Satanism and Ritual Abuse

Satan, or the devil, does not play a large role in the Old Testament and in the New Testament generally is not given the large evil powers that many people now ascribe to him. Most of our modern notions of Satan are elaborations of ideas first developed in the Middle Ages. Obviously beliefs in Satanic cults and witches have much in common. In any event, fighting satanic cults has become a modern growth industry. Most of the evidence favoring Satanic cults comes from supposed survivor accounts, and there are now several of these available, all of which follow the same basic formula and turn out to be false to the extent details can be checked. Included in this section are books detailing charges of sexual abuse in day-care centers and of sex-rings which are often seen as having ties to the Satanic movement.

 

Eberle, Paul & Eberle, Shirley. The Abuse of Innocence: The McMartin Preschool Trial. Prometheus Books, 1993. Focuses on the longest and costliest trial thus far of suspected child abusers. The Buckleys were ultimately acquitted of ritual abuse of children at their daycare center. This book is turgid and fairly dull; it focuses more on the second trial than on the background.

Hertenstein, Mike, & Trott, Jon. Selling Satan: The Evangelical Media and the Mike Warnke Scandal. (*) Cornerstone Press, 1993. An expose of Mike Warnke who claimed to have been part of a Satanic cult and for years made a substantial living on the conservative Christian circuit preaching the dangers of Satanic cults and ritual abuse. The authors are themselves journalists for a leading evangelical periodical.

Hicks, Robert D. In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult. Prometheus Books, 1991. Explores the obsession of some police officers with Satanic cults in the absence of evidence supporting their existence.

Kahaner, Larry. Cults that Kill: Probing the Underworld of Occult Crime. (*) Warner Books, 1988. Despite the title and the cover claims, this book, based on interviews with law enforcement officers, is largely critical of the notion that there is wide-spread crime stemming from a satanic underground.

Lyon, Kathryn. Witch Hunt: A True Story of Social Hysteria and Abused Justice. (*) Avon Books, 1998. An alarming story of how over two dozen people in a small Washington town were wrongly convicted of being part of a sex ring which molested children.

Nathan, Debbie & Snedeker, Michael. Satan=s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. Basic Books, 1995. A detailed examination of various cases of charges of ritual sexual abuse. Nathan wrote a highly influential set of articles on the McMartin case, and the book provides detail on this case.

Noblitt, James & Perkins, Pamela Sue. Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America. Praeger, 1995. A defense of the idea that Satanic cults are alive and powerful.

Phillips, Mark & O'Brien, Cathy. Trance Formation of America (*) Reality Marketing, 1995. A book by one of the many recent people who claim to have been brainwashed by the US government, In this case Ms. O'Brien says she is a survivor of the CIA's MK-Ultra Project Monarch mind control operation. She claims to have been brain-washed in a CIA project controlled by Sen. Robert C. Byrd and to have been a sex slave to American Presidents beginning with Gerard Ford. 

Richardson, James T., Best, Joel, & Bromley, David G. (Eds.). The Satanism Scare. Aldine de Gruyter, 1991. A strong collection of papers by sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and historians that tries to place the contemporary Satanism fad in historical and social contexts.

Ryder, Daniel. Cover-Up of the Century: Satanic Ritual Crime and World Conspiracy (*) Ryder Publishing, 1994. Just in case you had any notions that Satanism was harmless. The author claims that international Satanism is now running the world. The book is self-published and shows it. 

Sakheim, David K., & Devine, Susan E. (Eds.). Out of Darkness: Exploring Satanism and Ritual Abuse. Lexington Books, 1992. Articles pro and con by mental health professionals but mostly supporting the existence of the phenomenon.

Sinasone, Valerie (Ed.). Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse. Routledge, 1994. Chapters written by therapists who treat supposed ritual abuse survivors. Some case history material.

Stratford, Lauren. Satan's Underground. (*) Pelican Publishing, 1988. One of the more famous of the "survivor" disclosures. This book was withdrawn after reporters discovered that most of the claims in the book could not be verified and that many statements of fact were wrong. An even more famous book in this genre is Michele Remembers by Michele Smith and Lawrence Pazder. Pocket Books, 1980. Pazder was Ms. Smith's psychiatrist, and is now her husband. They have made millions of dollars from this book and public appearances, a fact which does not, of course, speak directly to the reality of the claims but does give one pause.

Taylor, Brice. Thanks for the Memories...The Truth Has Set Me Free (*). Brice Taylor Trust, 1999. Ms. Taylor (Susan Ford) claims to have been brainwashed by a group led by Henry Kissinger and to have been a sex slave to every President from JFK on (except for Jimmy Carter) not to mention Bob Hope and numerous other show business personalities. The girl does get around. Long, boring, and ultimately pathetic. 

Victor, Jeffrey S. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. (*) Open Court, 1993. Probably the best treatment we have on the causes of the myth of widespread satanic and ritual abuse. It is especially good on the social factors that give rise to rumors of Satanic cults and support credibility in them. The heart of the book is a discussion of a small community in New York that gradually came to think there was a group of Satanists active in the community.