D&D and Satanic Panic

[Underseer]

Text version here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/us/when-dungeons-dragons-set-off-a-moral-panic.html

This "video article" is two years old now, but still relevant.

It shows how bad Christians are at telling fantasy from reality that they talk themselves into ridiculous beliefs like that D&D was some kind of Satanic indoctrination. If you believe that faith (accepting conclusions without evidence) is a virtue, then you will fall for anything.

 

[couch_sloth]

Text version here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/us/when-dungeons-dragons-set-off-a-moral-panic.html

This "video article" is two years old now, but still relevant.

It shows how bad Christians are at telling fantasy from reality that they talk themselves into ridiculous beliefs like that D&D was some kind of Satanic indoctrination. If you believe that faith (accepting conclusions without evidence) is a virtue, then you will fall for anything.

I had an evangelical family member who thought a lot of pop-culture things were satanic (e.g. The Lion King, Reggae music).
The Day-care sex-abuse hysteria also had a lot to do with unsubstantiated fears of Satanism .

 

[Keith&Co.]

The Navy brought this guy in, Early 80's, telling us about how dangerous it was for our junior sailors to play D&D because they'd become Satanists.
At some point, he talked about how he learned to cast spells from the D&D books.

I found that fascinating, because the spells were classified by having spoken words, bodily movements and material components. But they very seldom described the words used or the gestures. The only reason they listed the components was either to make a pun or to list how expensive it would be to cast.

So I raised my hand, wanting to know WHICH spells he learned from the books. Because I owned the books, and I couldn't cast any of those spells. He made some vague reference to mind control... I kept asking questions, it became clear that he'd never played D&D in his entire life. We all laughed him off the stage.

Then I had to go talk to the Master Chief about casting spells...

 

[braces_for_impact]

I grew up and played during the Satanic panic, and watching Christians work themselves into a frenzy over pencils, dice and lots of imagination opened the doors to how off base these people really were, and if they were so completely wrong about this, what else could they be wrong about? We had an evangelical friend that played with us on a regular basis (he would only ever play a Christian cleric) and he could never quite square his own love of the game with his belief that the game actually was Satanic, just not in his particular case.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Sure, get fired up about the D & D. Meanwhile, Tinky Wink is mind-raping America's Youth.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I played D&D as a kid and there's barely a dozen people I've raped, murdered and eaten in service of the Great Lord Satan. I can't see that number being much less if I'd been into Monopoly or something instead.

 

[Keith&Co.]

We started using the lead D&D figures to play monopoly. Being able to burn down Boardwalk Village when you can't pay the rent is pretty cool...

 

[James Brown]

I was forbidden from playing D&D with my junior-high school buddies because my parents and teachers were convinced it was a gateway game to Satanism.

Here's an insightful article by a progressive Christian about the delicious thrill that evangelical Christians (myself included, back in the day) would get over the idea that Satanism was lurking in every dark corner of our culture.

Millions of people desperately, desperately wanted this to be “going on.” They wanted it all to be true — the secret covens and high priests and the slaughter of thousands or millions of innocent children in bloody dark rituals.

They loved the idea of it.

And they still do.

 

[Underseer]

The Navy brought this guy in, Early 80's, telling us about how dangerous it was for our junior sailors to play D&D because they'd become Satanists.
At some point, he talked about how he learned to cast spells from the D&D books.

I found that fascinating, because the spells were classified by having spoken words, bodily movements and material components. But they very seldom described the words used or the gestures. The only reason they listed the components was either to make a pun or to list how expensive it would be to cast.

So I raised my hand, wanting to know WHICH spells he learned from the books. Because I owned the books, and I couldn't cast any of those spells. He made some vague reference to mind control... I kept asking questions, it became clear that he'd never played D&D in his entire life. We all laughed him off the stage.

Then I had to go talk to the Master Chief about casting spells...

