Posted by Racer on July 18, 2005, at 13:02:29
I'm reading a book called "Satanism in America: How the Devil Got Much More Than His Due" by Shawn Carlson. It's very ... interesting...
It's a response to the rash of Devil-worship claims from the late 80s -- published in 1989 by Gaia Press -- and goes through piece by piece by piece, checking the background of many of the claims, and exploring alternate theories. Pretty interesting, and I'm learning a fair amount from it about a number of things. For example, did you know that Anton Levay's Church of Satan does not believe in the Judeo-Christian Devil? I didn't. I just assumed, because of the name...
It's even offered up a phrase I particularly like: "Never attribute to Devil-worshipping conspiracies what opportunism, emotional instability, and religious bigotry are sufficient to explain." Pretty good advice, huh?
Has anyone else read anything about this sort of thing? Anyone else have any interest?
poster:Racer
thread:529539
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20050501/msgs/529539.html