Satanic Panic

In my life in the Christian world, and mainly in the Evangelical vein, I have lived through a lot of Satanic Panic eras. These are times when there is a lot of talk about certain things deemed satanic or demonic if you're fancy. It all starts with a slow burn that catches fire and begins burning everything down.

You weren't a youth group veteran if you didn't ceremonially ruin your CD collection at least three times. In the 90s, music was said to be the vehicle Satan chose to use. There was panic that playing the music backward would reveal Satanic things that polluted young minds. Every generation has had its "this is the devil" moments.

You have to dig a little deeper because Satanic Panic isn't always as it appears. Most of it goes back to the idea of control. Pastors were becoming irrelevant to younger audiences and very out of touch with the ideas their youth groups were interested in, like puppet shows. So, what did they do? They created their villain, which was easy because most of what/is considered Christian music is terrible, and poorly written songs are required to mention Jesus 16 times to pass as such. Music, which has always been the voice of generations, was pushing back on their notions that God was good, all-knowing, or perfect. Hook, line, and sinker, a monolith in the culture war, was created and gained momentum with each publicity stunt of CDs rolled over by literal steamrollers. It's funny now how cancel culture, which Evangelicalism undoubtedly created, is currently thrust on this same group of people.

Flash forward, and now we live in this divided-segregated society of light and dark; at least, that's how Evangelicalism sees it. I remember we couldn't get things at Starbucks because the Siren who graces the cups was Satanic. We couldn't get stuff from Goodwill because demons could be attached to the items from unclean homes. This celebrity was demonic, and that one too. I know this might sound a little silly to you who have ever had the fortune to not live through this, but I will tell you this is the absurdity that is passing for Christianity these days. They blamed the devil and his minions for everything, and then, just when you thought you'd heard it all, they blamed it for autism and other diseases.

This shifted the focus from the faith in God to the worship of the evil. I know it sounds weird to phrase it that way, but when you talk and talk and talk about all the things evil is doing on this earth, you are no longer worshipping God. It all becomes about looking out for evil, and as I am sure you can imagine, they started parsing people out as evil, too.

The shift to people is a newer phenomenon, and I think it has roots in following the Law of Jesus by doing what we do best, creating a loophole. See, in the faith, all people are essential, and you aren't supposed to speak evil of others, but if you make others evil by slapping a "demonic" label on them, you are talking about Satan and not the person.

This subtle shift in thinking allows the Christian to say all the terrible and vile things because Satan is the great enemy. I have seen this practice ultimately annihilate countless folks. It's a very lazy theology. Instead of trying to see the other person and understand their perspective, you label them demonic. Instead of seeking to learn, it's just shutting it down and vilifying. Again, it's how lazy people without the ability to parse ideas live lives full of hate.

From what I have observed, there seems to be an even more profound truth to this practice and it's mental illness. So many Christians refuse mental health help because "If Christ lives in me, then I don't have depression/anxiety/whatever other issues may be." I am sure from some reading this you will see that and think it's very overstated, but it is pervasive in the teachers and "counseling" of the church.

This way seems dangerous for a few reasons. If everything you disagree with is evil, it downplays actual evil pervasive in our society. It desensitizes our minds to the idea of evil. It keeps us from fighting for justice when evil rears its ugly head. Indeed, there is evil in this world, but someone who doesn't believe the way you do, doesn't think this way you do, or doesn't vote the way you do is not evil. They simply have a different perspective. This idea of canceling or dismissing ideas because you have deemed the source evil is just duplicating the echo chamber mentality many seem to cling to.

This also creates an us versus them paradigm that is dangerous for a faith built on the idea that we are all children of God. When you "other" folks, you sit in God's chair and armchair quarterback for Him. "Othering" people is a comparative philosophy of negating people's perspectives because they are "other." It's an interesting dynamic because, on the one hand, you read the scriptures or Paul, who says there are now no men, women, Greek, or Hebrew, and on the other, you dismiss the idea that someone else isn't like you. Paul didn't write that to say that we don't see people's individuality but that the traditions of the time were not the right way to live.

Love others; it's hard but worth it. Vilifying those you disagree with is the easy way out and the insecure and lonely path.

onward.