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Offlinevigilant_mind
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Satanic Ritual Abuse
    #7769984 - 12/17/07 02:53 PM (16 years, 1 month ago)

This is a paper I wrote for my freshman writing class. I figured some of you might find it interesting.

False Allegations: Dispelling Claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse

Ever since its founding in the United States via the Church of Satan, Satanism has been a controversial topic. With the devil himself as their figurehead, Satanists have been the target of claims of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA)--claims of adults and children being physically or sexually abused by those who call themselves Satanists. Despite the fact that the majority of these claims have been disproven, the claims persist. These claims have led to a skewed popular view of Satanism, hence making its adherents people to be feared (Gilmore). It is time that the final blow be dealt to this controversy, as it has contributed to wasteful expenditures of valuable time and money on investigations into SRA claims; led to the ostracism of Satanists; and has created a panic within our society which will only serve to keep Americans in intellectual bondage.


A wide number of reasons explain how Satanists have come to be perceived as people who practice ritual abuse. James T. Richardson, professor of sociology and judicial studies at the University of Nevada at Reno, hypothesizes that the rise in claims of SRA, and hence a vision of Satanists as advocates of religious abuse, can be contributed to a number of factors. First and foremost is the developing involvement of Americans with Fundamentalist Christianity, a theology which views Satan as a literal, personal being, one who strives to inflict harm upon others (Awwad 111). Richardson believes that Fundamentalist Christians, who maintain a central belief in Satan as a personal, active being, are eager to point out mundane occurrences which may not be an act of Satan (for instance, ritual abuse of children). This zealous anxiousness for accusation of Satanic activity leads to hypervigilance within the media, as well as an ignominious branding of those who label themselves as Satanists. Second is the anti-cult movement, a group which seeks to suppress the rising of cults within the United States, has also added to the misperception of Satanism. The anti-cult movement has labeled Satanism not as a religion but as a cult, which carries a strong negative connotation in the eye of the public (Richardson 350). Third is the “child saver” movement, a movement which consisted of an allegiance of therapists, police officers, and social workers who banded together to protect children from SRA. The “child saver” movement has contributed to the christening of Satanism as a dangerous group in that workshops held by officials of this movement further disseminate information stating that Satanists are dangerous individuals. Fourth and finally is the biased portrayal of Satanists in the media, mainly on television and radio talk-shows have furthered the damaging of Satanism's public image as well by prolonging the existence of misinformation about Satanists and Satanism as a whole. All of these causes aim towards promoting a negative image of Satanism, albeit supposedly truthful one, yet fail to ever consult Satanic opinion at all.


Satanism, as its central doctrines state, is a self-avowed religion of hedonism, self-fulfillment, and selfishness (LaVey 31). But, contrary to claims made within the media and the public, Satanism is not a religion that condones ritualistic abuse, such as human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, or sex with unwilling partners (LaVey 53). To the Satanist, ritual is considered to be a tool, a “transformative psychodrama” meant to release energy and provide the symbolic fulfillment of a Satanist's desires, ranging from the laudable want to help a loved one to the carnal lust for sex and even to the exacting of revenge upon one's enemies (Gilmore). Church of Satan founder and past Black Pope Anton LaVey has even said that the need to sacrifice living beings is an “inhibitive and asinine absurdity,” and that it is only “symbolically...[that] the victim is destroyed through the working of a hex or curse.” (LaVey 112; emphasis LaVey's) Furthermore, the destruction or harm of an innocent being is seen as a travesty by Satanists, and only willing individuals who would be ever placed into a ritual situation (LaVey 111). Yet despite the fact that orthodox Satanism requires careful selection of ritual participants, popular consensus still exists, along with supportive evidence, that many claims of SRA made during the 1980's and 1990's are completely true, implying that not all Satanists practice what they preach.


