146 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
146 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
Release Date: 10/31/88
|
|
|
|
SATAN'S OVERRATED
|
|
------- ---------
|
|
|
|
"People who worry about a rising tide of Satanic crime in Ameri-
|
|
ca are giving the Devil much more than his due." So says a re-
|
|
port issued today by the Committee for Scientific Examination
|
|
of Religion (CSER).
|
|
|
|
The results of a 2-year investigation into Satanism in America,
|
|
the report finds some evidence of Satanic crime, but cautions
|
|
that its prevalence has been vastly overstated.
|
|
|
|
"A person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be
|
|
the victim of Satanic crime."
|
|
|
|
Alarmed by wide public acceptance of outrageous and unsupported
|
|
claims of international Satanic conspiracies, CSER, a group of
|
|
scientists and scholars dedicated to critical evaluation of
|
|
religious claims, decided to investigate. Fresh from its ex-
|
|
pose of fraudulent TV faith healers, CSER began its investiga-
|
|
tion into Satanism in 1986. The report, originally scheduled
|
|
to be released in April of 1989, was moved up to Halloween
|
|
because of the recent Geraldo Rivera special "Devil Worship,
|
|
Exposing Satan's Underground", which aired on NBC last Tuesday
|
|
night.
|
|
|
|
The report sharply criticizes Rivera's special, charging that
|
|
the program was "poorly researched", "sensational", and "highly
|
|
irresponsible". "The Rivera report was misleading, much of the
|
|
information presented was inaccurate, and key facts were omit-
|
|
ted", facts that, CSER contends, would have left the audience
|
|
considerably less alarmed about the threat of Satanism.
|
|
|
|
According to Shawn Carlson, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley
|
|
Labs and the report's principal author, the Geraldo Rivera
|
|
special was typical of the sensational treatment given to this
|
|
topic. Carlson contends that there is a growing myth of a
|
|
national Satanic conspiracy, which has been fueled by so-called
|
|
experts with a religious axe to grind, misinformed police offic-
|
|
ers, and a gullible media easily lured into sensationalism.
|
|
"The supposed experts tend to believe the allegations first and
|
|
ask questions later. We've tried to systematically research
|
|
what's happening in America to get a clear understanding of the
|
|
problem. We want to stand out as a voice of reason in a field
|
|
muddled by so much emotion and so many misconceptions", he
|
|
said.
|
|
|
|
The report claims that many authors have exaggerated allega-
|
|
tions of Satanic activity beyond reason. It is particularly
|
|
true of allegations made by people who claim to have been deep-
|
|
ly involved in Satanic cults, and who now tell their stories in
|
|
books and on television. "These people claim to know who the
|
|
cultists are, where they meet, how they dispose of the bodies
|
|
of victims, but, unlike undercover police officers and Mafia
|
|
informants, they are unable to provide names, dates, places, or
|
|
any other tangible evidence."
|
|
|
|
The report addresses a whole slew of Satanic allegations:
|
|
child abductions, ritual child abuse, ritual murder, animal
|
|
mutilations, women who purportedly sacrifice their babies to
|
|
Satan, and the relationship between Satanism and Heavy Metal
|
|
rock music. It concludes that most of these allegations are
|
|
baseless. The report states that in the few instances where
|
|
crimes with undeniably Satanic elements have occurred, "there
|
|
is no evidence to show that Satanism per se was responsible for
|
|
the act. Nearly every Satanic criminal had a history of
|
|
anti-social behavior long before he/she took up Satanic trap-
|
|
pings. Satanism appears as an expression of one's mental ill-
|
|
ness, not as the motivation for anti-social behavior. Satanism
|
|
is a symptom, not the cause.
|
|
|
|
"I'm proud of the work we've done, especially in the area of
|
|
child abuse" says Gerald Larue, Emeritus Professor of Religion
|
|
at the University of Southern California and coauthor of the
|
|
report. "The hysteria mongers would have us spend our resourc-
|
|
es going after non-existent nation-wide cults of Satanic child
|
|
abusers. We must concentrate our efforts on finding the real
|
|
abusers and taking them off the streets, and getting abused
|
|
kids the help they need. We owe it to our children not to
|
|
indulge ourselves in hysteria in their name."
|
|
|
|
Carlson adds "We now know that the hysterical claims that thou-
|
|
sands of children are being stolen off the streets and ritually
|
|
murdered by these Satanists just aren't true. The FBI states
|
|
that they have fewer than 80 open files on children abducted by
|
|
strangers. At most, the Satanists could be responsible for
|
|
only some fraction of these abductions. Your child is twenty
|
|
times more likely to drown in a backyard pool. If you're real-
|
|
ly concerned about your child's safety, buy a pool cover before
|
|
you start going after Satanists."
|
|
|
|
CSER states that its investigation is still ongoing. It is
|
|
still examining allegations of networks of Satanic groups, but
|
|
claims that it can rule out any of the large-scale conspiracies
|
|
postulated by other authors. "Some of these groups may communi-
|
|
cate with each other, but the allegations of organizations and
|
|
coordinated activity on a large scale just don't stand up",
|
|
according to Larue.
|
|
|
|
In the past five years, there have been over one million vio-
|
|
lent crimes committed in the U.S. The report states that,
|
|
according to police, only about 60 of these have involved Satan-
|
|
ism.
|
|
|
|
Says Larue, "The worship of Satan does not appear to be a sig-
|
|
nificant source of crime."
|
|
|
|
------------------------
|
|
Shawn Carlson can be reached at (415) 486-0873
|
|
|
|
Gerald Larue can be reached at (714) 969-7990
|
|
|
|
The Committee for Scientific Examination of
|
|
Religion press contact Barry Karr (716) 834-3222
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
|
|
|
|
Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)
|
|
|
|
& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Jeff Hunter 510-935-5845
|
|
The Salted Slug Strange 408-454-9368
|
|
Burn This Flag Zardoz 408-363-9766
|
|
realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510-527-1662
|
|
Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 415-583-4102
|
|
Tomorrow's 0rder of Magnitude Finger_Man 415-961-9315
|
|
My Dog Bit Jesus Suzanne D'Fault 510-658-8078
|
|
New Dork Sublime Demented Pimiento 415-566-0126
|
|
|
|
Specializing in conversations, obscure information, high explosives,
|
|
arcane knowledge, political extremism, diverse sexuality,
|
|
insane speculation, and wild rumours. ALL-TEXT BBS SYSTEMS.
|
|
|
|
Full access for first-time callers. We don't want to know who you are,
|
|
where you live, or what your phone number is. We are not Big Brother.
|
|
|
|
"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
|
|
|
|
X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
|