Against
Satanic Panics

Against Satanic Panics is an informal network of people who aim to document, expose, and oppose the recent budding resurgence of a witchhunt mentality surrounding "Satanism."

Like the witchhunts of the 1600's, the "Satanic Ritual Abuse" (SRA) scare of the 1980's and early 1990's harmed lots of innocent people. The falsely accused weren't just law-abiding Satanists, nor were they just people of religions (e.g. Pagan Witchcraft) or other subcultures (e.g. goths) that have been popularly confused with Satanism. The vast majority of the falsely accused were ordinary mainstream folks.

The SRA scare was largely discredited by the mid-1990's. But it never completely died. McMartin-like cases still do occur now and then, though usually not in daycare centers these days.

There are now signs of a renewed "Satanism" scare - which will most likely take new forms, different from 1980's-style SRA allegations. This time around, it is unlikely that there will be quite so many false accusations against ordinary mainstream people. Instead, religious minorities and other nonmanistream subcultures will more likely bear the brunt. It is also likely that there will be quite a bit of general cultural paranoia, e.g. about innocent childhood pastimes like the Harry Potter books. But there will likely be at least a mini-resurgence of 1980's-style SRA allegations too. And there have already been at least some probably-false accusations against mainstream folks too - including Catholic priests, as part of an overreaction against the way they previously were unfairly protected against charges of child sexual abuse.

This website aims to provide a resource for activists, scholars, journalists, and anyone else with an interest in the topic of "Satanism" scares. This website was first made public in March 2006.

People of all religions and worldviews are welcome to join us in speaking out against the budding new wave of Satanic panic, or in helping us to pool relevant information.

1. General introductory commentary
• "Satanism" scares and their debunking - a brief introduction
• To scholars and journalists:  Topics of timely interest




2. Recent developments
• Recent criminal cases and accusations
• Recent anti-Satanist scaremongers (including Dawn Perlmutter) and debunkers
• Recent retractions and other recent news on some older alleged "Satanic" crimes
• Instances of general cultural paranoia and intolerance toward nonmainstream religions and subcultures, related to anti-Satanist scaremongering
• Italy's recent Satanic panic - and its impact on the Roman Catholic Church worldwide




3. To people in affected religions, subcultures, and social movements
• To Satanists, including Tabloid prophecy fulfillers:  Satanism's real-life criminal fringe - How should law-abiding Satanists respond?
• To Pagans and occultists, including A budding new “Satanic” panic and the Pagan community and Why it behooves Pagans and occultists to oppose a Satanic panic
• To humanists, atheists, skeptics, and opponents of pseudoscience
• To lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people
• Coming soon: To people in "dark" subcultures (e.g. Goth, Metal, Vampire, Fetish, BDSM, Body Art)




4. Collections of quotes
• Coming eventually:  The law-abidingness of most real-life Satanists - a collection of statements by Satanist groups and leaders and by reputable outside experts
• Coming eventually:  Satanism's real-life criminal fringe - a collection of statements by reputable experts




5. Collections of links
• The "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare of the 1980's and early 1990's
• Human sacrifice today - Who is really doing it?
• The growing number of Christians of kinds which inherently fear demons, Satanists, witches, occultists, and Pagans - Why a new worldwide Satanic panic is likely, given worldwide religious trends
• Exorcism, "spiritual warfare," and anti-occultism




6. Contact
• Diane Vera's blogs, and contacting Diane Vera

Unless otherwise noted, all contents are copyright © 2006 Diane Vera. All rights reserved.

Note to website owners:   Feel free to link to any page on this site. However, please do not post your own COPY of anything without my explicit permission.

This site hosted on Diane Vera's Theistic Satanism site.