ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT & CHEMICAL ABUSE
What
is the Relationship between High-risk Behaviors, Drug use and Deviant Religious Practices?
Adolescent Development & Satanic Activity: Key Issues
1. Identity/self-esteem issues
2. Empowerment/ authority issues
3. Sexuality/orientation issues
4. Belonging/family, grouping issues
5. Deviant behaviors/tolerance issues
6. Coercive persuasion/ manipulation issues
7. RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY ISSUES
What is Religion?
•
“Religion” has been the major determinant of
human behavior since the dawn of
consciousness.
•
“Religion” is fundamentally about:
–
identity = self-esteem
–
relationship = empowerment
–
“religions” answer identity-forming and relationship-guiding
questions
WHAT IS RELIGION?
Religion deals with answers to identity-forming questions:
•
Selfhood - “Who am I?”
•
Meaning - “Why am I?”
•
Purpose - “What do I do?”
•
Destiny - “Where does life lead?”
•
Hope - “Can I be happy & fulfilled?”
WHAT IS RELIGION?
Religion is relationship-guiding; how do we deal with “THE
OTHER?”
•
the Divine
•
nature
•
other human beings
•
other cultures
•
rites of passage
PERVASIVENESS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
1. All humans experience rites of passage = birth, death,
suffering, love, tragedy, etc.
2. A rite of passage generates questions about identity &
relationship.
3. “Religions” provide answers to these profound life questions.
4. Thus, “religion” has enormous POWER!
FACTS ABOUT SATANISM
•
Satanism emerges in the minds of 15th century Roman
Catholic inquisitors bent on stamping out “witchcraft.”
•
There have been few actual satanic groups throughout
history.
•
Satanists practice an adversarial form of
Christianity, corrupting Christian practices in rituals such as the Black Mass.
SATANISM v. CHRISTIANITY: Satanic Focus
•
Cosmology = a return to pagan awarness of mystical
forces inhabiting the earth v. the transcendental goals of Christianity
•
Satan’s power is growing; God’s is dying
•
Christ is a “con man” who tricked ignorant and
anxious people into believing the “lie” that is Christianity
•
Christian fathers perpetuated that lie
SATANISM v. CHRISTIANITY
•
Satan = “he who opposes”
•
Satanism arose out of opposition to the demeaning
(sin) and stultifying institutions of Christianity
•
Without Christianity, there would be no Satanism
• Satanism
exists to demean, blaspheme, and ultimately destroy Christianity
SATANISM v. CHRISTIANITY
•
Satanic rituals aim to achieve the “inverted sins”
of Christianity
•
The Seven Deadly Sins - greed, pride, envy,
anger, gluttony, lust, and sloth - depict Satanic virtues
•
In Satanic theology, these forces are natural
in human beings; they are necessary for the preservation of the species, not
sins as taught in Christianity
THE BLACK MASS
•
A major ritual of blasphemy designed to evoke
disgust and aversion towards the most sacred Christian rituals, symbols, and
objects; the goal is to break the power Christianity holds over believers
•
the Crucifix is handled brutally
•
urine or menstral flow replace wine
•
ritual sex may be included, if necessary
•
Faith, awe, reverence are ridiculed
FACTS ABOUT SATANISM
•
Satanism should not be confused with the practice of
wicca or neo-paganism, earth-based religions that preceded
Christianity.
•
Public hysteria regarding satanic activity is driven
by increasingly serious social problems, conservative Christian mythology, and general paranoia.
TRADITIONAL SATANISTS
•
Identify with ancient pagan traditions
•
Worship a number of deities identified with Satan
•
Satan tends to represent individualism and
self-sufficiency rather than evil
•
Secretive worship services are held to tap into the
magical forces of the world
•
Move from initiate to master
CONTEMPORARY SATANISM
•
Arose in the 1960s & 1970s as part of the
hedonistic, rebellious counterculture
•
“Sickies” = disconnected groups or individuals who employ satan worship to
justify any form of illegal or high-risk behavior, including drug use
•
Though naturally self-destructive, these groups
contribute to “satan-hysteria.”