You should have asked the Master Chief why that man was speaking to that audience in the first place, and asked him if he believed in the separation of church and state as spelled out in that constitution he swore to uphold.

Not enough servicemen ask questions like that (especially in the Air Force from the sound of things).

- - - Updated - - -

I was forbidden from playing D&D with my junior-high school buddies because my parents and teachers were convinced it was a gateway game to Satanism.

Here's an insightful article by a progressive Christian about the delicious thrill that evangelical Christians (myself included, back in the day) would get over the idea that Satanism was lurking in every dark corner of our culture.

Millions of people desperately, desperately wanted this to be “going on.” They wanted it all to be true — the secret covens and high priests and the slaughter of thousands or millions of innocent children in bloody dark rituals.

They loved the idea of it.

And they still do.

Oh, I get why they do it.

You don't have to talk to a Wahhabi Sunni for very long before you figure out that they think everyone is an agent of Satan, especially other Muslims.

You don't have to talk to Evangelicals or radical Catholics for very long before you figure out that they're pretty much the same way.

 

[Jobar]

I wasn't into D&D myself, but I recall being quite amused by Jack Chick's take on it.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

 

[Tars Tarkus]

I wasn't into D&D myself, but I recall being quite amused by Jack Chick's take on it.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

I was into D&D at 15 and what I wouldn't have given for seats at my table for a half dozen attractive, normal looking people, as in the first panel of the Chick tract. I would think sexual urges would have kicked any role playing instincts to the curb for me at that age.

 

[Keith&Co.]

You should have asked the Master Chief why that man was speaking to that audience in the first place, and asked him if he believed in the separation of church and state as spelled out in that constitution he swore to uphold.

I DID ask where they got an 'expert' who had no fucking idea what he was talking about. Because if the audience knows more than you do, you lose credibility FAST.

But that idea was moved quickly to the side.
And clearly, church/state separation wasn't an issue when the subject was Satanism. Because that's not religion, that's an excuse for drugs and sex and mirrored sunglasses and parting your hair in the middle.

I'd been playing for a year at that point, was still a virgin, didn't drink or smoke or eat spicy foods... And we're back to the credibility issue.

 

[Underseer]

You should have asked the Master Chief why that man was speaking to that audience in the first place, and asked him if he believed in the separation of church and state as spelled out in that constitution he swore to uphold.

I DID ask where they got an 'expert' who had no fucking idea what he was talking about. Because if the audience knows more than you do, you lose credibility FAST.

But that idea was moved quickly to the side.
And clearly, church/state separation wasn't an issue when the subject was Satanism. Because that's not religion, that's an excuse for drugs and sex and mirrored sunglasses and parting your hair in the middle.

I'd been playing for a year at that point, was still a virgin, didn't drink or smoke or eat spicy foods... And we're back to the credibility issue.

But why don't more people challenge speakers like that?

It seems like such an obvious attempt at religious indoctrination, which is a violation of separation of church and state, and every serviceman swears to uphold the constitution.

 

[Opoponax]

I wasn't into D&D myself, but I recall being quite amused by Jack Chick's take on it.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

Ahhhh, Chick Tracts.

My friend's dad used to hand those out like candy. Sadly, after some 35 years I dropped that friend because he's become a Christian supremacist and Trump voter. Maybe I shouldn't have done that, but fuck, what an insufferable bastard he'd become. I wonder if he's going to start handing out chick tracts.

 

[bilby]

I wasn't into D&D myself, but I recall being quite amused by Jack Chick's take on it.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

Ahhhh, Chick Tracts.

My friend's dad used to hand those out like candy. Sadly, after some 35 years I dropped that friend because he's become a Christian supremacist and Trump voter. Maybe I shouldn't have done that, but fuck, what an insufferable bastard he'd become. I wonder if he's going to start handing out chick tracts.

I still find it hard to believe that they are not intended as satire.

