To:
From: Cardea
Date: 11 Mar 1998
Time: 16:42:50
Another fascinating book on the subject is _Satanic Panic_ by Jeffrey S. Victor. He studied a rumor panic in Jamestown, NY in 1988. Amopng many other things, he asserts that parents and communities fall victim to these scares as a result of their own insecurities in child care.
Meanwhile, the *proven* cases (Jim Jones, the Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate) base their teachings on Biblical/Christian theology. I know several people who were ritually abused by a local Baptist sect -- made to kneel and pray for hours, harangued for their "evil" ways by groups of adults, ostracized by their clasmates -- all for the sake of saving their souls. But they are "upright citizens".
Very sad and very frightening.
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