Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

xiv
Introduction
voiced objections to the central role I assigned
LaVey and his best-known work, The Satanic
Bible, in the formation of modern Satanist religion.
I was, furthermore, encouraged to shift my
emphasis to the work of earlier literary figures
ultimately responsible for fashioning the positive
image of the Devil that LaVey later adopted for his
Church of Satan. After reflecting on these objections,
however, I concluded that—despite his
heavy dependence on prior thinkers—LaVey was
directly responsible for the genesis of modern
Satanism as a serious religious (as opposed to a
purely literary) movement. Furthermore, however
one might criticize and depreciate it, The Satanic
Bible is still the single most influential document
shaping the contemporary Satanist movement.
Whether LaVey was a religious virtuoso or a
misanthropic huckster, and whether The Satanic
Bible was an inspired document or a poorly edited
plagiarism, their influence was and is pervasive.
Much of the current attention directed to
Satanism has originated in the conservative
Christian subculture, and a number of entries in
this book deal with Christian interpretations of
certain secular pursuits and commodities (e.g.,
role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons) as
diabolical. A major phenomenon that grew out of
this attention in the late 1980s and the early 1990s
was the Satanic ritual abuse (SRA) scare, sometimes
referred to as the “Satanic panic.” Although
not entirely responsible for this panic, the
Christian subculture played a key role in promoting
the ritual abuse scare to the broader society.
During this period, the reality of a vast, underground
network of evil Satanists abusing children
and others was accepted by significant segments of
the law enforcement community and by numerous
therapists—even police officers and analysts not
otherwise inclined to accept traditional theology.
Less responsible members of the mass media,
attracted by the sensationalism of these claims,
avidly promoted the idea. The SRA scare went into
a sharp decline after about 1992. By the mid-1990s
public opinion had shifted, and soon the SRA
perspective was being rejected by almost everyone
except certain conservative Christians.
Another influential arena in which traditional
images of the Devil have been promoted to the
broader culture is the entertainment industry. This
is especially the case in the horror genre. For
example, the most successful horror film of all
time, The Exorcist (1973), was produced with the
expert advise of three Jesuit priests, two of whom
appear in the movie. In the film’s wake, many
people began claiming they were possessed.
Despite the sensationalistic appeal of its graphic
content, however, the real core of The Exorcist’s
narrative was the crisis of faith of the younger
priest, who must regain his faith in order to save
the possessed girl. Thus by the end of the movie the
Devil is thwarted and the power of the Christian
god reaffirmed.
The pervasive horror movie theme of Satanic
conspiracies helped shape the Satanic conspiracy
theories that became so influential during the
ritual abuse scare. As Gavin Baddeley, the author
of Lucifer Rising, observes, the movies of the 1970s
“established Satanic cultists as stock movie
monsters.” Although Christians have often
accused Hollywood of promoting Satanism, the
great majority of horror movies featuring a
diabolical theme tend to adhere closely to orthodox
theology. Such films have thus been highly
significant in keeping traditional images of the
Devil alive, and this book provides a series of
entries on relevant movies.
Next to horror movies, perhaps the most
significant source of diabolical images in contemporary
popular culture is heavy metal music
and some of heavy metal’s darker musical relatives.
This pattern began earlier among certain
pre-heavy-metal rock music groups. The initial
motivation for adopting Satanic trappings was
clearly to increase record sales, particularly among
rebellious adolescents who wanted to shock family
and friends. Few of the early rock musicians were
actually interested in promoting Satanism. As one
might anticipate, however, many conservative
Christians took such infernal images with deadly
seriousness, and produced a polemical literature
condemning heavy metal—and often rock music
more generally—as Satanic.
Although I had considered doing an encyclopedia
about Satanism for many years, I hesitated
because I was reluctant to immerse myself in such
a dark subject matter. I had a change of heart,