Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful example of a wrong-headed fellow Christian
Review: I am a devout Catholic - not fanatical, but devout nevertheless. If I had not been doing research on Christian fundamentalist paranoia for a school paper, I wouldn't have read this. Larson reiterates the same old prejudices which have been discarded by mainstream Christianity since the false horror stories of Satanist cults in suburbia of the Eighties. In fact, many "conservative" Catholics and Protestants no longer listen to these fairy tales.

Rating:
Summary: Good intentions and a whole lot of paranoid misinformation
Review: I was raised Christian. A good many of my friends and all of my family members practice that religion, and they are all good people I am proud to know.

I think Bob Larson is a good man, too. His intention in SATANISM is to protect American youth and American morals, but his view is far too narrow. It is obvious that Mr. Larson knows very little about the institutions and symbols he denounces as "Satanic." The peace sign? Major stretch of the imagination. Dungeons and Dragons? Give me a break! Wicca? Please! (Mr. Larson very obviously has never met a true Wiccan, or he would never say that they anything but intelligent, peace-loving, NORMAL human beings who seek to know the Divine just as Christians do.)

I do not recommend burning this book, ripping it up, or using it as toilet paper, as so many readers before me have suggested. It is Mr. Larson's right, as it is mine, to espouse and to publish his own opinions. However, I also do not recommend that you read this book if you are looking for serious information on Satanism. There are other, less paranoid, better researched versions out there. This book is more concerned with impressing a strict and intolerant morality on the American public than it is in truly informing us of anything solidly based on more than a few distraught callers on the author's radio show.

So thank you, Mr. Larson, for caring about the state of morality in America. But really, Bob, you need to educate yourself about the things you believe to be "evil" from more than just the conservative Christian perspective. Well intentioned they may be, but books like this can do a great deal of damage to the very CHRISTIAN virtues (shared by many other religions, in case you forgot to check that out, too) of love and tolerance. You should know that your book made me weep, and it was not for the degenerate state of American youth culture, but for the pettiness and fear your words can only perpetuate.

Rating:
Summary: A Good read
Review: Some of the facts are misinformed, but ya know, this guy is probably liberal. One must keep in mind that 90% of satanist are poseurs who want attention. Since more and more people doubt the existence of satan, I doubt there are to many satanist out there, so let's focus one more important topics, like why the heck there is an increase of fascists in our great nation!