----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.
----------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS:
This data file is the sole property of the Christian Research
Institute. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may
be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware,"
without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain
the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright 1994 by the Christian
Research Institute"). This data file may not be used without the
permission of the Christian Research Institute for resale or the
enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its
content with the exception of a few brief quotations not to
exceed more than 500 words.
If you desire to reproduce less than 500 words of this data file
for resale or the enhancement of any other product for resale,
please give the following source credit: Copyright 1994 by the
Christian Research Institute, P.O. Box 500-TC, San Juan
Capistrano, CA 92693.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"The Hard Facts About Satanic Ritual Abuse" (an article from the
Christian Research Journal, Winter 1992, page 20) by Bob and
Gretchen Passantino.
The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is
Elliot Miller.
-------------
A teenage girl, who was impregnated during a satanic ritual,
is forcibly delivered of her nearly term baby and then made to
ritually kill the child and eat its heart as cult members watch.
Another girl, a small child, is sewn inside the cavity of a
disemboweled animal and "rebirthed" by her cultic captors in a
grotesque ceremony. A preschool class is systematically abused --
sexually, emotionally, and physically -- by members of a
nationwide, nearly invincible network of satanic pedophiles and
pornographers. A young girl is thrown into an electrified cage
with wolves and ritually tortured to deliberately produce a "wolf
personality," part of her multiple personality disorder (MPD; see
glossary).
These are but a few of the thousands of horrifying stories
circulating throughout the United States and abroad.[1] Some
_true believers_ (_see_ glossary) in satanic ritual abuse (SRA)
say that more than 100,000 "adult survivors" have undergone
therapy and "remembered" these horrible abuses.[2] Others more
than double this number.[3] These terrifying accounts are linked
to the current public concern about child abductions by
strangers, which true believers claim number in the thousands
annually.[4] True believers say the conspiracy[5] is almost
invincible, covers the nation (if not the world), and involves
key power players in the courts, education, politics, religion,
and society in general.
True believers provide unconditional support to alleged adult
survivors whose therapeutically recovered "memories" typically
implicate their elderly parents in heinous crimes including murder,
cannibalism, sexual torture, incest, and bestiality. Some alleged
victims bring their cases to law enforcement officials, hoping for
criminal prosecution. Some obtain restraining orders barring their
parents from seeing them or their grandchildren. Some cut all ties
with family and simply disappear. A few begin new lives as
television and radio talk show guests, sharing their gruesome
stories from coast to coast during after-school television time.
Almost all are in the midst of long-term, intensive therapeutic
counseling. Many undergo dozens of psychiatric hospitalizations and
take part in almost daily therapy sessions and support group
meetings. Tragically, small children are sometimes snatched from
their parents' custody on the whisper of a suspicion that the
parents may be SRA participants.[6]
True believers among therapists, alleged adult survivors, law
enforcement officials, journalists, and Christian leaders
unanimously call for the public to believe the stories, to change
the justice system so recovered "memories" alone can bring
convictions in criminal court, and to rise up against this
astonishingly powerful satanic conspiracy.
If the alleged victims' allegations are true, then such
reactions are to be expected. If they are false, then countless
families and reputations are being destroyed for nothing, truth is
being ignored, biblical standards of evidence and testimony are
being discarded, "survivors" are being trapped in long-term,
destructive therapeutic situations, and Satan is getting more
credit than he is due. In this article we will move beyond
sensationalism and emotionalism to take a serious look at SRA
stories and theories.[7]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
*Glossary*
*abreaction:* In therapy, the process of "reliving" a
previously repressed traumatic event as a step in integrating a
dissociative personality.
*adult survivor:* An adult presumed to have survived and
escaped from the control and abuse of a satanic cult, especially
one who has "recovered" repressed memories of such abuse, usually
in directive therapy settings.
*directive therapy:* Any form of counseling, therapy, or
support group interaction that knowingly or unknowingly directs,
suggests, leads, or persuades the client to adopt the therapist's
ideas, beliefs, presuppositions, or presumptions. Obvious directive
therapy such as hypnotic suggestion is easy to detect. Directive
therapy can be as subtle as a meaningful silence, a nod of
approval, or an assurance that the client is "believed."
*dissociative state:* A general category of psychological
dysfunction wherein a complex pattern of psychological processes
function independently of the core personality. Several
dissociative conditions are clinical hysteria, amnesia,
schizophrenia, and multiplicity (MPD).
*multiple personality disorder (MPD):* A dissociative state in
which the integrated personality fragments (usually as a result of
extreme trauma) into two or more "personalities," each of which
manifests a relatively complete complex of personal attributes and
often acts independently and unknown to the other fragments.
*occult crime:* Any crime or alleged crime with some connection
to the occult; ranging from rebellious teenagers who spray-paint
occult graffiti to serial killers who use occult symbology or claim
a commitment to occult belief.
*paranoia:* Clinically, paranoia is characterized by highly
systematized, persistent, incapacitating delusions of persecution
and/or grandeur; commonly used to describe hypervigilence over a
(mis)perceived threat, belief that danger is everywhere, and belief
that those who do not recognize the threat are evil and part of the
threat themselves.
*satanic ritual abuse (SRA):* The preferred term referring to
charges that a group of individuals, assumed to be in association
with a widespread conspiracy, practice physical, emotional, and
spiritual abuse on unwilling victims in a ritualistic manner,
especially in connection with a commitment to Satanism. This is
distinguished from loner or isolated small group abuse.
