From: locklin@titan.ucc.umass.edu ()
Subject: Xian crimes FAQ
Organization: Campus Crusade for Cthulhu
Distribution: alt.satanism
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 01:12:02 GMT
X-Posted-From: titan.ucc.umass.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu



I got the following files from alt.atheism. David Rice seems to have access
to lots of this stuff. Any comments as to its relevance here?
Should it become a permanent FAQ?
Perhaps the exorcism trial is a bit much, but the other stuffs seem valid...

------------------ginsu-chop-------------------------------------------------

Religion & Crime / "Satanic Conspiracy" Series #004
---------------------------------------------------
Note from archiver. This was one of the first file I had on my BBS
"The Astro-Net." During the following four years, the collection of
such articles has numbered over 200--- most maimings, killings, and
molestings in the name of God or Jesus, and a few in the name of
Satan / Krishna / L.R. Hubbard / Others.          -- D. Rice 09/92
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AP 06/28 0707 Exorcism Trial
Copyright, 1988.  The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.
   BATON  ROUGE,  La.  (AP)  --  A  woman  accused  of  gouging  out a
16-year-old boy's eye to  rid  him  of  demons  cannot  be  called  an
exorcist  during  her  trial  despite telling police she performed six
exorcisms, a judge decided.
   The terms "exorcism" and "exorcist"  might  prejudice  some  jurors
hearing  Andrea  Cowan's case, even though the words don't necessarily
have negative connotations, Judge Michael McDonald ruled Monday.
   A  six-member  jury  was  chosen  after  McDonald's   ruling,   and
prosecutors  and  defense  attorney  John Calmes were to present their
opening arguments today.
   Cowan, 26, is charged with cruelty to a juvenile, which  carries  a
maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a $1,000 fine.
   Detectives who arrested her in March 1987 said she quoted the Bible
to  justify  her  action:  "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it
out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one  of
thy  members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast
to hell."
   The boy, Darnell Washington, had a history of fasting  to  rid  his
body of what he believed to be a demonic possession, authorities said.
He had convulsions at school on March 23, 1987, and was taken to Baton
Rouge General hospital by ambulance.
   After he was released that afternoon, his family began an exorcism,
authorities said.    When  the family decided they could not expel the
demons from the boy, they called Cowan, her husband, Kevin, and  their
pastor, David Cowan, Kevin Cowan's brother.
   Andrea  Cowan  told  detectives  she  has  performed  at  least six
exorcisms in which she prayed demons away.
   "God was acting through Andrea," said David Cowan, pastor  of  Rock
Zion  Baptist Church. "It was a very stubborn demon because there were
more than one in him."
   Andrea Cowan told arresting officers that at the time of the ritual
"she was not of this world -- Jesus had taken over her body."
   She told detectives that after prayer  failed,  she  took  the  boy
upstairs to  beat  the  demons  from  him.  When that didn't work, she
stuck a finger into his left eye socket, plucked out his  eyeball  and
released the demons, she told detectives.
   She  said  the  boy spoke in the devil's voice and vomited a "mucus
matter," that she recognized as the devil.
   "We cleaned the eye, and he went on to bed," David Cowan said in an
interview a few days after the incident. "We covered the eye,  and  we
prayed God  would  heal  it.    And whatever prevailed, that was God's
will."
   Two days after  the  ritual,  a  nurse  from  Baton  Rouge  General
telephoned  the  boy's  home to check on his condition and was told of
the eye injury.  The nurse urged the family to take the  boy  back  to
the hospital.
   Detective  Erika D'Amico said that when she interviewed the boy and
asked him what happened to his eye, "he started shaking and said  `God
did it."'
   The youth then began gurgling and talking incoherently, she said.
   Authorities  took  custody  of  the  boy  and he was taken to a New
Orleans hospital for treatment.
 
