Talk:Satanic ritual abuse

Possible Compromises

Matt has asked me, as a religion editor, to take a look at the article. This is a subject about which I know nothing and since many of the above comments seem to refer to text in earlier drafts that is no longer in the article, I was not able to follow the entire discussion. But I will be happy to be educated about it and perhaps can lend some sort of hand in clarifying how to proceed.

1. Structure of the article. Currently there is a definition at the beginning and a series of quotations about Satanic ritual abuse, mostly addressing the subject indirectly. There is also a dispute whether the phenomenon is real or not. Perhaps it would be best to structure the article with three sections: (1) definition; (2) evidence in favor of the existence of the phenomenon; (3) evidence against the existence (or widespread existence) of the phenomenon. The order of the last two sections is important and I do not know which order is better. Generally, whichever section goes last gets the last word and therefore is the overall judgment of the article writer. If the article's thesis is "Satanic Ritual Abuse is an alleged phenomenon, but the evidence for its widespread existence is slight" I would put the sections in the order I listed. It is important to make it clear whether the entire phenomenon is being denied, or whether its widespread nature is being denied. I admit it is hard to define "widespread" but I think that has to be considered a professional judgment. From what I have seen in the article and subsequent discussion, I would not be inclined to call the phenomenon "widespread," but I would not deny absolutely its existence.

2. Definition. Getting the definition right is the key. The current definition is "the extreme and sadistic sexual, psychological or physical assault on another perpetuated by one or more Satanists in a specific ritual." Could one drop the "and sadistic" or even "the extreme and sadistic"? Presumably "abuse" includes the word "extreme" in it already. The placement of "sadistic" suggests one can have sadistic psychological abuse, which I suppose is possible. Is "sadistic" somehow included in "extreme . . sexual" abuse or even "sexual. . . abuse"? I have not thought about these terms in detail before; I don't know. I'd consider anything "sadistic" to be "extreme."

3. Use of "SRA." Once we have the definition clear, "SRA" simply stands for the definition, so I have no problem using the abbreviation, as long as each use consciously has the definition in mind.

4. Use of Gould, Young, etc.: It is true that professional articles in a particular field just use someone's last name. The reader, as a professional, is expected to know who the person is. But Citizendium is designed to appeal to a general audience and thus the reader needs more clues. I would include not only the first name, but a very short identifier: "Charles Gould, an anthropologist. . ." (I have no idea who "C Gould" is, so this is an example). I think you would agree that "C Gould, an anthropologist" has a very different feel than "C. Gould, a criminologist" and colors how the text is read. But this is legitimate if the identifier is chosen in as neutral a fashion as possible.

5. References. The references section is a great place to let our collective hair down and provide a rich set of notes, both descriptive ones to clarify and amplify the article and citations to other opinions. This is not a book where we are concerned about how many trees we kill. We won't bust the hard disk; it's big enough. If a source is a press release, if you want to include it because it adds valuable content not available elsewhere, make the nature of the source clear. (If, on the other hand, there's a peer reviewed source, start with that; but even then the reference could also include "in addition, similar points are covered in a press release here" and include a link.)

6. Overall tone. I am going out on a limb here, as I do not have a lot of experience as an editor of articles. Maybe Matt can correct me. I am inclined to think that Citizendium exists to get articles by experts that reflect the professional judgment of the experts. It is difficult to achieve that by committee. Therefore, whoever drafted the first version of the article, in my opinion, needs to have a dominant (but not exclusive) voice in the article's content, unless the initial author was not an expert in the subject or proved to have a highly idiosyncratic view about the topic. An article of this sort calls for both neutrality AND a professional judgment; the question of whether Satanic Ritual Abuse exists needs to be explored from both sides, but some sort of judgment is appropriate. Robert Stockman 18:40, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Robert, thank you for offering to help with the article. I agree with all of your points above. Neil Brick 01:47, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I absolutely agree with your point #2 being critical. In my opinion, the article can work only if the definition is quite precise. The reason that I asked for Religion help is that to me, one can reasonably refer to something as upper-case Satanic if it is specific to a belief system in Satan, that being Satanism. The sadism, extreme, etc., simply confuse the situation.

Certainly SRA can be used if it refers to a clear definition, but if SRA has several interpretations of "S", and even further overlaps an even more general "RA", how can we get anywhere?