CONTEMPORARY SATANISM
Organized Satanists (some examples):
•
Church of Satan - Anton LaVey; promotes physical and
mental gratification, self-assertion, and anti-estabishmentarianism in his Satanic
Bible
•
Temple of Set - Michael Aquino
•
Ordo Templi Satanas - Joseph Daniels
•
…many others came and went….
MODERN SATANISTS
•
Modern Satanists do not recognize any type of
divinity
•
Satan is a natural force or psychological archetype,
not a cognizant being
•
Modern Satanists do not believe in a judgmental,
intelligent deity that makes rules regarding human conduct
MODERN SATANISTS
Basic beliefs:
•
individualism in thought and deed
•
perfection of the self
•
gifts to the deserving only
•
treating others as they have treated you
•
Satan represents a superior archetype to those
expressed in the Christian mythos
IDEOLOGY OF ANTISATANISM
Antisatanism = a secular ideology concerned with “satanic,”
“occult,” or “ritualistic” crime (David Bromley).
“Satanism” = a subversive fear
Antisatanism = a countersubersive ideology; may be used to attack
any group considered to be the negative other
• attacks
on the other have, sadly, been a part of religious history for millennia
ANTISATANISM: Basic Beliefs
•
Satanists are part of a widespread conspiracy of
subversives who want to overthrow society and remake it in their own evil
image.
•
Satanists infiltrate the power structure and corrupt
adolescents through sex, drugs, Heavy Metal music, fantasy game, brainwashing,
etc.
ANTISATANISM:Basic Beliefs
•
Satanists commit ritual murder and child abuse in
the bid for supernatural power
•
95% of the nation’s missing children (approx. 50,000
annually) are abducted for use in human sacrifices
•
“Occult survivors” are women kept as “breeders” for
babies used in satanic sacrifices
POLICE MODEL OF SATANIC CRIME
1. Organized Religious Satanists
2. “Dabblers” (primarily adolescents)
3. “Self-styled” satanists (sociopaths, psychopaths, usually loners)
4. “satanic cults” attracts group sociopaths
5. Orthodox Satanic groups = megasatanic cults, organized, subversive,
criminal; similar to the antisatanism movement
ANTIRATIONALISM IN THE ANTISATANISM MOVEMENT
•
There has never been any proof, under FBI
investigation, of the radical antisatanism claims.
•
However, the lack of proof is the ultimate proof
for antisatanists.
•
Satanists are so skilled at their evil, subversive
behavior, that their crimes have gone undetected.
(report by FBI agent Kenneth Lanning)
SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, AND DRUG USE
•
Greek proverb: “There is a god in every disease.”
•
Can the desire to be intoxicated have profound implications regarding the
relationship between spiritual need and the failure of institutional religion
to meet that need?
•
Holy, “whole-ness,” interconnectedness.
Symptoms of Spiritual-Impoverishment
•
Emptiness, anxiety, boredom
•
feelings of meaningless & purposelessness
•
disillusionment about relationships
•
confusion about values
•
compulsive/addictive behavior
•
anger/aggression
•
yearning for personal fulfillment
SIGNS OF SATANIC ACTIVITY
•
Satanism encourages adolescent rebellion yet lacks a
positive rational framework for sorting out relational, social, and religious
boundaries and values.
•
For troubled, alienated adolescents, satanism is
more an expression of rage, hostility, and self-indulgence than it is a
religious conviction.
SIGNS OF SATANIC ACTIVITY
•
extreme alienation/powerlessness
•
morbid fascination with horror, death, pain
•
drug and alcohol use
•
high intelligence & creativity used
destructively
•
difficulty conforming to the system in school, home,
or on the job
SOME SATANIC SYMBOLS
•
Pentagram = inverted five point star in a circle
•
Goat of Mendes = represents lust
•
inverted cross
•
writings in a “Book of Shadows” = secret ritual book
•
ritual elements = altar, black & red candles,
sword or staff of “power”, a chalice, a dagger,