# Moral panic: the Satanic scapegoat **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467 "2013-01-17T04:20:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467/21 "2013-01-25T20:34:44Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The thing you guys are not mentioning is that Satanism exists specifically to prey on the fears of Christians. The idea of Satanic rituals predates Satanism by a heck of a lot. The original idea seems to be that everyone who does not worship the Christian god is worshiping Satan. A lot of the pagan or Satanic rituals seem to be perversions of other religions, made worse to make Christianity seem better. > > It’s more about group cohesion than creating an exciting narrative. If there’s a Satan, there’s a real risk in leaving the Christian fold. Weren’t a lot of supposedly Satanic rituals actually pagan rituals? In an environment where many believed in other gods, I’d think it would be easier to accept their existence and assign them to Satan instead of trying to deny them outright. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467/22 "2013-01-25T22:11:03Z")
By the time the remotely modern conception of Satan had developed, there hadn’t been any pagans around Western Europe for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467/23 "2013-01-25T22:21:28Z")
As far as I understand, the medieval versions of Satanism involved corrupt versions of the Christian Mass. Inverted cross, urinating upon the host, that kind of thing. These are not typically part of Neopagan rituals nor do they appear to have any ties to the paganism of the ancient world. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467/24 "2013-01-25T22:58:03Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > By the time the remotely modern conception of Satan had developed, there hadn’t been any pagans around Western Europe for quite some time. I was thinking much earlier than that, more of the time when Christianity began to be adopted by the formerly pagan tribes. I agree that the later witch hysteria had nothing to do with paganism, but I was thinking more of how Satan got defined, which happened fairly early. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467/25 "2013-01-26T03:10:23Z")
Christianity always gets it wrong. Deaths caused by Satan in bible=10. All in book of Job with Yahweh’s permission. Deaths by Yahweh in the bible=33 million. If I was forced to make a choice I’d have to go on the Satan side-- less murder and god created him-- there’s just one big wrinkle… Neither creature exists. Thank Og. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-panic-the-satanic-scapegoat/647467.md?page=1)