During the early 1980's and 1990's—a time period which has been labeled the Satanic Panic—a deluge of claims of SRA involving children (sometimes adults) flooded the media, some of which actually had supportive evidence (Bromley 56). These claims typically involved the scenario of children being raped, molested, beaten, and sometimes even killed. Dr. Valeria Sinason, a child and adult psychotherapist and director of the Clinic for Dissociative Studies in London, England, believes that based upon a number of court case findings it is true that some Satanists do indeed ritually abuse children (Sinason 18). Sinason concedes that many court cases have proved that children are abused within other religions as well, including some of the United States most mainstream religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and even Buddhism. This is compelling, because it shows that perhaps selective attention has been placed on Satanists. According to a statistical analysis done by Adherents.com, a site that evaluates the different religious populations of the world, there are only a mere 20,000 Satanists in the United States, a number which pales in comparison to the 225 million Christians, 4 million Jews, and 1.5 million Muslims. Seeing as how Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States, it makes sense that its recognized opposition, Satanism, be made its scapegoat. Sinason is right that there have been a few deviants within the Satanic church who have been found guilty of ritual abuse, however, according to the evidence those individuals are just and only that—a deviant few.


The fact that the majority of SRA claims are utterly false or at least lacking any supportive evidence has been confirmed by a number of scholarly investigations. One such investigation was performed by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1993. Out of 12,264 claims of SRA that were investigated only a single instance of SRA occurring within the actual ritual context was confirmed. The other confirmed SRA claims were not true practices of SRA, as these situations involved individuals or couples abusing children in their homes. However, according to University of California at Davis psychologist Dr. Gail Goodman, the director of the investigation, there was not one finding which confirmed the existence of “a well-organized intergenerational Satanic cult, who sexually molested and tortured children in their homes or schools for years and committed a series of murders” (Goleman). The only offenders of SRA found were “lone perpetrators or couples who say they are involved with Satan or use the claim to intimidate victims” (Goleman). This is not surprising, since Satanists do not practice their religion en masse as the more mainstream religions of the United States do. Satanism can be a religion, but is more of a personal philosophy for the larger population of its adherents (Gilmore). Satanists are not required to be members of the Satanic church; many Satanists are simply individuals who just apply the Satanic philosophy outlined in The Satanic Bible to their lives and practice this philosophy independently—they are freelance Satanists, so to say. But to continue: this incredibility of claims of SRA has been further corroborated by David G. Bromley, professor of sociology from the Virginia Commonwealth University, who states that the Satanic Scare or Satanic Panic was nothing more than a phase of worry, anxiety, and false allegations made without any hard, supporting evidence (Bromley 65). Moreover, Bromley says that not a sole case of human sacrifice in a Satanic ritual has been confirmed, despite the claim made by self-avowed survivors of SRA that nearly 50,000 children each year are abused. Finally, Bromley notes that the majority of SRA survivors are within their forties, and that if it is true that these individuals were abused then these individuals must have been abused during the 1950's, more than a decade before Satanism rose within the United States via Antony LaVey. Here it is important to note that if these self-proclaimed SRA victims were in fact abused during the 1950's, they may have been abused by individuals merely using the title Satanist as a form of intimidation--in other words, their abusers were not actual Satanists. Since the Church of Satan did not come about until 1969 it would have been an impossibility for anyone to have been a member of the Satanic church in the 1950's. Bromley also elucidates the fact that many of these cases lack convincing physical evidence of SRA and that the chief way that these individuals “remember” their being abused by Satanists occurred as a result of introduction to Satanic literature via therapists (Bromley 59). David Frankfurter, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, has also confirmed that many of these remembrances of SRA occurred within the context of a therapist suggesting to the client the possibility of SRA. Yet testimony made by victims who have been suggested the possibility of SRA is not very trustworthy, simply because the memories of SRA these victims claim to have are merely fabricated (Bromley 62). The therapist is essentially using the power of suggestion on the client, thus encouraging the fabrication of past ritual abuse (Bromley 62). Furthermore, efforts made by therapists to confirm their clients' testimonies within the courtroom have proven to be unfruitful. Logically, this collective disproving of SRA claims should lead to a more sound perception of Satanism within the media and the household, yet other culprits still persist to promulgate the message that Satanism is a religion of criminality and child abuse.


