It isn’t every day you get invited to a slumber party with the Church of Satan, as Chris Hallman discovered while researching his latest book “The Devil is a Gentleman.”

Published in May by Random House, the book follows the Margaret Banister Writer-in-Residence on a coast-to-coast odyssey as he spends time with — and sometimes joins the ranks of — American fringe religious groups.

During 10 months of research, Hallman met fundamentalist Christian wrestlers and dog-breeding monks; he joined the Church of Scientology, trekked Druid circles and talked with members of UFO cults. When asked to describe his hairiest experience, however, the conversation goes straight to hell.

J.C. “Chris” Hallman’s book, “The Devil is a Gentleman” was published by Random House in May.
“The scariest moment was probably the first night I spent with the people from the Church of Satan,” Hallman said, adding that his basement guest room was painted white and black and decorated with all sorts of satanic paraphernalia. “That was pretty creepy.”

Hallman’s quest was inspired by the 19th-century American philosopher William James’ work “The Varieties of Religious Experience.” In his book, James explores the religious fringe groups of his day and draws some conclusions through an idea called “pragmatic truth.”

“Basically, [it’s] the idea that truth is made,” Hallman explained. “An idea’s veracity should be judged by its effect on the world, so that if I say, ‘I believe in space gods or space brothers’ and that belief musters energy in me, makes me a more potent person in the world, makes life seem worth living to me, then maybe we ought to find a way to say: ‘Fine, for you that’s truth; that’s a fact for you.’ ”

The Church of Satan — which ironically doesn’t believe in the devil, according to Hallman — is a good example of this. “When the Satanists are using ritual to empower themselves, even when they don’t believe in the object that they’re claiming to worship, they’re demonstrating something about [James’] idea of pragmatic truth,” he said.

In “The Devil is a Gentleman,” Hallman weaves the stories of his religious exploration with the biography and ideas of James. Along the way, he not only helps the reader understand these sometimes “crazy” and “whacked out” groups, he also learns some things about himself.

“I started out as kind of a typical academic, secular, intellectual skeptic,” Hallman, a former Catholic, said. “But then you realize in the process of doing a book like this that even that is its own form of faith. Even secularism, even atheism is an unfalsifiable hypothesis so that you have a religion whether you want to or not.”

That realization led Hallman back to “theological square one,” although he confesses to having become a disciple of James. The experience also has made him a more forgiving person, an idea usually associated with religion. “That doesn’t have to do with believing in God or the afterlife,” Hallman said. “It just has to do with becoming a person who’s able to accept others, whoever they are.”

In the coming weeks, Hallman will travel to Iowa City and Chicago for readings of his book. Reviews also have been published on numerous Web sites and in the San Francisco Chronicle, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and the North County Times of Escondido, Calif.

– By Suzanne Ramsey, SBC staff writer