APn 06/30 0623 Exorcism Trial
Copyright, 1988.  The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.
   BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A jury took 20 minutes to convict a  woman
of  gouging out a 16-year-old boy's eye to purge demons from his body,
but her attorney said she has a "snow-white" record and should  get  a
light sentence.
   A six-member jury Wednesday found Andrea Cowan guilty of cruelty to
a  juvenile,  which  carries  a  maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.
District Judge Mike McDonald released  her  on  her  original  $10,000
bond.
   Attorney  John Calmes, who argued Wednesday that Darrell Washington
had plucked out his own eye while he was in a psychotic state on March
23, 1987, said he may  appeal  the  verdict  if  Cowan  gets  a  harsh
sentence at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 9.
   Cowan has a "snow-white" record and is hoping for a light sentence,
he said.
   Cowan,  26,  sat  calmly  with her hands clasped as the verdict was
read to the crowded courtroom.   Washington,  now  17,  sat  two  rows
behind her.
   Calmes  and  Assistant  District  Attorney  Sue  Bernie agreed that
Cowan, her husband, and her brother-in-law, the  pastor  of  the  Rock
Zion  Baptist  Church,  were  called to Washington's house because his
parents believed he was possessed.
   Washington testified Wednesday that he suffered what was  diagnosed
as  an  anxiety attack while he was at school that day, was taken to a
hospital, and began saying vile things  in  strange  voices  after  he
returned home.
   Washington  testified  that  Cowan  hit him on the head, and, after
taking him into his bedroom, bit his ears and plucked out his  eye  to
drive out the demons.
   Calmes  had  argued  that  Washington  was in a psychotic state and
plucked his own eye out.  However, Cowan's husband,  Kevin  Cowan,  an
assistant  pastor  at  the church, testified that the Lord plucked the
youth's eye out through his wife.

--- Maximus 2.00

Religious Crime / "Satanic Conspiracy" Series #002
--------------------------------------------------
 
     Pitchmen of the Satan Scare
     by Anson Shupe
     Published by the Wall Street Journal
     Friday, March 9, 1990
 
       Last  Sunday  Roman  Catholics  who attended  services  at  St.
     Patrick's  Cathedral  in New York heard  Cardinal  John  O'Connor
     lambasting  heavy-metal rock music as "pornography in sound" that
     leads  to  spiritual  entrapment  and  suicide  among  teenagers.
     Echoing  a  message  dear to the hearts of Tipper  Gore  and  her
     watchdog  Parents Music Research Center,  His Eminence called  on
     the music industry to police itself more thoroughly.
 
       But Cardinal O'Connor went further.   While not naming them, he
     linked  rock  groups  like  Judas Priest  and  Black  Sabbath  to
     cemetery desecrations, perverse sex, and demonic possession.  His
     sermon  even included readings from "The Exorcist."   He  claimed
     William   Peter  Blatty's  best-selling  novel  was   "gruesomely
     realistic."
 
       Unfortunately,  the  cardinal's sermon only added more hype  to
     what  has  become a form of cultural hysteria in  America.   That
     hysteria is Satanism or,  more accurately,  a preoccupation  with
     worrying about satanic influences in our music,  our movies,  our
     families, even in our high schools.
 
       From    the   occasional   teen-age   dabblers   to   purported
     conspiratorial   rings  of  devil-worshippers  in  high   places,
     Satanists are credited with promoting drug abuse,  snatching kids
     off  the street,  organizing child  pornography  rings,  breeding
     infants for ritualistic sacrifice and cannibalism, and mutilating
     cattle  in  the countryside.   Groups such as the Cult  Awareness
     Network,  which formerly stuck to making life difficult for  such
     unconventional  religions as Sun Myung Moon's Unification  Church
     and  the  Hare Krishnas,  have now sounded the Satanist alarm  in
     earnest.
 
