Where Old Satanic Panic Practitioners Go
Since the 1980s, Christian critics of Wicca and modern Paganism have slowly moved away from the outright falsehoods and Satanic panic. Where once supposed Christian “experts” on the occult and Witchcraft would regularly appear on daytime talk shows and specials on Christian networks to talk about Wicca’s secret Satanic/Masonic connections, they now write books that try to be understanding and reach out to those involved in Witchcraft (with the same goal of conversion obviously). But what happened to all those “doctors”, “experts”, and “former Witches” who used to tour the country and make appearances on television? Well, one has emerged in Jamaica to spread the gospel.
“As a student in a Roman Catholic high school, he was given a book on the occult by a nun. That book became a gateway for a life in which he embraced witchcraft, freemasonry, satanism, voodoo and Mormonism. He even drank human blood for 18 months. Dr. Schnoebelen, 57, is in Jamaica until May 29 to warn the nation about the dangers of occultic involvement and to offer ways in which the Christian community can help those who are trapped in such bondage.”
Schnoebelen, the author of “Wicca: Satan’s Little White Lie”, was once a power-hungry Pagan known as “Christopher Pendragon Syn” until his conversion to Mormonism in 1984, and then finally a rather intolerant strain of evangelical Christianity later that same year. He then began a campaign of lies and misinformation concerning Wicca and modern Paganism.
“Schnoebelen is best know to the evangelical Christian community for his book Wicca: Satan’s Little White Lie. The basic premise of this book is that Wicca is simply a front organization for a larger Satanic conspiracy. Schnoebelen tries to convince the reader that after a few years a Wiccan must pursue “the study of the ‘Higher Wisdon’ of Satan in order to keep growing.” He goes on to say: … If you’ve stayed a Wiccan or ‘white’ witch for a long time, it’s only because you don’t have enough of the Promethean itch to grow. OR it may be that you have many Christian friends or loved ones praying for you. Did you ever think of that?[emphasis in original]“
But in these more tolerant times, Schnoebelen has been having a hard time getting speaking engagements outside of a small hard-core audience of Chick-tract readers and Christian conspiracy theorists. So its off to the main growth industry for evangelical operations, the Third World/Global South, where his para-church organization With One Accord can find fresh dupes converts. After Jamaica, its off to Rio di Janero. His only confirmed North American speaking engagement is at a UFO Conference at Roswell, NM, no doubt this turn in fortunes is somehow Satan’s fault.
One response so far
Even here in the U.S.A., there are some new Satanic panic scaremongers who still manage to be taken seriously by some police departments. An example is Dawn Permutter, who I’ve written about here: Dawn Perlmutter and her Institute for the Research of Organized and Ritual Violence.