My Satanist son is lovely lad. He was in the Boys Brigade

My Satanist son is lovely lad. He was in the Boys Brigade

London Times | Oct 26 2004

THE mother of the Royal Navy’s first officially recognised Satanist said yesterday that her devil-worshipping son was a sweet and loving man who used to accompany her to church.
Leading Hand Chris Cranmer, 24, a naval technician in the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland, is the first British serviceman allowed to perform satanic acts and rituals associated with the Church of Satan in his ship.

His mother, Catherine, 51, said that her son was “the least evil person you could meet”.

Mrs Cranmer, of Kirkliston, West Lothian, said that he had been a churchgoer until five years ago, when he renounced Christianity for the Church of Satan, formed in 1966 in San Francisco. “When he was around 14 years of age, he started to read about other religions.

“Up until then he was a member of the Boys Brigade.

“I am proud of the way he had stood up for his beliefs. He does not have an evil bone in his body and is an upstanding member of society.

“He is a very kind, sweet and good-natured son who loves his family deeply. He is the best son a mother could have,” Mrs Cranmer said.

She admitted that she was not thrilled when her son told her he was converting, but blames her response on ignorance. “That’s the problem, unless you read into it, you think it’s all death and horror.

“It conjures up many weird and wonderful images, but being a Satanist is not like that at all. The church has 11 rules, rather like commandments. There is a rule saying you can be sexually promiscuous and enjoy life, but most people in today’s society do that anyway,” she added.

Leading Hand Cranmer calls himself a magistrate of the Society of the Onyx Star Black Guard and uses the codename Demon Jock on Satanist websites.