*support group:* For the purposes of this article, any group of
fellow-sufferers of a similar emotional or physical trauma (or
alleged trauma) meeting regularly to provide emotional and
friendship support as well as advice and encouragement to each
other.
*true believer:* For the purposes of this article, someone who
is committed to believing the SRA conspiracy world view, and who
often is an outspoken proponent, such as a true believer therapist,
law enforcement person, parent, adult survivor, and so on.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE HISTORY OF SRA REPORTS[8]
Until the early 1980s, law enforcement officials, the media,
religious researchers, and sociologists recognized four main
categories of contemporary Satanism: (1) teenage self-styled, or
dabblers; (2) adult self-styled; (3) religious or public; and (4)
small group.[9] Before this time, the idea of a widespread, almost
invincible, multi-generational satanic conspiracy was not
entertained any more seriously than ideas of UFO abduction
conspiracies. During the early 1980s, however, several factors
combined to provide fertile ground for the growth of SRA reports.
First, cohabitation and divorce rates skyrocketed, producing
fragmented family units, single-parent families, families "blended"
by divorce and remarriage, and many families with no daytime adult
supervision of children. This situation provided pressure toward
dysfunctional behavior (e.g., neglect, abuse, incest) in intact
families. It also created the setting in broken families for a
significant rise in custody disputes, child abandonment, spouse and
even child accusations against the nonsupportive spouse, and other
manipulative actions.[10]
Second, in the eyes of many people, the mental health community
became an authoritative "discerner" of truth. This community also
expanded during those years to include many different kinds of
counselors, including licensed therapists, social workers, lay
counselors, peer counselors, support group members and leaders, and
pastoral counselors, as well as psychiatrists and psychologists.
Many people assumed that any of these counselors, no matter what
their training, should invariably be able to tell if a client is
telling the truth.[11]
Third, an increased interest in women's rights issues and in
religious activism caused a greater awareness of, and vigorous
opposition to, both pornography and the physical and sexual abuse
of children. While women's rights advocates and evangelical
activists frequently opposed each other's goals and beliefs, they
united to protect the victims of pornography and child abuse. This
heightened concern generated special interest groups and experts
who -- usually with the best of intentions -- still needed to find
a danger of sufficient depth and breadth to warrant large
commitments of time, legislation, and funding for their causes.[12]
Fourth, a significant segment of American evangelicalism
developed a complex satanic end-times view, combining the 1970s
"deliverance" ministries with "newspaper prophecy" theology. While
the end-times speculators of the 1970s pointed primarily at the
rebirth of the nation of Israel as a sign that Christ's Second
Coming was near, the speculators of the 80s also emphasized the
rise of destructive occult activity as a sign that the end was
imminent.[13] In Mike Warnke's testimony of his purported former
involvement with Satanism, _The Satan Seller,_ he claimed that in
1965 he led a group of 1,500 Satanists in a desert area of Southern
California, and that he was "part of a deep and widespread
organization, operating not only in the U.S., but all over the
world."[14]
Each of these four developments -- family disintegration,
diffusion in the mental health community, activist opposition to
victimization, and an evangelical expectation of increasing occult
activity -- provided the nutrients for the development of SRA
reports in the 1980s. The first publicized case was that of
Michelle Smith. An emotionally dysfunctional woman at the time,
Smith claimed to discover -- with the help of her therapist (and
later husband) Lawrence Pazder -- previously repressed early
childhood memories of horrible physical and sexual abuse. The abuse
was inflicted in a bizarre secret satanic cult whose members
included her immediate family.
No corroborative evidence for this shocking account was
obtained, said Smith and Pazder, for a variety of reasons. First,
by its very nature, a conspiracy's activities are secret and
unknown. Second, the cultists planted disinformation, such as wrong
dates, in her memory. Third, the almost invincible cult destroyed
the evidence of its crimes. And fourth, some of the very people to
whom Smith could turn for help were themselves involved in the
conspiracy. Nevertheless, the couple claimed that Pazder's
therapeutic expertise established Smith's story as true.
Almost all of the subsequent SRA stories have followed the same
pattern sparked by Warnke's _The Satan Seller_ and developed in
Smith and Pazder's book, _Michelle Remembers._
SRA REPORTS
Typical SRA stories display certain essential elements that
remain uniform whether the story is "discovered" by a therapist, a
social worker, or a parent, and whether the victim is an adult or
a child.
*The Victims.* The adult victim[15] is commonly a white woman
between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five who has a history of
nonspecific psychological problems (which may include suicide
attempts). She is herself either intensely religious (usually
evangelical or charismatic Protestant) or comes from an intensely
religious background. The typical adult victim is highly
suggestible,[16] intelligent, creative, and well learned if not
well educated in a formal sense. The victim first seeks counseling
help for a problem seemingly unrelated to occultic abuse. From our
own conversations with dozens of alleged adult survivors, we feel
comfortable in affirming that the vast majority of them sincerely
believe their stories, although sincerity cannot determine a
story's veracity.
