EXETER, England (LifeSiteNews) — The University of Exeter in Devon, England, is introducing a course studying the history and impact of esotericism, witchcraft, occultism, and magic. The full-time, one-year course will commence in September 2024.
“Decolonization, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme,” according to a summary on the University of Exeter website.
Professor Emily Selove, who will lead the satanic “MA Magic and Occult Science” course, said:
This MA will allow people to reexamine the assumption that the West is the place of rationalism and science, while the rest of the world is a place of magic and superstition. Magic and the occult have been and remain an enormous part of Western culture, and it is foolish to deny this or to refuse to take it seriously. Rigorous study of these subjects allows us to reexamine the relationship of humans to the natural world and of different human cultures to one another.
By housing this programme within the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, we place the Arabo-Islamic cultural heritage back where it belongs in the centre of these studies and in the history of the ‘West.’
Course modules include, “The Western Dragon in Lore, Literature and Art,” “The Legend of King Arthur,” “Gender, Society and Culture in Early Modern Europe,” “The Sovereign, the Good, and Society in Islamic Thought,” and “Philosophy and Psychedelics.”
Selove added, “A recent surge in interest in magic and the occult inside and outside of academia lies at the heart of the most urgent questions of our society.”
The demonic course at the University of Exeter comes as no surprise with Satanism, Shamanism, and Paganism on the rise in the U.K. alongside a sharp decline in Christianity. In 2021, key census data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed a significant increase in devil worship in the U.K. The census, which is completed every 10 years, included a question on religious status.
According to the ONS data from 2021, the number of people in England and Wales classified as Satanists had increased by 167 per cent since the last census in 2011. Per the same census, and for the first time in the history of the U.K., Christians in England and Wales now make up less than half of the U.K. population, dropping to only 46.2 percent.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Satanist Chaplain Leopold, co-leader of the Global Order of Satan UK, claimed the rationale for the increase in people converting to Satanism was disillusionment with “traditional dogmatic religions” and a “movement towards self-dentification and self-realization.” He has seen a 200 percent increase in membership over the last five years.
The 2021 ONS census also revealed that 15 babies in the U.K. were named Lucifer.