     A Growth Industry
 
       Satanism-exposure-mania  has become a growth industry  in  this
     country, as Arthur Lyons reveals in evenhanded but blunt terms in
     his 1988 book "Satan Wants You."  The Satanic theme is profitable
     not  just  as a gimmick for rock bands and titillating  Hollywood
     horror  movies,  nor  simply for  publishers,  both  secular  and
     Christian,  who  churn out potboiler accounts of mass murders and
     disturbed young would-be Charles Mansons.   It also is profitable
     for  a  growing  cadre  of  self-proclaimed  "experts"  who   are
     canvassing North America offering seminars to police departments,
     clergy, social workers, nurses and educators.
 
       Commanding   between   $500  and  $1,000  (plus  expenses)   an
     appearance,   these  speakers  purport  to  reveal  the  rituals,
     implements,  beliefs,  symbols  and secret codes used by  Satan's
     occult  underground.   Under  the rubric of  Satanism  they  draw
     connections among violence,  mind control,  sexual orgies, drugs,
     the lyrics of rock music,  and even the fantasy game Dungeons and
     Dragons.
 
       The  content of most of these seminars is pure rubbish from any
     kind    of   informed   scholarly   standpoint.     Aside    from
     unsubstantiated  claims  and sweeping  generalizations,  what  is
     presented is a naive mish-mash of occult and mystical  traditions
     confused  with  shamanism  and  the  theatrical  antics  of  such
     performers as rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
 
       Relatively  benign  and openly operating groups such  as  Anton
     LeVey's  Church  of Satan and Michael A.  Aquino's Temple of  Set
     (which  offer syntheses of philosophy,  unexceptional  fraternal-
     organization gibberish,  and exotic costumes for initiates, while
     never  really  acknowledging  a personal  devil  figure  such  as
     Lucifer) are thrown together with the bloody drug-cult murders in
     Matamoros,  Mexico,  as examples of the imminent danger among us.
     It  would all be laughable if serious,  well-intentioned  persons
     were not taking this Satanic threat at face value.
 
       Economics  fuels the spread of the fear of Satanism beyond  the
     popular  culture of rock music and horror movies to  professional
     audiences.   Many  middle-level  educators,  health  and  social-
     service workers, and law-enforcement officials across the country
     are  required  to attend a number of educational  workshops  each
     year  to  keep or upgrade their certifications or to be  eligible
     for raises and promotions.   Just as ex-Satanists have  seemingly
     come  out of the woodwork in recent years to give their  gripping
     testimonies, so also the entrepreneurial experts of Satanism have
     emerged.   Now  they are offering workshops to enlighten  service
     providers.   As a result, Satanism has emerged as one of the most
     popular  offerings  in  such  continuing  education.   The  lurid
     content  of  the presentations sure beats the generally dry  fare
     otherwise provided at such conferences.
 
 
       How  much money is involved?   Likely no one is getting  filthy
     rich, and mere millions, not billions, are involved on a national
     scale.   But  the  fees typically come out  of  local  taxpayers'
     pockets.   Moreover,  these new entrepreneurs have now spread the
     gospel  of  Satan-fear  through all 50 states and in  most  large
     urban areas.   Recently,  according to J. Gordon Melton, director
     of  the  Institute for the Study of American  Religion  in  Santa
     Barbara,  Calif.,  and  the nation's premier authority on  _real_
     Satanic cults,  these speakers have taken their workshops to such
     middle-size communities as Sioux City,  Iowa;  Sioux Falls, S.D.;
     and,  in  my  Indiana  backyard,  the cities of  Fort  Wayne  and
     Evansville.
 
       Such workshops are rarely publicized and are closely limited to
     specific  audiences of professionals.   One reason often given is
     that  Satanists  would  try  to find  some  way  to  disrupt  the
     proceedings  if  they  knew  about  them  in  advance.   However,
     probably   the  better  reason  is  the  sad  quality  of   their
     "information."   Says Mr.  Melton,  "If what was being taught  in
     these  'limited seminars' were revealed and became fair game  for
     public  discourse,  the  ridiculousness of it would be  evident."
     But minus such open inspection, an entire generation of genuinely
     concerned  professionals  is being exposed,  under the  guise  of
     technical training,  to downright misleading,   false and  poorly
     assembled [religion-motivated] misinformation.
 