Child victims are not so easily characterized, though most are
highly motivated to please adults, intelligent, and loyal to the
supportive parent. Perhaps this lack of a consistent profile is
because children's disclosures of SRA almost always follow
questioning by worried parents or mental health workers. (It is
noteworthy that the supportive parent often has characteristics in
common with the typical adult victim.) If the child discloses SRA
inflicted by an immediate family member, it is typically in a
divorce or separation situation where the accused is the
nonsupportive parent or one of the nonsupportive parent's
relatives.[17]
*The Victimizers.* The alleged adult survivor's immediate
family members are usually identified as the perpetrators -- even
if the victim may see them as former victims turned satanic
victimizers due to their own trauma. When the immediate family is
not involved -- as in many of the children's stories, but almost
none of the adult survivor stories -- caregivers in regular custody
of the victim are seen as the perpetrators (e.g., preschool
teachers, day-care workers). Importantly, the _hypothetical_
psychological profile of the SRA perpetrator actually contradicts
the most common features of _known_ physical and sexual abusers,
psychotics, sociopaths, pornographers, and serial killers --
creating serious doubt that such a perpetrator exists.[18]
*Types of Abuse.* SRA includes emotional abuse (terrifying
threats, deliberate heightening of fear, etc.), sexual abuse
(incest, mutilation of genitals, etc.), other physical abuse
(beating, cutting, etc.), and spiritual abuse (taunts that God has
rejected them, He won't forgive them, Jesus is defeated, etc.).
The ritual elements of the abuse are always satanic or
occultic. Features of satanic ceremony folklore -- such as the
black mass, human sacrifice, drinking of blood, and satanic symbols
-- are common. However, victims typically cannot recount the
intricacies of occult rituals beyond what is commonly found in
satanically oriented material available in general bookstores,[19]
or what they have heard from other victims or therapists.
*SRA Disclosure.* Usually adult SRA stories are disclosed
during counseling or some other therapeutic setting. The adult
victim generally begins therapy for a seemingly unrelated problem
such as a sleep or eating disorder, depression, or marital
difficulties. During the course of treatment, either the therapist
or the client raises the possibility of repressed memories of SRA.
With sensationalistic reports of SRA scattered throughout the
media, few clients or therapists have not heard something of SRA
and its horrors.
At first the client may deny a past history of SRA, or may not
remember anything, or may have fragments of almost meaningless
images that might somehow relate to SRA. However, after long-term,
intensive treatment by a therapist committed to believing the
client no matter what he or she discloses, the alleged adult
survivor gradually pieces together a complex personal SRA history.
Ordinarily the therapist decides that the repression was
facilitated by the dissociative state known as multiple personality
disorder (MPD). After further long-term, intensive therapy and
support group involvement, including "abreacting" (_see_ glossary)
or "reliving" each of the traumatic "memories", the client may
become emotionally well.[20]
The child who discloses an SRA story almost always does so at
the prompting of a parent or mental health professional.[21] Such
disclosures most often come after frequent, prolonged questioning.
And most frequently the child identifies the perpetrator as a
day-care worker or other regular, nonfamily care giver. When family
members are accused, they are most likely the parents of the spouse
other than the one reporting the abuse, or a parent or stepparent
who is estranged from the family.
Accusations against public officials, entertainment
personalities, neighbors, or other, more distant adults usually
come only after the case has been sensationalized and the child has
been questioned incessantly about "the others" involved in the
abuse. Children are much less likely to be diagnosed with MPD. The
common presumption is that they are terrified to tell their
stories, not that they have repressed their memories of SRA.
Adults who suspect that they or their children may be SRA
victims are urged by true believers to seek help and affirmation
from therapists, friends, support groups, and family members who
will believe them unconditionally. Whether their accounts are true
or not, this reinforcement and isolation from critical thinking
intensifies the victims' beliefs concerning SRA.[22]
*The SRA Conspiracy.* The typical SRA story includes strong
commitment to a conspiracy theory of history. That is, the
victimization is seen not as the isolated action of a psychotic or
sociopathic individual, but as part of a widespread,
multigenerational, and nearly omnipotent satanic conspiracy. This
conspiracy involves anywhere from thousands to millions of cultists
-- many of them in the very highest levels of society, including
government, law enforcement, mental health institutions, and even
religious leadership. We have heard SRA stories accusing famous
televangelists, police chiefs, FBI agents, the Pope, CIA leaders,
U.N. diplomats, millionaires, philanthropists, pastors, school
teachers and principals, psychiatrists, and others. Such a
conspiratorial view accomplishes two very important objectives: (1)
it accounts for the absolute lack of corroborative evidence of
SRA;[23] and (2) it accounts for a number of popularly assumed
social ills, such as thousands of missing children and rampant
child sexual abuse in day care centers.
SRA CONSPIRACIES AND EVIDENCE
When SRA stories initially surfaced in the early 1980s -- first
with _Michelle Remembers,_ then followed by the McMartin preschool
case in Southern California and the Bakersfield, California and
Jordan, Minnesota cases -- many journalists, law enforcement
personnel, and mental health professionals tended to believe that
SRA might exist. We know that horrible people do terrible things to
others, that people often conspire, that there really are
Satanists, and that abuse sometimes happens within some sort of
ritual context.[24] However, when dozens of stories multiplied into
hundreds and then thousands of stories, _none of which produced a
single piece of corroborative evidence,_ some former believers
became healthy skeptics.
