"Witch Hunt" -- on the Bakersfield cases

I recently came across this review, by Aaron Whitehead, of "Witch Hunt" a recent MSNBC TV documentary about one of the first alleged cases of "Satanic ritual abuse" back in the 1980's.

Here are some other reviews:

• Los Angeles Times - ‎Apr 10, 2009‎


• San Jose Criminal Law Examiner


• KGET 17 - ‎Apr 10, 2009‎


• Bakersfield Now

Though I didn't get to see it, I'm VERY glad that such a documentary was aired recently.

See also my collection of links about the Bakersfield cases on my "Against Satanic Panics" site.

Church of Azazel - some good news for a change

As of a month ago, here in New York, I've found a very passionate co-administrator for the Church of Azazel. So, perhaps we will, finally, begin to get it off the ground as a local group.

Another local group that I run, NYC Satanists, Luciferians, Dark Pagans, and LHP Occultists, has been thriving lately too.

I've added the following to the bottom of various "Contact" pages on my websites:

My online activities are very intermittent, due to a hectic work schedule. I sometimes neglect my blogs for months at at time. If I do not promptly approve or respond to a comment you posted on one of my blogs, you may call my attention to it via Noelle, co-administrator of the Church of Azazel, via the Church of Azazel's Myspace page, which is run by Noelle.

Reply to miscellaneous old comments

I was away from this blog for about six months from the fall of 2008 until early this spring. When I returned, I found quite a bunch of comments awaiting moderation. A general response:

1) A few people asked about Jew-haters in the Satanist scene. My thoughts about them are here:

• Against neo-Nazism among Satanists. See especially A brief critique of anti-Jew racist ideology.


• New Yorkers Against Religion-Based Bigotry, Project Against Grand Conspiracy Ideology. See especially Resources for debunking grand conspiracy claims, and for documenting their political significance.

2) Several people wrote messages that implicitly requested a private email response. I do NOT automatically get the email address of people who post on this blog. If you want an email response, you'll need to post on one of my other blogs.

3) To the person who asked about Demonolatry: The best source is the OFS Demonolatry site. See especially their books, especially The Complete Book of Demonolatry.

4)To the person who asked about "scriptures": Don't look for "scriptures" in the sense of allegedly infallible revelations. Do not trust any such claims. Think for yourself, and study history and other scholarly information that may be relevant to your beliefs, or to things that you are contemplating believing.

5) I accidentally deleted a few comments. Apologies to those whose comments I deleted (other than span and other obviously inappropriate comments).

Paranoia about "Satanist" rock music in Tunisia

I recently came across the following news stories about the British rock band Anathema and a scheduled concert of theirs in Tunis, Tunisia (in Africa), which was cancelled by officials due to fears of "Satanism":

• Blame The Devil For Tunisia Canceling Anathema - Pollstar, Apr 13, 2009


• British Rockers Caught up in Tunisia Satanist Row - Contactmusic.com, April 10, 2009