       Ironically, this entrepreneurial expansion comes at a time when
     the   Satanist  hysteria  may  actually  be  losing  some  power.
     Cardinal  O'Connor himself admitted Sunday that there  were  only
     two  exorcisms in the entire New York archdiocese last  year--not
     much  of  a body count for active Satanists or  their  opponents.
     And recently Harvest House Publishers, a Christian press, decided
     to  cease  publication  of "Satan's  Underground,"  a  successful
     "autobiographical"  best seller by Lauren Stratford,  who claimed
     that  as a Satanist she had deliberately bred three children  for
     sacrifice.   It  seems  reporters for the  evangelical  Christian
     magazine Cornerstone tracked down ambiguities and inconsistencies
     in her account and discovered that Ms.  Stratford had made up the
     whole thing (which she later admitted).
 
       Likewise, some professionals who have been the largest audience
     for  Satanism  hysteria  have  become  angry.   Robert  Hicks,  a
     criminal justice has become vocally critical of the sloppy content
     of workshops supposedly informing his law enforcement  colleagues
     about  Beelzebub's current activities.   Much of  it,  Mr.  Hicks
     maintains,   is   based   on  sensational   newspaper   articles,
     undocumented secondary sources, or unsubstantiated claims.
 
     Skeptical Officers
 
       Police  never  find  the  tangible  evidence  to  back  up  ex-
     Satanists' claims, such as one commonly repeated claim that about
     50,000  human  sacrifices  are  perpetrated  each  year  in  this
     country.   The absence of _any_ traces of such activity has begun
     to  cause some reflective police,  at least,  to question if they
     have  been  conned.    As  a  result,  skeptical  law-enforcement
     officers  in  Virginia are now boycotting  workshops  that  offer
     Satanic  conspiracies  as a tempting way to "clear" the  unsolved
     crimes on their blotters.
 
       Cardinal  O'Connor cannot be blamed for being  concerned  about
     the  hedonism,  the  decline  in aesthetics,  and  the  decay  of
     civility in modern American society.   But seeking its cause in a
     demonic  influence loose among rock lyrics--just as professionals
     are  now being told to seek the roots of abuse and  maladjustment
     they see in their clients and patients in Satanic cult  abuse--is
     to retreat to medieval thinking.  History shows that human beings
     are perfectly capable of acting in evil, destructive ways without
     infernal help.
 
     ----
       Mr.  Shupe  is  a  professor  of  sociology  at  Indiana-Purdue
     University  at  Fort  Wayne and is preparing a book on  cult  and
     Satanic phenomena in the U.S.
 
----
 
Comentary by David Rice:
 
"Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or
favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.  Do not
go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything
which endangers your neighbor's life." (Lev. 19:15-16 NIV) And
another: "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give
testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the
crowd.... Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put
an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the
guilty.... Do not oppress an alien (someone not of your people);
you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were
aliens in Egypt." (Ex. 23:2-9 NIV) And if that's too hard, let's
try one of the Ten Commandments: "You shall not give false
testimony against your neighbor." (Ex. 20:16 NIV)

--- Maximus 2.00




Religion & Crime / "Satanic Conspiracy" Series #003
---------------------------------------------------
 
     In  a recent series of articles which appeared in the Sunday and
Monday (February  5th  and  6th)  St.    Louis  Post-Dispatch,  Ellen
Futterman  and  others  rehashed  accusations  which  were previously
sensationalized by Geraldo Rivera in  a  network  TV  special  titled
"Exploring Satan's  Underground."    I'm  deeply disturbed by the low
caliber of journalism that these articles represent, but even more so
by the hysteria that they are helping to generate.
 
     At the outset, I would like to state that I do not now, nor have
I ever practiced Satanic worship, and I  take  a  dim  view  of  such
activities.   But I feel very strongly that as long as such people do
not violate the law in the practice of their  religious  beliefs,  no
matter  how  repugnant  they  may  be to me personally, then they are
entitled to the same constitutional protections of religious  freedom
as anyone else.
 