Supervisory Special Agent Kenneth Lanning, of the FBI's
Behavioral Science Unit, has investigated over 300 SRA reports and
has yet to find corroborative evidence. While still affirming his
willingness to look for and find such hypothetical evidence,
Lanning points out the problems inherent in the standard SRA
conspiracy theory:
Any professional evaluating victims' allegations of
ritualistic abuse cannot ignore the lack of physical
evidence (no bodies or physical evidence left by violent
murders), the difficulty in successfully committing a
large-scale conspiracy crime (the more people involved in
any crime conspiracy, the harder it is to get away with
it), and human nature (intragroup conflicts resulting in
individual self-serving disclosures are likely to occur
in any group involved in organized kidnapping, baby
breeding, and human sacrifice).[25]
*SRA "Proofs."* True believers, as we already stated, usually
offer four main arguments in defense of SRA: (1) all conspiracies
are by definition secret and unknown; (2) evidence _against_ an SRA
story actually constitutes proof for it, since Satanists plant
false evidence as part of their conspiracy; (3) only a conspiracy
such as that described by true believers has the capability of
destroying all the evidence; and (4) the very people who should be
fighting the SRA conspiracy are actually part of it. To these can
be added: (5) only therapists can determine whether victims are
telling the truth; (6) children (whether physiological children or
the fractured "child" personalities of an MPD client) don't lie
about such things, and _no one_ would make up such horrific tales;
(7) the accused perpetrators' refusal to confess shows the depths
of depravity to which they have descended; (8) nondeterminative
(i.e., inconclusive) evidence validates the conspiracy (e.g., what
a true believer calls an abuse scar a skeptic calls an appendix
operation scar); (9) individual occult-related criminal acts
validate the whole conspiracy scenario; and (10) the conspiracy
explains the purported abduction of thousands of children each
year.
*Trying to Disprove a Negative.* In addition to these ten lines
of support for SRA conspiracy theories, true believers often demand
that doubters _disprove_ their theory. In other words, unless the
investigator can deliver overwhelming, unequivocal evidence that
the conspiracy can't possibly exist, the true believer will
consider his own view vindicated. This approach matches the
absurdity of requiring a man, charged at random, to prove he
_didn't_ kill a given murder victim last July 24. (Fortunately, our
justice system is based on the premise that one is innocent until
_proven_ guilty.) In the same manner, the more reasonable theory
should be adopted unless there is overwhelming evidence in favor of
the more bizarre. The "evidence" in favor of SRA conspiracies is
negligible, not overwhelming.
FALLACIES OF THE SRA CONSPIRACY THEORY
Logical examination of these ten "proofs" quickly reveals their
fatal flaws. First, while conspiracies are certainly secret, they
cannot continue to exist and function in an open society without
leaving a trail. For example, the FBI may not have known how
extensive the Mafia's network was until years of painstaking
investigation and the confessions of some members revealed the
truth, but the Mafia left plenty of physical evidence in the form
of homicides, gun battles, arson cases, beatings, and a host of
other illegal activities. No one has found Teamster's boss Jimmy
Hoffa's body, but the evidence that he existed is beyond dispute.
Statistically speaking, the invincible secrecy that would be
necessary to conceal widespread SRA is impossible. Let's suppose
there are 100,000 adult survivors, who represent only a small
subgroup of the conspiracy. They are the ones who: were not killed;
eventually escaped the cult's control; got into therapy;
"remembered" their abuse; and were then willing to tell others
about it. If we conservatively peg the average number of abusive
events per survivor at fifty, that would give us 5,000,000 criminal
events over the last fifty years in America alone. And not a shred
of corroborative evidence?
*Contrary Evidence.* There are several problems with the second
"proof." Evidence _against_ a story, if gathered professionally and
examined objectively, is just that: _evidence against_ a story, not
evidence _for_ it. To offer only one explanation for contrary
evidence is to commit what is known as the either/or (disjunctive)
fallacy. For example, if an alleged adult survivor's story of being
an only child is contradicted by proof that her older sister lived
with her until she was a teenager,[26] the true believer would have
us believe that the contrary evidence can _only_ be explained as
evidence _for_ victimization. Perhaps (the true believer reasons)
the victim was so traumatized that she repressed the memory of her
sister, or perhaps the Satanists deliberately manipulated her
memory in some way. The true believer will totally ignore the much
more likely alternative that the SRA conspiracy scenario is just as
untrue as the "only child" memory. Without _some_ objective proof
for the story, suspicions of tampering with other parts of the
evidence are groundless.
*Missing Evidence.* The third argument, a variation on the
second, falls into the same either/or fallacy. The true believer
accepts only one possible reason that there is _no_ evidence:
obviously, only a conspiracy as big as the SRA stories depict could
destroy everything. However, in reality there are at least two
possible reasons for a lack of evidence. Besides the one suggested
by true believers, the other is that _the theory is not true._ The
facts of the case do not change; one's presupposition determines
how one will interpret the lack of evidence. This, then, is not a
proof, and certainly not evidence; it is a subjective belief.[27]
*Paranoia.* The fourth argument, which accuses those who
disagree of being co-conspirators, stretches the true believers'
credibility and, without warrant for such charges, dwindles to
paranoid name calling. Lanning described this vulnerability well,
saying, "Another very important aspect of this paranoia is the
belief that those who do not recognize the threat are evil and
corrupt. In this extreme view, you are either with them or against
them. You are either part of the solution or part of the
problem."[28]
*Ph.Deities.* The fifth way true believers attempt to support
the SRA conspiracy theory betrays a naivete and misplaced trust in
authority, if not self-aggrandizement on the part of true-believer
therapists. Therapists do not have some sort of omniscient capacity
to determine who is recounting reality and who is ascribing reality
to fantasy. As one forensic psychologist joked, "They sound more
like Ph.Deities than therapists!"