Your point is taken regarding the source names. It is common practice in the science and engineering publications with which I work, but it is agreed those are for specialists. If it can be a requirement that both academic/government researchers are identified by profession and function, it also seems only fair that writers for advocacy groups also be identified.

I would welcome context-setting articles on Satan and Satanism, by someone more expert in those topics. Note that there is also a ritual abuse article that is not specific to Satanism, but does consider other belief-system-based abuse. There is, and has been before all this started, a child abuse and a child sexual abuse article that would seem to be the place to discuss things principally motivated by sadism, unless there is a theological link betweeen Satanism and sadism.

Might I request a ruling, from you as a Religion Editor, that this article needs to be restricted to a definition that clearly links to Satan? With that constraint, then the literature can be addressed to survey what evidence exists for there being, or not being, a significant phenomenon of now-specific Satanic ritual abuse? Howard C. Berkowitz 21:55, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

By "Satan," Howard, I assume you mean a definition relating to Satanism? I would rather start by determining what definition people want to use. Can we use something like "sexual, psychological or physical assault on another perpetuated by one or more Satanists in a specific ritual." This doesn't include "extreme" or "sadistic" because "assault" seems to embody either one or both adjectives. Presumably an assault is, by definition, an abuse.

What do you think of the idea of then having two sections where the term's validity is discussed, pro and con? Is there a better structure we can come up with to make an article that is clear?

If I may, I want to thank the people who are debating this article for laying out the issues. That's a big step toward coming up with something that works.

Robert Stockman 22:18, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

By Satan, I was using the term for the supernatural being or concept, the etymology, I believe, is from the Hebrew for "adversary". Again not being an expert in the subject, my further understanding is that the usage is of medieval Christian origin; I hesitate to get (here at least) into the nuances of Lucifer, Satan, "the Devil", etc. There certainly were allegations of Satan worship in the past, and there are symbols and usages associated with it. We do have the modern Church of Satan formed by Anton Szandor LaVey, complete with what I completely agree is an upper-case Satanic website,[1]. I would be hesitant to use your suggested language of "sexual, psychological or physical assault on another perpetuated by one or more Satanists in a specific ritual" unless we first have a specific definition of Satanism; I would also like to discuss if the definition would mean someone with a religious belief system in Satanism or if symbols alone qualify. Personally, I prefer it be restricted to the former. The swastika was a symbol in Native American and South Asian traditions long before Adolf Hitler was conceived; it is not reasonable to assume anything with a swastika is Nazi, any more than a counterculture music group making good money by shocking with their use of Satan-related symbols necessarily believe in Satanism.

Some symbols, such as the black mass, have classically been associated with Satanist ritual, although variants do appear in other occult traditions focused on what they consider to be adversarial to at least Abrahamic concepts of good (e.g., Aleister Crowley, who rather boldly declared himself the "wickedest man on earth"). Unfortunately, the pentagram is a perfectly acceptable symbol to many neopagan groups that are horrified by the thought of honoring evil. In like manner, a representation of "the devil" also corresponds to various Horned Gods (e.g., the sun spirit in many Wiccan traditions, Pan in the Greek pantheon, etc.) who tend to be male archetypes not at all considered evil (see, for example, Jung's Man and His Symbols).

I realize I'm defining Satan and Satanism here, which really should be articles of their own. To try to focus on the subject of this article, I would suggest, minimally, that the topic be constrained to be abuse that involves at least symbols specifically attributed to Satan, if not a formal Satanist belief system. This excludes generic sexual, sadistic, etc., abuse, and indeed religiously based ritual abuse that does not use this symbolism. To offer a suggested clarification of ritual abuse, which is culturally specific, female genital mutilation is fairly widely accepted, at the international level, as abusive. It is very real, it is traditional in some societies, but it is not Satanic. If the people doing it, whom I personally consider abusers, seek no personal sexual gratification, it is not sadistic. Let me not get too far afield.

