Religion
Araya is a practicing
Roman Catholic.
[23] In an interview, Araya expressed his belief that "…
Christ came and taught us about love, about doing unto others. That was his preach: Accept each other for who we are. Live peacefully, and love one another." When asked if he believed in God, he replied "I believe in a supreme being, yeah. But He's an all-loving God."
[24] Araya explained that he has a "really strong belief system," and Slayer's images and words will "never interfere with what I believe and how I feel… People are not in good shape to where they have to question their own belief system because of a book or a story somebody wrote, or a Slayer song."
[25]
Araya commented about the misconception of the band labeled as
Satan worshippers, "Yeah, yeah I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions towards the band, but next to that just the fact that we're normal." If guitarist King writes a good song, Araya puts his beliefs aside, "I'm not one that's going to go, 'This sucks because it's contrary to my beliefs.' To me it's more like 'This is really good stuff. You're going to piss people off with this.'"
[25]
In 2016, Araya further explained that the main reason Slayer used satanic imagery was to scare people, in particular, the "Hollywood people," wanting to separate themselves from the androgynous
Sunset Strip metal scene of the 1980s.
[26]