*Children Do Not Always Tell the Truth.* The sixth claim, that
children (or childlike MPD manifestations) don't lie about abuse,
gained popularity during the early 1980s as part of the child
protection movement. This belief is heavily promoted by many of the
most vocal child protection advocates, even though some, such as
UCLA psychiatrist Roland Summit, admit that there are no controlled
studies to validate it.[29]
Another major problem with accurately discerning the veracity
of SRA stories is that psychological models used to understand the
dynamics of ordinary child abuse are superimposed on alleged SRA
victims without demonstrating that such a transference is valid.
One such model proposed by Summit, the "child sexual abuse
accommodation syndrome," asserts that children who have been abused
are characteristically reluctant to disclose, and often recant,
their stories. Summit and other therapists even use the
accommodation syndrome to _determine_ whether or not a child has
been abused. This may have limited validity in an incest situation
involving an intact family in which the revelation of child abuse
may cause both the perpetrator's removal from the family and
recriminations from other relatives. However, as Lee Coleman notes,
it is worse than useless "in cases in which the perpetrator is a
non-supported outsider or a non-custodial parent accused by the
custodial parent."[30]
No one wants to minimize the pain, trauma, and terror that
child victims of any kind suffer. However, nonabused children
become victims of misdirected intervention when they are treated as
though they have been abused and so become convinced they were
abused.
It is considered more incredible that someone would lie or
invent stories about bizarre ritual abuse than it would be for such
abuse to have actually occurred. Some true believer therapists have
developed variations of this idea, such as psychiatrist Bennet
Braun's "rule of five": if he hears of the same abuse scenario from
five different clients who have no known common association, he
accepts that scenario as authentic.[31] Such a fallacy of
credulity, however, ignores the many possible sources of
co-contamination among therapists, clients, the media, and so
forth; the possible reasons one could believe and/or tell a story
that is not true; and the fact that some SRA accounts have been
proven to be false. Clients who unknowingly told vivid, yet false,
stories have been reported. The causes for this are often broadly
described as "directive therapy."[32] Often the controversial
practice of hypnotism is used, sometimes with clearly false
results.[33] Several experts -- including one of the nation's
leading MPD specialists, psychiatrist George Ganaway,[34] and a
leading hypnosis expert, psychologist Nicholas Spanos[35] -- have
linked high suggestibility (which includes susceptibility to
hypnosis) to claims of MPD and alleged adult survivor SRA stories.
Sometimes inadvertent hypnosis or self-hypnosis can have tragic
consequences, as in the nightmarish case of Paul Ingram. Ingram,
who was accused of SRA by his adult daughter, succumbed to
intensive interrogation, pastoral pressure, and subtle hypnotic
cues. Eventually, through self-induced hypnosis, he "remembered"
his participation in satanic crimes so he could confess and plead
guilty in criminal court![36] Memory idiosyncrasies can also play
a crucial part in false stories, as noted by leading memory expert
and psychologist Elizabeth Loftus and others.[37]
Some false stories are produced with the cooperation of the
client, including cases of factitious (fabricated), simulated
(imitative), or malingering (avoiding responsibility for one's
eventual recovery) dissociative disorders.[38] One of the most
interesting examples of factitious disorder is chronicled by
Philip M. Coons in his "Factitious Disorder (Munchausen Type)
Involving Allegations of Ritual Satanic Abuse."[39] In this case,
the client made a minicareer of traveling cross-country, being
assisted by different SRA support groups and gaining admittance
to inpatient facilities, where she would remain until her ruse was
discovered and then move on.
*Denial Does Not Prove Guilt.* The seventh argument true
believers use is a variation of the fourth. Accused perpetrators
are given a nonlethal form of the same kind of guilt-or-innocence
test that was administered to suspected witches during medieval
times. If the witch didn't confess when charged, that proved he or
she was unrepentant and should die. If one did confess, the
punishment was the same. Today's true believers don't kill those
they accuse, but they leave them with no way to establish their
innocence. Indeed, a protestation of innocence becomes a
tautological "proof" of guilt.
*Nondeterminative Evidence.* In connection with the eighth
argument, true believers sometimes attempt to find corroborative
evidence. Some refer to amorphous "files full of evidence," yet are
unable to cite even one example thereof. They may even refer to
unidentified "officials" who have seen their evidence and advised
the victims to keep quiet lest they risk death from the avenging
cult.
True believers sometimes cite ambiguous or nondeterminative
evidence. For example, in a telephone interview, Dr. James Friesen,
a Christian therapist and author of the popular _Uncovering the
Mystery of MPD,_ told us he had corroborative evidence to support
an SRA story. A woman claimed she had been impregnated through SRA
and given birth to a child later used in a human sacrifice. This
woman's family had no knowledge of her ever giving birth, and her
gynecologist confirmed that she had delivered a child at some time
in the past. This, however, proves only that she gave birth; it
doesn't prove the _circumstances_ of the pregnancy, the birth, or
the fate of her child.
*Individual Occult-Related Crime.* In the ninth argument, true
believers almost invariably point to sensational crimes with
occultic overtones as though they prove the SRA conspiracy theory.
Loner and self-styled Satanist murderer Richard Ramirez does not
fit the SRA profile at all. But true believers frequently mention
him along with Sean Sellers, a self-styled teen Satanist who killed
his parents, and Ricky Kasso, a teen drug dealer and self-styled
Satanist who killed a friend and then committed suicide. They also
cite the Matamoros, Mexico drug ring murders, which were committed
in rituals derived from Palo Mayombe, an Afro-Cuban form of
occultism. None of these, however, fits the SRA pattern in any way.
