'I am a dark cloud that exists to corrupt youth, bring darkness wherever I go towards the destruction of believers'. 'I hate Christians'."
"I really don't, I couldn’t care less what people believe in and I even have Christian friends who aren't afraid of me and understand me and my religion.
“I had a Christian girlfriend who broke up with me because she was afraid her relationship with me would affect her relationship with God.
“People think I’m an edgy, pissed off emo-teen who never grew up and just wants to agitate society for lack of attention from parental figures.
“I’ve been harassed, pranked, slandered, threatened with my own life as well as the lives of those I love and care about. On social media I get death threats, I get hate speech and other forms of verbal abuse against my person in the name of religion.
“Once you become a Satanist, you experience first-hand how absolutely unkind and convoluted some people can be.
“I am fortunate to have the greatest little community of eccentric individuals I foster a safe haven to, who are my biggest support system.
“I’ve managed to collect a social media following who value my ideas under my brand The Friendly Satanist.
"My ‘hashtag’ #thefriendlysatanist has 4.1M views on TikTok, and it has empowered me to make this weird and wonderful predisposition accessible to people on a platform with quick growth, where I live out my beliefs as authentically as possible, without standing down in the face of hatred and bigotry.
“Do not judge a book by its cover. Leave your preconceived notions at the door when it comes to people who challenge your thoughts and perceptions about life.
“Lastly, to all the lazy-brained bible-thumpers, in the words of Dame Maggie Smith: 'My dear, religion is like a penis. It’s a perfectly fine thing to have and take pride in, but when one takes it out and waves it in front of my face, we have a problem'."