Once the definition is limited to specifically involving symbols of, or belief in, Satan, it is then possible to get into alternative views of whether Satan-based abuse, not necessarily of children but necessarily of nonconsensual victims, exists. The literature I have reviewed suggests there are at least three possible categories:

1. Nonconsensual abuse by people who perform the acts as part of a belief system in Satan.
2. Nonconsensual abuse who use Satanic symbols as means of inducing fear, but do not actually believe in Satan; they might indeed be gaining sadistic gratification, the symbol-induced fear being part of the means of inflicting psychological as well as physical pain, injury or death
3. No evidence of any systematic use of Satanic ritual, but perhaps individual or small groups that, possibly for delusional reasons, use some symbols without a systematic plan.

Could instances of any of these exist? I believe so. The next major issue, however, is the prevalence of these cases, and, as some advocacy groups maintain, if there are large-scale hidden conspiracies for conducting any.

There probably will not be any compromise on two positions:

• One, which I believe represents the majority of social science and criminal investigative positions, there is no substantial evidence of large-scale conspiracy
• There is a well-hidden systematic conspiracy. I use "conspiracy" not in a pejorative sense, but in the sense of conspiracy (legal).

We could make some progress, I believe, if we at least use as precise a definition as possible, not using nonspecific adjectives such as extreme or lower-case satanic. If we establish that there is a strong position such conspiracies do not exist and the alleged cases are questionable, this is a valid criticism to link, for example, to articles on books describing allegations of such abuse. The question also arises is whether stand-alone articles on individual books about Satanic book claims make sense, or whether they might more properly be in the bibliography of this article. Howard C. Berkowitz 00:38, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I would disagree with the use of references that clearly link to only satanism, because SRA is a subset of ritual abuse. Some research that covers ritual abuse also covers SRA. It would be an artificial distinction to state that an article that doesn't discuss SRA in detail not be included in the article. I believe that a choice of references used should be decided on a case by case basis. Neil Brick 01:47, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't think we need to spend much time defining "Satan"; I think the popular image will be precise enough. I don't know the history of the idea, but I suspect it is far older than medieval Christianity. In Arabic and Persian, "shaytan" means the same thing. Furthermore, if there are various groups of Satanists, their use of Satan may vary, so precision may not be possible.

But defining "Satanism" is worth a sentence or two or three. Don't you agree, Neil? I could see two ways of doing this: (1) sticking with the highly precise and narrow definition of "Satanism" as referring to specific organized groups that self-identify as Satanists; or (2) noting this specific definition and adding that a fuzzier "penumbra" sometimes surrounds the specific definition and includes smaller, non-organized self-identified groups that might broaden out into punk rocker type groups. The latter approach would have the advantage of noting that a fuzzy definition exists in practice and I gather that is true. This would also help classify the literature better, as some seems to include the broader category, rightly or wrongly.

Regarding what literature to include, I think that's a case by case situation. If something on ritual abuse has something to say about Satanic ritual abuse, it may be worth including. If it seems to deal with the fuzzier "penumbra" group, that should be stated.

Perhaps I should define the terms "umbra" and "penumbra" more clearly. The "umbra" is the dark center of a shadow; it tends to be surrounded by a wider partial shadow, where some of the disk of the sun is blocked and some is shining through. I am using this as an analogy for defining Satanism, which perhaps has a clear core definition (referring to the larger, well-organized, formalized groups) and a fuzzer set of vaguer uses around it. If there is literature about ritual abuse using the "penumbra" definitions, they probably should be included in the article as well, but separated out as using a vaguer definition.

Since I have not read any of the literature, I am inferring from the precious discussions. Is this generally correct? Is this a useful way of thinking about the subject?

Robert Stockman 05:04, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

P.S. On further reflection: I suspect that the notion of a "well organized" Satanic group may be itself hard to define. I bet many groups do not have legal incorporation with bylaws, for example. Many of them may have evolving practices. Many of them probably include ideas that are not strictly "Satanic" such as reincarnation or nature worship. So I wonder whether the umbra and penumbra don't grade together as continual shades of gray.

Robert, I agree that we could define Satanism in a couple of sentences. I also agree with you that a case by situation would work, since there is a great deal of overlap between ritual abuse and SRA in the literature. I think that your ways of looking at it are very useful and something we could possibly apply to the writing of the article.Neil Brick 15:19, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I am simply not going to address a vague "SRA", or accept the interchangeability of Satanic ritual abuse and ritual abuse. There is a point, in writing an encyclopedia article, that something becomes so gray as to be unmaintainable. The "Satanic", unless as precisely defined as possible, is inflammatory. Numerous law enforcement organizations have been unable to find evidence of what they considered large-scale Satanic practices; having lived in Virginia for many years, if their task force had found evidence, that would have delighted some political constituencies.