During our telephone interview with James Friesen, he said he would
send us news clippings citing evidence in support of his SRA
theories. The clippings, none of which substantiated SRA claims,
included crimes like those above.
*Missing Statistics for Missing Children.* The tenth and final
argument most true believers employ is some variation on the idea
that the SRA conspiracy theory explains a number of widely held
beliefs -- for example, that thousands of children disappear each
year.[40] The SRA conspiracy theory is said to account for this
phenomenon: the children are sacrificed in satanic rituals! Dr. Al
Carlise estimates that 40,000-60,000 people are killed in satanic
rituals yearly. Other true believers cite smaller numbers, but
still in the tens of thousands. And yet, when statistical studies
on missing children are examined, we find that the truth does not
fit the SRA conspiracy model. In fact, the vast majority of
children reported missing each year are accounted for within a
twelve-month period,[41] leaving fewer than 300 unaccounted for
after one year. The majority of missing children either are taken
by noncustodial parents in custody disputes or are runaways.[42]
Certainly to a parent whose child is missing, the size of the
problem is immaterial, the grief real, and the suffering profound.
But it is wrong to confuse compassion for an individual with a
blind acceptance of false statistics in a futile effort to bolster
an SRA conspiracy theory.
Equally damaging, if not more so, are the growing number of
false accusations of child sexual abuse which are sometimes fueled
and supported by inadequate test methods, overly zealous medical
and mental health professionals, and excessively concerned
parents.[43] Drs. Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield summarize
the tragedy of false reports concerning children and SRA:
To treat a child as if satanic abuse were real....is to
reify a child's most terrifying fantasies and force a
child to grow into an adult whose world remains at the
level of a constant night terror. It is to run the risk
of training a child to be psychotic, not able
to distinguish between reality and unreality. It is to
irrevocably and likely irretrievably damage a child and
induce a lifelong experience of emotional distress.[44]
SRA STORIES VS. BIBLICAL STANDARDS
There is still no substantial, compelling evidence that SRA
stories and conspiracy theories are true. Alternate hypotheses more
reasonably explain the social, professional, and personal dynamics
reflected in this contemporary satanic panic. The tragedy of broken
families, traumatized children, and emotionally incapacitated
adults provoked by SRA charges is needless and destructive. Careful
investigation of the stories, the alleged victims, and the
proponents has given us every reason to reject the satanic
conspiracy model in favor of an interpretation consistent with
reason and truth.
The Bible tells us that we serve the God of truth (Isa. 65:16).
Paul exhorts us to test everything, clinging only to what is good
(2 Thess. 5:21-22), and commends the Bereans for testing what he
taught by God's Word; that is, by what was known to be true (Acts
17:11). Peter warns us by example not to be seduced by cunningly
devised myths (2 Pet. 1:16). God commands us not to bear false
witness against another (Deut. 5:20). In Matthew 18:15-19, Jesus
warns us not to bring any accusation of sin against a fellow
Christian without evidence and witnesses.
God's judgment against those who do evil is according to truth
(Rom. 2:2). Should our judgment be based on fallacies, nonevidence,
subjectivism, and worldly wisdom? Let us be committed to compassion
for victims and biblical judgment for victimizers, but let us not
become victimizers by faulty judgment and false accusations. With
sound wisdom and biblically based discernment, we need have no fear
of a monolithic satanic conspiracy (Prov. 3:23-26).
NOTES
1 Some stories are chronicled in such books as Truddi Chase's
_When Rabbit Howls_ (New York: Jove Books, 1987), James G.
Friesen's _Uncovering the Mystery of MPD_ (San Bernardino, CA:
Here's Life Publishers, 1991), Robert S. Mayer's _Satan's
Children_ (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1991), Michelle Smith
and Lawrence Pazder's _Michelle Remembers_ (New York: Congdon &
Lattes, 1980), Judith Spencer's _Suffer the Child_ (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1989), and Lauren Stratford's _Satan's
Underground_ (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1988;
Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., 1991).
2 _See,_ e.g., Friesen. A good reference in response to SRA
stories is James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David G. Bromley,
_The Satanism Scare_ (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991).
3 Bob Larson, who hosts a nationally syndicated Christian radio
talk show, claims that there are "several hundreds of thousands"
of adults who "remember" such horrible abuse.
4 Some say that between 40,000 and 60,000 persons per year are
ritually murdered (statistic attributed to Dr. Al Carlisle of
the Utah State Prison System by Jerry Johnston [_The Edge of
Evil_ (Dallas: Word Books, 1989)] and others).
5 Whether the true believer uses the term _conspiracy,_ a synonym
such as "infiltration" (as Bob Larson uses), or no term at all,
the assumption is the same.
6 Three notable cases where dozens of children were taken from
their parents before there was any corroborative evidence to
back up suspicions were in Bakersfield, California; Jordan,
Minnesota; and in England.
7 The phenomenon of SRA reports is of relatively recent origin.
The various aspects are often ambiguous, open-ended, and/or
complex. In addition, most of the constructive professional
dialogue on the subject has appeared in papers presented at
conferences, articles in professional journals, and newspaper
articles. Little has been discussed in book form. A
comprehensive research bibliography is available by sending a
request with a business sized, self-addressed, stamped envelope
to Bob and Gretchen Passantino, Answers in Action, P.O. Box
2067, Costa Mesa, CA 92628.
