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

224 Rivera, Geraldo
or her own personal needs as the ultimate criterion
for indicating the best course of action in any
situation. The final major difference is that LaVey
saw tremendous value in tapping the power of our
emotional nature through “irrational” psychodramas
such as magical rituals, a view that likely
would have been unpalatable to Rand.
See also LaVey, Anton Szandor
For Further Reading:
Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random
House, 1957.
———. The Fountainhead. New York: Bobbs-
Merrill, 1943.
Schreck, Zeena LaVey, and Nikolas Schreck. “Anton
LaVey: Legend and Reality.”
http://www.churchofsatan.org/aslav.html
Ayn Rand testifying before the House Un-American
Activities Committee, 20 October 1947.
(Bettmann/Corbis)
The influence of Rand on LaVey is most
evident in The Satanic Bible’s “Nine Satanic
Statements,” one of the Church of Satan’s central
doctrinal documents. As a number of observers
have pointed out, these statements appear to draw
from Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged. LaVey and
Rand also both endorsed unbridled capitalism,
although the former was less squeamish about
accepting the potentially brutal consequences of a
system in which the strong dominate the weak.
LaVey’s religious system was not, however,
simply Ayn Rand’s philosophy in occult garb.
Objectivism holds that the nature of reality and
therefore truth is completely objective. Rand also
believed that the universe was ultimately benevolent.
Modern Satanism, by contrast, is more skeptical
and agnostic about the ultimate nature of
reality, and tends to view the universe as neutral.
Although both systems are rationalistic, Satanism
is also strongly hedonistic. Knowledge is thus
more of a pragmatic tool than an objective value
for the Satanist, who relies upon the dictates of his
Rivera, Geraldo
Satanic cults! Every hour, every day, their ranks are
growing. Estimates are there are over one million
Satanists in this country. The majority of them are
linked in a highly organized, very secret network.
From small towns to large cities, they’ve attracted
police and FBI attention to their Satanist “ritual
child abuse,” child pornography, and grisly Satanic
murder. The odds are this is happening in your town.
—Geraldo Rivera
Because of its sensationalist appeal, Satanic Ritual
Abuse (SRA) has been the topic of numerous talk
shows, including episodes of Oprah Winfrey, Sally
Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue, and Geraldo Rivera.
Out of these programs, Rivera has likely been the
most influential on the ritual abuse topic. At the
same time, his belated public apology for the
damage his SRA shows did was uniquely candid.
Although Rivera has often focused attention
on SRA over the years, easily his most influential
program was the television special “Devil
Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground,” broadcast
by NBC on October 25, 1988. Aired for two
hours during prime time, this special was obviously
designed to fit in with the Halloween season
programming. It has been said that this special
was watched by more people than any other previous
television documentary. The expression
“Satan’s Underground” used in the program title
seems to have been borrowed from a book of the
same name that was eventually exposed as a hoax.