Earlier this year, Social Compass journal (56:4 - 2009) arrived a
bit behind schedule with the theme: "Satanism and Satanism Scares in
the Modern World." Most of its contents focus on Europe.

   With the introduction (pp499-502), Titus Hjelm recounts a
tongue-in-cheek, yet intentionally provocative declaration by J.
Gordon Melton: "Satanism is the largest religion in the world ...
that does not exist." Hjelm goes on to explain that "outside the
sphere of actual practitioners, there exists a publicly shared myth
of Satanism that is very different from what existing satanic
organizations or individual Satanists profess. The myth paints a
picture of crime, ritual abuse and human sacrifice. This more or
less consistent cultural consensus about the criminal nature of
Satanism has its beginnings especially in the American Satanism
scares of the late 1980s and early 1990s, but has since spread to
Europe and has even had an impact on the Islamic world. ...

   "Satanism is deviant by definition; thus the image of Satanism in
[a] particular society is also a mirror of the society itself. ...

   "[A]lthough a particular social context inevitably influences the
process of public construction of Satanism and the process of
identifying as a Satanist, there are remarkable similarities in the
dynamics of these processes across different cultures."

   Pages 552-563 feature "Satanism in America: An Update" by James
T. Richardson, Jenny Reichert, and Valerie Lykes. The abstract
reads: "The Satanism scare was a significant moral panic in America
in the 1980s and early 1990s. Scholars analyzed it from a social
constructionist perspective, citing a number of factors and
developments whose confluence contributed to this high-visibility
moral panic. The authors examine those factors that were deemed of
importance in the rise of the Satanism scare, to ascertain why the
scare seems to have waned in recent years. Particular attention is
given to developments within the justice system, the professions of
psychology and psychiatry, and the waning of the Anti-Cult Movement
to explain why the panic lost momentum. Other contributing factors
are also discussed, including the weakening of Christian
Fundamentalism as a force in society and the shift of attention of
the mass media and the general public to other topics. Attention
also is given to various behaviors among youth that have redefined
and contributed to the maintenance of Satanism as a social
phenomenon of note."

Social Compass, <www.scp.sagepub.com>

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