     I  could  draw  parallels  with  the  persecution  of  so-called
heretics and witches by the Inquisition during the  middle  ages,  or
more  recently  to  the  persecution  of  Jews  and  other  perceived
undesirables in Nazi Germany.  However, although  there  are  certain
similarities   between   these  historical  events  and  the  current
situation, it is unlikely that the  situation  in  this  county  will
reach  such  extremes unless our democratic constitutional government
collapses.
 
     There is however,  a  more  recent  historical  precedent  which
occurred in this country despite our constitutional protections, that
may serve  as  a  very  good  model for what is happening today.  I'm
referring to none other than the "Red Scare," of the  1950's.    Back
then  there  were  people who belonged to the Communist party or were
sympathetic to its ideals, just as today there really are people  who
worship Satan.  It didn't seem to matter to the persecutors then that
political freedom is guaranteed by our constitution, any more than it
seems to matter now that religious freedom is likewise protected.
 
     Another parallel is the gross exaggeration of both the number of
people  involved  in  such  groups and the frequency of criminal acts
which can be directly attributed  to  them.    In  the  case  of  the
"Satanism  Scare"  it  is  claimed that there is a world-wide Satanic
conspiracy which manages to cover-up all of the evidence of the  over
50,000  human  sacrifices  that  allegedly take place in this country
every year.
 
     It stretches credulity to the  breaking  point  to  assert  that
crimes of this magnitude could be indefinitely concealed, even if all
of  the law enforcement agencies in the nation were involved, as some
of the anti-Satanic crusaders claim.  Surely, alleged former  Satanic
cult members could have betrayed such a group and had the police, the
press,  or  some other credible group waiting to intervene before the
intended victim could be sacrificed.  After all, the Mafia  has  been
betrayed by former members on many occasions.
 
     There  have  now  been enough cases of people who have committed
violent crimes in which there  was  apparently  some  Satanic  belief
involved,  and  who  have  been caught, tried, and convicted, to have
provided some link to a larger conspiracy if one  existed.    Rather,
these acts appear to be the actions of people who are deeply mentally
disturbed  and  who  acted  on  their  own  in  accordance with their
particular religious fixation.
 
     As to teenagers who have a fascination with  Satanism,  most  of
them  are harmless, save for acts of vandalism and cruelty to animals
committed by some, which I deplore as much as anyone.    Between  the
Heavy  Metal  rock music which emphasizes Satanic ideals (which is by
no means all of this  genre),  the  constant  bombardment  of  horror
movies  stressing  the  reality and power of Satan, and the Christian
clergy who give him such a prominent role in the scheme of things, it
is little wonder that today's hedonistic, nihilistic,  and  neglected
youth seize upon such images as a focus for their rebellion.
 
     Of  course  some parents would like to find a scapegoat, such as
fantasy role-playing games, Heavy Metal music, or books on  so-called
occult subjects, to explain their children's behavioral problems.  It
is  far easier to do that than to look for the underlying root causes
of these children's lack of social and ethical  constraints.    Let's
face  it, we live in a self-centered society which glorifies violence
and greed.  Don't blame Satan for the behavior of our youth, that's a
cop-out.
 
     These  sorts  of incidents are likely to become more frequent in
the future thanks to a small number of dedicated  fanatics  who  have
established  networks  and  publish regular reports which are sent to
law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.
 
     One of these newsletters, "File 18,"  is  full  of  distortions,
misinformation,  and outright lies, and frequently mentions religious
groups and individuals  by  name.    The  group  that  produces  this
publication,  the "Cult Crime Impact Network Inc." is headed by Larry
M. Jones, an ultra-conservative Christian fundamentalist who makes no
distinction between true Satanists and  members  of  other  religions
that he  personally  disapproves  of.    He  lumps  them all together
because he sees any religion other than Christianity  or  Judaism  as
demonic.   Some  law  enforcement  officials  who  read this material
uncritically, and who have no knowledge of other points of  view  are
being  unduly  influenced  by  it,  and  some  of  them  have started
compiling police files on suspected Satanists.  Thanks to "File  18,"
and  similar  publications  there  are  people  who  are under police
surveillance despite the fact that they have no criminal record.
 
