Anton LeVay, founder of the Church of Satan, conducting a ceremony (c. 1970)

Sourced from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Satanism 

People tend to avoid the strange tendencies of the world, veering away from them as if they were to catch a disease. About 63% of Americans are Christian, which has been a highly popular idea ever since the colonization of America. Christianity is not only the backbone of the colonized Americas but also a foundational aspect of European religious and social systems. However, the more drastically different these religions become from the majority-based religion, the worse the media treats them. As an introduction to New Religious Movements, or NRMs for short, it is best to know that despite their humble nature, they are grouped together as cults and often associated with the keyword, Satanism. From this word alone, many people can agree that a myriad of images, like the infamous inverted pentagram, pop into people’s heads, often given a very negative connotation towards Satanism. Followed by these images comes a series of expressions of pain and torture, of blood and bones. These automatic judgments can erase the humanity and unbiased perspectives given towards minority groups, including Satanic cults, allowing them to become victim of prejudice and other misfortunes. 

The Satanic Panic was a time in American history when the media destroyed the reputation of NRMs and cults, even though the majority of them were not at all maliciously created. The media focused on the wrongdoings of certain groups and Satanic cults. There were reports on forced suicides, mass murders, the raping of children, and human sacrifice among these groups; however, they were far and few. The incidents that did occur were immediately publicized to enable the public to think that the issue was larger than its actual extent. And thus, through this extreme exaggeration of events, a counter culture towards Satanism was created. Most of the media spread misleading information about NRMs, which induced psychological trauma to participants who were involved, making them the weaker party in the hierarchy of the group. A cult leader was seen as a manipulative and destructive individual who stripped away their members’ free will right from them. These structures were seen as the destruction of societies and the standard career culture. So how did this mass publication and harmful propaganda begin? The International Cult Studies Association, also known as ICSA, was interested in decreasing the amount of destructive propaganda happening to NRMs, while also manipulating the member participation within these groups. Through a series of publications, initially veiled from the ICSA, they successfully spread the belief that Satanists were criminal individuals, helping destroy anyone’s reputation as a Satanist. Although the media coverage of Satanism has improved from its disastrous time in the 60s and 70s, many stereotypes and prejudices still exist around Satanism, with some even claiming that the panic is returning once again. Regardless, as the extreme opposite of Christianity and normalism, Satanism becomes a strong topic of argument among ethical debaters. 

Although the spread of hatred towards Satanism is mostly based on media, historical, and sociological implications, decision-making and belief systems for the individual are purely psychological. Previously mentioned, Satanism comes with a myriad of stereotypes attached to it, with claims attached to thoughts as well. As humans, psychologists like to call our brains ‘cognitive misers’, as our brains take shortcuts and attempt to avoid overusing energy. This is a psychological term called a heuristic, which refers to the shortcut your brain takes with certain information. As part of the psychological model called the dual-processing theory, heuristics explain why individuals have biases and create stereotypes for certain situations, people, or environments. This theory is also attached to the schema theory, which refers to association in certain situations. Schema theory focuses on associating ideas or objects with a certain topic. For example, you might think it is more likely to see a pen or a stapler in an office rather than a toy skull. These various theories are interchangeable when associated with stereotypes and mental processing. Associating a group of people with a certain idea, mostly cultivated by the media, is your brain’s way of taking a shortcut, hence why the satanic panic came at such a velocity of threat towards NRMs. 

Although now these stereotyping behaviours are thoroughly explained through psychology, judgments continue to remain impaired due to natural human biases. Associating with NRMs, these stereotypes can extend toward the court, causing impairments in trial sentences for those who identify as satanists. Jefferey Pfeifer, a famous psychologist who studied jury racism, researched the stereotypes against satanic-related groups through a thorough experiment that delved into impartial judgments by the jury. Not only were Satanists judged more harshly than normal individuals, but they were also rated as less happy, less intelligent, and less responsible for themselves and their lives. These results show a deeper, darker side of the justice system and how biases are never truly eradicated. Again, even if these biases were created by the overpopulation of anti-satanic media throughout the years, the results reveal that the value of minority groups, other than NRMs, is minimal at best in American society. Perhaps these discoveries are just another insight into how racism remains through generations after generations of individuals. It is nonetheless a terrifying thought to imagine becoming a minority group in America under extreme scrutiny from not only the media and public, but the officials who judge your life’s work as a profile for your wrongdoings. 

Satanist experiences are worded harshly for the harsh reality that these believers face. However, despite these groups being a discrete minority, their nugget of truth related to media portraying violence is exaggerated largely towards their small population, a trend that’s similar to other minority groups in the United States. An important takeaway from this investigation is the fact that minority groups are the most attacked in the media by the majority groups of the world. Although Christian-related crimes do exist, they never seem to be meant or due to the Christian religion. So, why should the same judgments be applied towards Satanism? Satanism, on its own, is not explicitly violent in any way and often exhibits religious tendencies and practices just like any other major world religion. This idea, however, would be difficult for most people to cope with, especially because some individuals have lived with their beliefs longer than others. To accept the strange, different parts of the world, individuals should reject the panicking cries of the media and rely on the beauty of truth from the source.