8 Space limitations preclude discussing a history of Satanism
here. The reader is referred to Bob and Gretchen Passantino's
_When the Devil Dares Your Kids_ (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant
Publications, 1991), 34-38. A description and history of
witchcraft is on pages 50-55.
9 Further information on the types of contemporary Satanists is
available in Craig Hawkins's "The Many Faces of Satanism,"
_Forward,_ Fall 1986, 16-22.
10 For further information on this aspect of SRA development, _see_
the journal _Child Abuse and Neglect;_ Debbie Nathan, "The
Ritual Sex Abuse Hoax," _The Village Voice,_ 12 June 1990,
36-44; Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield, "Cur Allii, Prae
Aliis? (Why Some, and Not Others?)," _Issues in Child Abuse
Accusations_ 3, 3:178-93; Jeffrey Victor, "The Satanic Cult
Scare and Allegations of Ritual Child Abuse," _Issues in Child
Abuse Accusations_ 3, 3:135-43; Wakefield and Underwager's
"Sexual Abuse Allegations in Divorce and Custody Disputes,"
_Behavioral Sciences and the Law_ (in press); and Sherrill
Mulhern, "Ritual Abuse: Creating a Context for Belief,"
Laboratoire des Rumeurs, Paris.
11 For further information on this subject, _see_ John Johnson and
Steve Padilla's "Satanism: Growing Concern -- And Skepticism"
(_Los Angeles Times,_ 23 April 1991) and Jeffrey Victor's "The
Spread of Satanic-Cult Rumors" (_Skeptical Inquirer_ 14 [Spring
1990]:287-91).
12 _See_ Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham's _Witness for the
Defense_ (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991), Joel Best's
"Missing Children, Misleading Statistics" (_The Public
Interest,_ 84-92), Lee Coleman's "False Allegations of Child
Sexual Abuse" (_Forum,_ January-February 1986, 12-22), and the
journal _Issues in Child Abuse Accusations._
13 For further information on this development in end times
theology, _see_ Gary DeMar's _Last Days Madness_ (Brentwood, TN:
Wolgemuth and Hyatt, Publishers, 1991), especially chapters
eight and nine.
14 Mike Warnke, _The Satan Seller_ (Plainfield, NJ: Logos Books,
1972), 93, 116.
15 The vast majority of alleged adult survivors fit this general
profile, although occasionally there are male victims, younger
women, ethnic minority members, and so forth.
16 _See_ George Ganaway's discussion of this in "Historical versus
Narrative Truth: Clarifying the Role of Exogenous Trauma in the
Etiology of MPD and Its Variants," _Dissociation_ 2, 4:205-20.
17 _See,_ e.g., Wakefield and Underwager, "Sexual Abuse Allegations
in Divorce and Custody Disputes."
18 A fascinating study of this is in Martha Rogers's "Evaluating an
Alleged Satanic Ritualistic Abuser: What We Don't Know," _Issues
in Child Abuse Accusations_ 3, 3:166-77.
19 Many details closely follow descriptions in Anton LaVay's _The
Satanic Bible_ (New York: Avon Books, 1969), _The Satan Seller,
Michelle Remembers,_ and other popular books found in general
bookstores. It sometimes is possible to follow particular
details as they spread from one victim through a support group
or therapist to other victims (_see,_ e.g., Victor's "The
Satanic Cult Scare," 135-43).
20 In our three years of extensive research into SRA and alleged
adult survivors, the fully well adult survivor is rare to
nonexistent.
21 While it is true that questioning often begins with a general
troubling complaint by a child such as "My teacher touched me
funny," that is not considered a disclosure of an SRA story.
22 _See,_ e.g., Underwager and Wakefield's "Cur Allii, Prae Aliis?"
23 Remember, the individual or small group engaging in criminal
abuse is _not_ indicative of SRA, in which widespread conspiracy
is an essential part of the definition.
24 E.g., loner Satanist abuse, sexual fondling in a Roman Catholic
confessional, or repeated nonreligious abuse in a prescribed
manner, location, or sequence.
25 Kenneth V. Lanning, "Commentary on Ritual Abuse: A Law
Enforcement View or Perspective," _Child Abuse and Neglect_ 15
(1991):171-73.
26 _See_ our article on Lauren Stratford's _Satan's Underground_
entitled "Satan's Sideshow," _Cornerstone,_ issue 90, 26-28.
27 This fallacy is discussed in our book _Witch Hunt_ (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), 113-16.
28 Kenneth V. Lanning, "Satanic, Occult, Ritualistic Crime: A Law
Enforcement Perspective," _The Police Chief,_ October 1989.
29 Coleman. _See_ also Jerome Cramer's "Why Children Lie in Court,"
_Time,_ 4 March 1991, 76; Wakefield and Underwager's "Sexual
Abuse Allegations in Divorce and Custody Disputes"; and Debbie
Nathan's "False Evidence: How Bad Science Fueled the Hysteria
over Child Abuse," _LA Weekly,_ 7-13 April 1989, 15-18.
30 Coleman, 12.
31 Reported in Diane S. Lund's "Psychiatrists Debate the Extent of
Ritual Abuse," _The Psychiatric Times,_ April 1991, 54-55. Often
true believers believe Braun's Rule of Five is misrepresented.
However, Braun confirmed his view essentially as stated in a
phone interview with our frequent coauthor, Jon Trott.