Indeed, I would be perfectly willing to delete this article, moving relevant material to ritual abuse. Is there any question that nonconsensual female genital mutilation, done to cultural and perhaps theological tradition, is an abuse that is part of a ritual? Is there any question that a child's death due to a beating to "drive out the [Christian] devil is ritual abuse? Why is it useful to use an extremely hard to define additional descriptor to deal with one special case? Would an article on Christian ritual abuse be acceptable or useful?

Even non-Satanic ritual abuse is going to be hard to define in some cases. No one is going to argue that a girl grabbed and submitted, screaming, to infibulation is being abused. If I may be permitted a brief and nongraphic painful memory of my own, it was hearing sounds of an attempted an emergency pelvic examination on an infibulated adult, before humanity took over and general anesthesia was given. But what of adolescent that submits to scarification, tooth filing, male circumcision, etc., in a coming of age ritual? Is that consensual, if not submitting would cause immense loss of status? At what age does one give informed consent to mortifications, to the Sun Dance, to self-flagellation? I don't have simple answers, and I think any that literature insists on emphasizing any shocking symbol, rather than the result, must pass a high bar of validation.

Ritual abuse is far easier to describe than arguing an unmaintainable Satanic subcase. Of course, if it were agreed that Satanic ritual abuse is about as easy to define as "evil", it might well be that other articles centered around allegations of it might not, themselves, be maintainable or notable. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It encourages CZ neutrality. Howard C. Berkowitz 05:37, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

There are cases in the literature and legal system of well organized SRA practices, the Hammond, LA case being the most recent one. I am unsure of the idea of combining articles, if done, this would have be done carefully with full editorial input.Neil Brick 15:19, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I think you make several important points, Howard.

1. We need to be as precise as we possibly can. I would ask this: should an article try to be more precise than the literature it describes? I don't know the answer to the question. If there is a "subfield" (sub-sub-sub field?) studying Satanic ritual abuse, it is probably best describing the conclusions of the field. Encyclopedia articles certainly can interpret and advance a subject, but their principal purpose is to summarize.

Would an article on Christian ritual abuse be acceptable. I agree that it would be considered inflamatory, partly because of the breadth of the term. If Satanism is a legitimate phenomenon in our secular, neutral society then it deserves the same respect as any other religious group or institution. If Satanism does seem to include a certain amount of abuse, the phenomenon is a legitimate one to study (just as "Christian snake charmer ritual abuse" would be; but note this is not generic "Christian" ritual abuse). But that raises the other side of this discussion: the people who are studying Satanic ritual abuse. If most of their work is biased and an attack on Satanism, then an article on "Satanic ritual abuse" needs to at least note that and probably needs to devote substantial space to it.

I am not sure that male circumcision is a completely good analogy. It is not a Christian custom in the sense of being in the New Testament or being an ancient Mediterranean Christian custom. It was customary in the US in the twentieth century largely because of public health benefits. I gather it is now shrinking as a customary thing in the US. In the US it is not a religious ritual; it performed in the hospital by a doctor with no clergyperson or parent present, and with no prayers or other rituals. (I am speaking of US Christians here, not Jews.) I do not think circumcision was an African Christian or Indian Christian or a Japanese Christian custom. I agree strongly that "female circumcision" is abuse. It is not scriptural in Christianity or Islam. It is most common in parts of northern and eastern Africa among both Christians and Muslims for, I suppose, local cultural reasons. It does not have medical benefits that the modern medical establishment has accepted and has numerous negative medical impacts medicine has identified. To what extent it is performed in a ritualistic context, I do not know. That would be an important question to consider if one wishes to include it as "ritual abuse."