Other causes have been labeled as the culprit for Satanist's being labeled as a criminal and wicked religious people as well. In particular, there is popular opinion that involvement with Satanism leads to criminality, especially with youth (Damphousse, Crouch 205). Researchers Kelly R. Damphousse and Ben M. Crouch at Texas A&M University conducted a study in 1992 which explored this claim that Satanism causes youths to commit crimes. What the researchers found was that Satanism is not linked with criminality, since only 10% of their sample group--which consisted of youth delinquents--testified to having been involved with Satanism. Moreover, the researchers concluded that youth delinquents in general are just as likely to become involved in Satanism as they are to involve themselves in any other form of religion. Essentially, this study shows that it is coincidence at best if a delinquent youth becomes a Satanist and then commits crimes in the name of Satan. Some Satanists may be criminals, just as some Christians, Buddhists, or Muslims may be criminals. It is the nature and personality of the individual him or herself that is to blame for the crimes they commit, not Satanism, as there is no strong correlation between the two.


So why is this matter so pressing? What makes it important that this issue of SRA claims be abandoned? Simply, it is a waste of valuable time and money, not to mention the negative effect it has had on Satanists and America as a whole. The 20th century observed a large number of investigations into SRA, most of which found the claims to be utterly false. Investigations into claims of SRA typically involved the manpower of psychologists, criminologists, journalists, law enforcement, attorneys, as well as religious leaders (Bromley 56). The employment of such resources costs money, time, and emotional energy. But what good is it that such exquisite forces be continually sent on a wild goose chase? What is more is that this inquisition against Satanists promotes a bad image of Satanists (Gilmore). And with a bad image and a moral laser sight placed on Satanists, Satanists are denied the true, unhindered ability to practice their religion freely, a right Christians, Jews, and Muslims all enjoy. If a large portion of the United States's focus is placed on locating and incarcerating individuals who abuse children and adults—who are also labeled Satanists—then surely all Satanists are bad. Perhaps not, but that was and is the common logic of the United States people (Gilmore). It is interesting to point out the similarity between this issue of SRA claims and another one of history's less celebrated moments: the Spanish Inquisition. In the Spanish Inquisition, some 12,000 individuals were tortured and murdered merely due to a suspicion that they were heretics of the Catholic Church (Dominguez). For nearly three and a half centuries this witch hunt ran wild, ultimately ending in the realization that the whole issue was one big, enormous mistake (Dominguez). Compare this to the modern situation of SRA investigations. Of course, Satanists are not being burned at the stake for their supposed involvement in child abuse, yet undoubtedly the same type of inquisition type thinking is present: Find the evil, guilty one and punish him. This sort of thinking constrains Americans in the same intellectual bondage that enslaved the Middle Age Spanish church. To continue thinking in this way is to completely reject the past 200 years of philosophical discourse. The investigations into SRA have proven to be fruitless, and have shown that the continuing Satanic panic in the United States is based on illusory fears and has ultimately been harmful to both Satanists and Americans (Bromley 66).


Since its inception, Satanism has been the recipient of many criminal allegations, and since “proving a negative has been difficult,” the tireless allegations of SRA continue (Richardson). These criminal allegations have warped Satanism's image into that of a malicious, child-abusing organization, one which rivals the image of the Ku Klux Klan. After viewing the variety of evidence which has proven Satanism's innocence of ritualistic abuse, it is difficult to continue to claim that Satanists are ritual abusers. Naturally, it would follow that perhaps the claims as to what Satanism is about--those bolstered by the theological texts central to Satanism--may, in fact, be true. Fearful attention still remains of Satanism, simply because Satanism's detractors are still at work. Whatever one concludes as to the nature and truth of Satanism is a personal issue, yet in the end, one must acknowledge that the evidence doesn't lie.











Works Cited
Awwad, Johnny. “Satan in Biblical Imagination.” Theological Review 26.2 (2005):111-126

Bromley, David. “The Satanic Cult Scare.” Society 28.4 (1991): 55-66

Dominguez, Jose. “The Dark Side of Christianity.” Biblia. 11 September 2004. 1 December 2007.
<http://biblia.com/christianity/index.html>;

Frankfurter, David. “The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic as Religious-Studies Data.” Numen 50.1 (2003): 108-117

Gilmore, Peter. Interview. The Hour. CBC.