     So  you  see,  35  years  ago  it  was  Communists,  today  it's
Satanists.  Perhaps  someday it will be Christians.  After all, there
are violent acts which have been committed by radical  fundamentalist
fringe  groups  such  as the Covenant, Arm, and Sword of the Lord, or
the KKK. And most incidents of child abuse  have  been  committed  by
people  who  profess to practice Christianity, some of them have even
been members of the clergy.  Yet I hear no outcry about  the  scourge
of  Christianity, or attempts to take away the tax exempt status from
all Christian churches.  Yet, a few years ago Senator Jesse Helms and
Congressman Robert Walker (Pennsylvania) tried to  do  just  that  to
Satanic,   Witchcraft,  and  any  other  churches  which  could  have
conceivably been included under the vague wording of  their  proposed
legislation  (Helms  amendment  #705  to  the Treasury Postal Service
Appropriations bill HR 3036, September, 1985, and the Walker Bill, HR
3389, August, 1985).  Criminal activity was  not  mentioned  in  this
legislation  as  a  precondition  for  such  a revocation, and it was
resoundingly defeated as a blatant  attack  on  the  constitutionally
protected freedom  of religion.  These are just a few examples of the
many incidents of persecution and denial of civil  rights  in  recent
years  perpetrated  against  practitioners  of  minority religions or
occult philosophies.  I am convinced that articles such as  the  ones
by Ms.    Futterman  et  al  will  only exacerbate an already serious
problem.
 
     In conclusion, I suggest that everyone,  especially  the  press,
look  carefully  at  both  these  accusations and the people who make
them, and perhaps a more realistic view will emerge.  If we  do  not,
we  run  the  risk  of  being  caught  up in yet another embarrassing
incident  in  American  history  when  well  meaning  people  allowed
themselves   to  get  caught  up  in  something  that  they  couldn't
understand or control, and as a result ruined or even took the  lives
of innocent   people.     To  quote  the  play  "Inherit  the  Wind,"
"Fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding."  So watch  out  or  else
tomorrow the persecuted minority of the times could include you!
 
          Yours Truly,
          Michael Fix
          Lecturer in Geology
          University of Missouri-St.  Louis
          Physics Department
          8001 Natural Bridge Rd.  St.  Louis, Mo. 63121.

--- Maximus 2.00

<continued from previous post>
 
     The last and most deeply disturbing parallel that I see  between
the  "Red  Scare"  and  the "Satanic Scare" is the way in which it is
being used to persecute not just people who actually belong  to  such
groups, but even people who have no connection with it whatever.  The
anti-Satanism  crusaders  do  not  confine their condemnation just to
Satanists,  but  rather  have  a  large  list  of  organizations  and
religious  groups  who  have  become  their equivalent of the "fellow
travelers" of the McCarthy Era.  This list includes a wide  range  of
nature-based,   shamanistic,   pantheistic,  or  mystical  faiths  or
philosophies none of which are Satanic.  In the case of some  of  the
more  extreme crusaders, they even include well established organized
religions such as the Catholic Church,  the  Mormons,  the  Jehovah's
Witnesses,  Seventh  Day  Adventists,  the World Council of Churches,
Buddhists, Hindus, and many more.  All of these, they  maintain,  are
actually  worshiping  Satan  whether  they  know  it  or not, and are
therefore dammed!
 