This also raises cultural issues about how to define "abuse." I will give an example. A friend of mine is Lakota and was once describing a sun dance to me, where men pull a small stick through the skin on their chests, tie a cord to it, and dance round and round a pole, pulling on the cord, until the skin breaks or they collapse from exhaustion (and sometimes have mystical experiences). I asked him whether anyone gets hurt and he said "sure, but we have some ambulances standing by"! Religions all call on people to stretch their bodies beyond their usual limits. Most have a fasting ritual of some sort (with exceptions for the infirm, old, and very young). Many include the taking of a mind-altering substance, though often not enough to alter consciousness (wine in the eucharist, for example). Some include night vigils (no sleep all night). None of these are meant to be abusive, but they occasionally will do harm.

Robert Stockman 15:31, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Responding to Robert's examples

Some subheads will really help make this readable. Given the appearance of impropriety, I'm not going to create them in other than my own comments, but I urge others to do so when they are starting a distinct subtopic.

When I thought of Christian ritual abuse, how about the People's Temple Christian Church in Jonestown, Guyana? If symbolism alone can define a ritual abuse, do the admitted violations of trust in the pedophilia admitted by the Catholic Church count (I'm really not sure, but it's food for thought).

As far as ritual male circumcision, I think first of it as Jewish. Clearly, an eight-day-old boy cannot give informed consent, as opposed to the participants in the Sun Dance, or Shi'ite Muslims in Ashura, or various Catholic practices of self-mortification.

So, several things have to come together to make ritual abuse: nonconsensuality, a belief system or at least symbolism that makes a ritual, and some type of suffering. I see Satanic ritual abuse as the subset of this in which the belief or symbolic system is associated with some concept of Satan.

A symbol, in and of itself, is not diagnostic of a belief system. Obviously, a crucifix is a basic Christian symbol, but it was perverted as a fictional in The Exorcist, and almost certainly was present in black masses as an occult but not necessarily Satan-oriented practices of Aleister Crowley. A pentagram is widely associated with Satanism, but it is also a Wiccan holy symbol. In 2005, the issue arose when a Wiccan soldier wanted the pentagram as the religious symbol on his tombstone at a military cemetery in Nevada, U.S.; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rejected it but state officials permitted it. [2] From direct personal knowledge, I can say that a Wiccan regards having the pentagram deemed Satanic with the enthusiasm of a Jew having a swastika substituted for the Mogen David — and the swastika was a perfectly acceptable symbol of good in South Asian and Native American traditions long before the unfortunate [mis]conception of Adolf Hitler. Howard C. Berkowitz 08:54, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Case by case undesirable

Might we stop and ask what is trying to be accomplished here? Why is the question of case by case decisions being made? Is an encyclopedia to be an index of cases? I see it as an expanded definition and explanation, describing the issues, positions of the major sides, and both careful synthetic writing and and sourced material, the latter identified, in this context, if the author(s) have an identified strong view and also relevant credentials.

Why would individual cases be in question? I don't rule that out, but, in other areas, CZ is very deliberate in citing individual or primary sources. A primary source of a court decision (especially an appellate court) or treaty is appropriate because it formally is a definition, or the basis of one. In Health Sciences, consensus guidelines tend to be preferred to individual studies, unless the individual studies are described, by expert writers and editors, in a careful context. Even in the medical literature, many case reports of Satanic ritual abuse are true in what the patient recounted, but come with disclaimers of no external validation. I did cite, but had removed, a number of studies by national and regional law enforcement/interdisciplinary task forces that sought but did not find strong validation. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:29, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I suggested case by case because I am only aware of the few cases mentioned in the draft article. If there are dozens and dozens of cases, one could classify and describe types or cite paradigmatic cases. But if this is not a real phenomenon, how could there be dozens and dozens of cases?

Robert Stockman 15:38, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

This is a real phenomenon though, defined in the literature and legal cases. Deciding on which references to use on a case by case is desirable and part of the collaborative process. I do agree we need to describe the positions of the major sides. Neil Brick 15:42, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Correction to the above: reports of the phenomenon are real. There is no widespread scientific or legal consensus that the phenomenon is widespread and real. It is not a matter of "major sides" with equal positions. May I, Robert, point to homeopathy as an example of how such a controversial subject was handled and got to Approval? That article both clearly defines homeopathy, in a manner acceptable to practicing homeopaths, but also makes it clear that mainstream medical opinion does not regard it as having demonstrated efficacy.

There are many case reports of people stating Satanic abuse. There are very few cases where there was any validation of the reality of the report, but there are major national and state studies -- see task forces above, including the UK, Netherlands, and US -- saying they could find no legally admissible evidence.