I can't even begin to imagine the mindset that could take such nonsense seriously. You would have to have spent your entire life protected from learning pretty much anything about reality, in order not to find them hilarious.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I can't even begin to imagine the mindset that could take such nonsense seriously. You would have to have spent your entire life protected from learning pretty much anything about reality, in order not to find them hilarious.

A coworker was ranting about Ouija boards and tarot cards, and how kids reading about them in Harry Potter would start using them and turn to witchcraft almost by accident.

I read the Potter books. I pointed out that there were no instances of characters using those two items in the novels.
HE referred me to one of the Chick Tracts that turned out to be the source of his entire argument. Two witches caught witching defend their descent into sin by saying they picked these up because Harry Potter used them...

"But they're NOT!" I insisted. "This is a lie! That's like saying 'I read the Second Amendment and found that I had to shoot people from the top of the water tower.' It's not in there."

"Doesn't matter," he replied. "Chick is warning us about higher truths."

I'm so glad I didn't make patrols with this idiot. I'd probably have killed him with a wooden stake through his heart.

And when they asked why, I'd say I suspected he was a vampire. "I haven't seen him in daylight for three months!" The fact that we'd been underwater for those three months, well, that's just immaterial to the higher truths.

 

[couch_sloth]

I wasn't into D&D myself, but I recall being quite amused by Jack Chick's take on it.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

Ahhhh, Chick Tracts.

My friend's dad used to hand those out like candy. Sadly, after some 35 years I dropped that friend because he's become a Christian supremacist and Trump voter. Maybe I shouldn't have done that, but fuck, what an insufferable bastard he'd become. I wonder if he's going to start handing out chick tracts.

I still find it hard to believe that they are not intended as satire.

I can't even begin to imagine the mindset that could take such nonsense seriously. You would have to have spent your entire life protected from learning pretty much anything about reality, in order not to find them hilarious.

By the early 1980s, Jack Chick was considered a crank in some Evangelical circles. e.g. He was catching a lot of criticism for his continued support of John Todd. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Todd_(conspiracy_theorist)

 

[bilby]

I can't even begin to imagine the mindset that could take such nonsense seriously. You would have to have spent your entire life protected from learning pretty much anything about reality, in order not to find them hilarious.

A coworker was ranting about Ouija boards and tarot cards, and how kids reading about them in Harry Potter would start using them and turn to witchcraft almost by accident.

I read the Potter books. I pointed out that there were no instances of characters using those two items in the novels.
HE referred me to one of the Chick Tracts that turned out to be the source of his entire argument. Two witches caught witching defend their descent into sin by saying they picked these up because Harry Potter used them...

"But they're NOT!" I insisted. "This is a lie! That's like saying 'I read the Second Amendment and found that I had to shoot people from the top of the water tower.' It's not in there."

"Doesn't matter," he replied. "Chick is warning us about higher truths."

I'm so glad I didn't make patrols with this idiot. I'd probably have killed him with a wooden stake through his heart.

And when they asked why, I'd say I suspected he was a vampire. "I haven't seen him in daylight for three months!" The fact that we'd been underwater for those three months, well, that's just immaterial to the higher truths.

That people with such a poor grasp of reality are allowed within cooee of nuclear weapons terrifies me.

Indeed, I am a little nervous that they might be allowed metal cutlery in the canteen.

 

[Jobar]

One of the few local Christians who knew about my atheism and still remained friends with me used to occasionally give me Chick tracts as a joke. Greg actually joined the Secular Cafe (Kracker), and came to a couple of my yearly gatherings; he was a lot of fun. Sadly he died a couple of years ago; I miss him.

 

[BH]

Back when I was Church of Christ a lot of people at my church thought Jack Chick was actually an atheist printing those little tracts as a mockery of Christianity.

Jack Chick made tracts against Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, and Catholics. I would have liked to have seen one he made against the Church of Christ since their view of salvation is considered heretical by typical evangelical standards.