     It is a sad commentary indeed that there has been no significant
inquiry on the part of the popular  press  into  the  fringe  fanatic
groups who are whipping up this hysteria.  A brief sojourn into their
world  of  paranoid  delusion  would  reveal  such  beliefs as: Satan
controls the entire world political system, credit cards are  a  part
of  the  Satanic conspiracy and the number 666 is secretly encoded on
every one, the "Care Bears" and the "Smurfs" are Satanic,  the rhythm
in  rock  music  was  borrowed  by  the  Beatles  from  ancient Druid
manuscripts  (pretty  nifty  considering  that  there  are  no  Druid
manuscripts and  never  were; theirs was an oral tradition.  And even
if there had been, anyone with any knowledge of rock and  roll  knows
that  the  Beatles  were influenced by American rock pioneers such as
Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, who I seriously doubt were Druids) and
all rock music contains evil spirits placed on the master tape at the
recording studio by Satanic rituals; even Christian rock music is not
exempted because the beat is Satanic.  Some of them babble about  the
"Bavarian  Illuminati"  being  the  primary  organization  behind the
spread of Satan's  power  which  now  extends  into  every  facet  of
politics,  popular  culture,  the  media,  and  even  other Christian
churches.
 
     It is truly  ironic  that  some  of  the  spokespeople  for  the
anti-Satanic  crusade  such  as  John  Todd (Lance) Collins have been
denounced not by the popular press, but by some Christian groups such
as "Christianity Today," who have investigated his  claims  (see  the
Feb. 2,  1979  issue  for details).  Yet others, such as Joseph (Doc)
Marquee making identical or similar  claims  continue  to  get  media
attention, and  are  celebrities in certain Christian circles.  These
"experts" tour the country speaking at churches to  receptive  crowds
who  believe things that are every bit as outrageous as the headlines
on supermarket tabloids.  Some  of  them  have  histories  of  severe
mental illness,  and  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Collins, he abused mind
altering drugs to an extent that would  have  reduced  an  elephant's
brain to guacamole.
 
     Lest  you think that this is all a harmless fad, I would like to
point out several worrisome incidents  which  have  occurred  in  the
recent past.   Last year a local Kansas City newspaper began a series
of articles designed to link the murders committed by Bob Berdella to
Satanic worship.  These articles were fueled in part by a public talk
by one of the travelling crusaders, and have  created  a  climate  of
fear  and  extreme prejudice regarding anything remotely connected to
the occult.
 
     For example, the  night  of  the  Geraldo  Rivera  special,  the
headquarters  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society in Kansas City (a
group consisting of people who  investigate  psychic  phenomena)  was
firebombed.   Homemade  napalm  bombs  contained in plastic milk jugs
were ignited outside of each of the  building's  three  exits.    The
building was occupied at the time, and only the timely arrival of the
fire department prevented casualties.
 
      Also,  a  Kansas  City  bookstore  owner  who  is  a  scholarly
authority on the occult, not a Satanist, was interviewed  by  several
local  TV  stations  concerning the alleged connection of Berdella to
Satanism.  He told them that he hadn't met Mr.  Berdella, but to  the
best  of  his  knowledge  there was nothing in the evidence presented
which would have justified such an association.   That  is  when  all
hell broke  loose, so to speak.  Since then he has been the victim of
death threats and harassment.  Currently, he is trying to  sell  what
had been a successful business prior to the "Berdella case."
 
     Closer  to  home, a man was called in for six hours of intensive
questioning by the St.  Louis County  Police  in  connection  with  a
drowning in  the  Missouri  River  near  Souix  Passage Park.  He was
pulled in for questioning because of a tip given to the police by two
people, one of whom was a disgruntled former employee  who  had  been
fired by  the  man for drinking on the job.  They had told the Police
that he was part of a Satanic cult which met in the area, which was a
lie.  The police have  dropped  that  entire  line  of  investigation
because of no of evidence of foul play, but the damage has been done.
This  is  exactly  the sort of thing that went on in the "Red Scare."
If you didn't like someone you could cause them a  lot  of  grief  by
telling the proper authorities that they were a Communist.
 
<concludes next post>

--- Maximus 2.00