32 _See,_ e.g., Philip Coon, "Iatrogenic Factors in the
Misdiagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder," _Dissociation_
2, 2:70-76; George Ganaway, "Historical versus Narrative Truth,"
and Ganaway, "Alternative Hypotheses Regarding Satanic Ritual
Abuse Memories" (presented at the ninety-ninth annual convention
of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, 19
August 1991); Jon Trott, "Satanic Panic: The Ingram Family and
Other Victims of Hysteria in America," _Cornerstone,_ issue 95,
9-12; Ethan Watters, "The Devil in Mr. Ingram," _Mother Jones,_
July/August 1991, 30-68; and Glenna Whitley, "The Seduction of
Gloria Grady," _D Magazine,_ October 1991, 45-71.
33 The best data on the use of hypnosis subtly directing client
response is detailed in Nicholas Spanos et. al, "Secondary
Identity Enactments During Hypnotic Past-Life Regression: A
Sociocognitive Perspective," _Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology_ 61, 2:308-20.
34 Ganaway, "Historical versus Narrative Truth."
35 Nicholas P. Spanos, John R. Weekes, and Lorne D. Bertrand,
"Multiple Personality: A Social Psychological Perspective,"
_Journal of Abnormal Psychology_ 94, 3:362-76; and Spanos et.
al, "Secondary Identity Enactments."
36 The psychological aspects of the case are chronicled in Richard
J. Ofshe's "Inadvertent Hypnosis During Interrogation: False
Confession Due to Dissociative State; Mis-Identified Multiple
Personality and the Satanic Cult Hypothesis" (Department of
Sociology, University of California [Berkeley], in press). The
entire case, now on appeal, is discussed in Trott, "Satanic
Panic," and Watters, "The Devil in Mr. Ingram."
37 _See_ Loftus and Ketcham; Beverly Beyette, "Not-So-Total
Recall," _Los Angeles Times,_ 10 September 1991; Pat Brennan,
"Bad Memories Can End Up in Court," _Orange County Register,_ 24
March 1991; Lawrence W. Daly and J. Frank Pacifico, "Opening the
Doors to the Past: Decade Delayed Disclosure of Memories of
Years Gone By," _The Champion,_ December 1991, 43-47; and Irene
Wielawski, "Unlocking the Secrets of Memory," _Los Angeles
Times,_ 3 October 1991.
38 _See_ Susan S. Brick and James A. Chu, "The Simulation of
Multiple Personalities: A Case Report," _Psychotherapy_ 28
(Summer 1991):267-71; Cramer, "Why Children Lie in Court"; and
Ganaway, "Alternative Hypotheses Regarding Satanic Ritual Abuse
Memories."
39 Philip M. Coons, "Factitious Disorder (Munchausen Type)
Involving Allegations of Ritual Satanic Abuse: A Case Report,"
_Dissociation_ 3, 4:177-78.
40 U.S. Representative Paul Simon (not to be confused with Senator
Paul Simon of Illinois) told the House a "conservative
estimate....50,000 children [are] abducted by strangers
annually" (Nathan, "The Ritual Sex Abuse Hoax," 36-44).
41 A careful analysis of missing children statistics is in Best's
"Missing Children, Misleading Statistics," 84-92.
42 Nathan, "The Ritual Sex Abuse Hoax," 39.
43 _See_ especially Nathan's "False Evidence," and "Sex, the Devil,
and Day Care," _The Village Voice,_ 32, 39:25-26.
44 Underwager and Wakefield, "Cur Allii, Prae Aliis?" 3, 3:190.
-------------
End of document, CRJ0127A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"The Hard Facts About Satanic Ritual Abuse"
release A, July 31, 1994
R. Poll, CRI
(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Christian Research Journal is published quarterly by the
Christian Research Institute (CRI) -- founded in 1960 by the late
Dr. Walter R. Martin. While CRI is concerned with and involved
in the general defense of the faith, our area of research
specialization is limited to elements within the modern religious
scene that compete with, assault, or undermine biblical
Christianity. These include cults (that is, groups which deny
essential Christian doctrines such as the deity of Christ and the
Trinity); the occult, much of which has become focused in the
contemporary New Age movement; the major world religions; and
aberrant Christian teachings (that is, teachings which compromise
or confuse essential biblical truth).
Regular features of the Journal include "Newswatch," witnessing
tips and book reviews.
CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL RATES: (subject to change)
One Year Two Years
U.S. Residents [ ] 20.00 [ ] 37.00
Canadian (U.S. funds) [ ] 24.00 [ ] 44.00
Other Foreign (U.S. funds) [ ] 36.00 [ ] 66.00
Please make checks payable to CRI
To place a credit card order by phone, call us toll-free at:
(800) 2-JOURNAL
To subscribe to the Christian Research Journal, please print this
coupon, fill in the necessary information and mail it with your
payment to:
CRI, P.O. Box 500-TC, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693-0500
[ ] Yes! I want to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal.
Name: ___________________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________________
City, State, ZIP: __________________________________________
Country: _______________ Phone: ____________________________
------------------
YOURS FOR THE ASKING
Did you know that CRI has a wealth of information on various
topics that is yours for the asking? In fact, a free
subscription to the Christian Research Newsletter is yours if you
contact CRI and ask for one saying that you found out about the
offer from this computer text file. We offer a wide variety of
articles and fact sheets free of charge. Write us today for
information on these or other topics. Our first-rate research
staff will do everything possible to help you.
Christian Research Institute
P.O. Box 500-TC
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693
(714) 855-9926
---------------
End of file.