Goleman, Daniel. “Proof Lacking for Ritual Abuse by Satanists.” New York Times 31 October 1994: 55

Home page. 23 April 2007. East Haven University. 2 December 2007.
<http://adherents.com>;

LaVey, Anton. The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969.

Richardson, James. “Satanism.” Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. AltaMira Press. 23 October 2007. <http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Satanism.htm>;

Richardson, James. “Definitions of Cult: From Sociological-Technical to Popular-Negative.”
Review of Religious Research 34.4 (1993): 348-356

Sinason, Valerie. “Just Like Others, Satanists Abuse.” Community Care 1571 (2005): 18


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Offline2FiNiTe
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: vigilant_mind]
    #7770142 - 12/17/07 03:37 PM (16 years, 1 month ago)

Great article! I've read about this before in little detail, I find it pretty interesting. Although I've seen interviews of Church of Satan members, and the way they talking about these "rituals" really makes me think if someone on the outside looking in saw this stuff the words "Ritual Abuse" would defiantly come to mind.



I'm right down the road man, I love Boulder.


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Offlinevigilant_mind
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: 2FiNiTe]
    #7770436 - 12/17/07 04:49 PM (16 years, 1 month ago)

Thanks man. Yeah, Boulder is sweet. We've got excellent weed. :bongload::grin:


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OfflineSeussA
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: vigilant_mind]
    #7772897 - 12/18/07 06:03 AM (16 years, 1 month ago)

> This is a paper I wrote for my freshman writing class.

Nicely done.


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Invisibletruekimbo2
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: Seuss]
    #7800033 - 12/26/07 02:42 AM (16 years, 1 month ago)

SRA is some crazy shit. i'm not saying that mainstream satanism has anything to do with satanic ritual abuse, but this shit:

http://educate-yourself.org/mc/IlluminatiFormulaindex.shtml

scared the fuck out of me. i never really read up on it because i was worried i was going to find out its as widespread as the UFO and abduction phenomenon.


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Offlineeve69
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: truekimbo2]
    #7800339 - 12/26/07 08:09 AM (16 years, 1 month ago)

That website is batshit.


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OfflineRunning Wolf
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: vigilant_mind]
    #27860922 - 07/13/22 08:34 AM (1 year, 6 months ago)

@vigilant_mind
  Nice work but why did you focus solely on the CoS? Good old Anton was nothing more than putting on a circus for other libertarians who were having a hard time getting laid.
  Michelle Remembers was a book that got things rolling. It was supposed to be  the tale of a woman who was ritually abused throughout her childhood. This was before the internet so it was harder for people to fact check things. The media as always was looking for a sensational headline. The turned out to be complete bullshit, the woman who was making these accusations had a perfect attendance record at school contrary to her stories of missing months of school because of pregnancy, being used by "cults" in other states, there was so much bullshit you could have an endless supply of cubes growing on it. To add insult to injury with the credibility the shrink and her ended up fucking each other and had a long term relationship. That cause cause you to loose your lisc.

    It's hilarious that a lot of the public were stupid enough to believe the Satanic Cults were a real thing. But then again christian mythology is based around uneducated people who can barely read and right and will believe in talking animals and living inside a whale. Where were all these bodies that the deluded patients were claiming to have been sacrifices? Plus you'd sort of notice if a teenage girl was constantly pregnant but never had  children in the household.

    It was insane living through those times, I was there at the start of the Great Satanic Wars, no seriously I lived through that time.

    What's hilarious is that The Satanic Temple's 7 Tenants don't allow for murder or rape. The christian bible gives rules on how to rap prisoners of war, how to sell you daughter into sexual slavery and a whole bunch of other crazy immoral shit. Unlike the christian clergy you will get kicked out of TST (and have the temple report you to the police) for things like rape and murder.


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OfflineForresterM
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Re: Satanic Ritual Abuse [Re: Running Wolf]
    #27861328 - 07/13/22 03:01 PM (1 year, 6 months ago)

14 year old thread dude, op is no longer here


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