As to why there might be many reports, see moral panic. There were enormous numbers of denunciations, in the U.S., during the McCarthy period. There were, indeed, Soviet agents, some of whom who were never accused, and many other false accusations.

Unquestionably and deplorably, children are abused. As a standard of comparison, is there any serious question that female genital mutilation is not a widespread practice, with world-level activity to stop it? That is clearly ritual, sometimes cultural, sometimes religious, sometimes both. Is there the same standard of evidence that Satanic ritual abuse exists? Think of FGM as a standard of evidence. It is gets a specific mention as a worldwide problem from Amnesty International [3], and there are extensive examples of governmental and non-governmental organizations that recognize it and try to stop it. There is a Convention against Torture and worldwide recognition of the problem. Are the wide range of anti-torture groups spending any significant effort on Satanic ritual abuse?

Sorry, this is a very emotional subject for some people, but there is simply not the huge evidence base that they claim. If it can't even be defined, and needs case-by-case, that is indicative of a problem. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:55, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

(undent)This is long, but needed to prove the point that there is legal and scientific evidence that the phenomenon is real.

• A recent case with FBI involvement - [4]
• Ninth sex cult suspect due in La. By Debra Lemoine dlemoine@theadvocate.com

"Detectives also believe that members dressed in black to perform rituals that included _____ on a pentagram" This case has convictions and organized SRA.

web pages on Hammond case

• [5]
• [6]

This case has convictions and organized SRA.

Two legal case archives -

• Believe the children (1997). “Conviction List: Ritual Child Abuse”. [7]
• The Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive contains 92 cases as of February 12, 2008.[8]

Corsini encyclopedia article [9] "most survivors state they were ritual abuse as part of satanic worship for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs and practices" quote from Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force - Los Angeles County Commission for Women [10] The article also states that "sadistic ritual abuse" is also know as satanic ritual abuse or ritual abuse. p. 1437 describes SRA symptoms and treatment

• Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Evidence Surfaces By Daniel Ryder, CCDC, LSW [11] author of Ryder, Daniel. Breaking the Circle of Satanic Ritual Abuse: Recognizing and Recovering from the Hidden Trauma. Compcare Pubns. ISBN 0-89638-258-3. 
• Driscoll, L. N. & Wright, C. (1991). Survivors of childhood ritual abuse: Multi-generational Satanic cult involvement. Treating Abuse Today, 1(4), 5–13.
• deMause, Lloyd, “Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children” The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994 [4] [12]
• Fraser, G. A. (1990). “Satanic ritual abuse: A cause of multiple personality disorder”. Special issue: In the shadow of Satan: The ritual abuse of children. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 55-60
• Goodwin, J. (1993). “Sadistic abuse: definition, recognition, and treatment”. Dissociation 6 (2/3): 181-187. [13] includes SRA as a type of sadistic abuse
• Gould, Catherine. (1992) “Ritual abuse, multiplicity, and mind-control.” Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3):194-6
• Common Programs Observed in Survivors of Satanic Ritualistic Abuse David W. Neswald, M.A. M.F.C.C. in collaboration with Catherine Gould, Ph.D. and Vicki Graham-Costain, Ph.D. The California Therapist, Sept./Oct. 1991, 47-50 http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/sracp.htm
• Hudson, P.S. (1990). “Ritual child abuse: A survey of symptoms and allegations.” Special issue: In the shadow of Satan: The ritual abuse of children. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 27-54.
• Jonker, Fred. “Reaction to Benjamin Rossen’s investigation of satanic ritual abuse in Oude Pekela,” Special Issue: “Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge.” Psychology and Theology 20(3) 1992 pp. 260-2 [14]
• Kent, Stephen. (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences”. Religion 23(4):355-367
• Kent, Stephen. (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences”. Religion 23(23):229-241.
• October 20, 1997 ASSESSMENT OF THE SATANIC ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN THE [name deleted] CASE Stephen A. Kent (Ph.D.) Professor Department of Sociology University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G [15]
• Leavitt, F. (1994). “Clinical Correlates of Alleged Satanic Abuse and Less Controversial Sexual Molestation.”. Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal 18 (4): 387-92. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(94)90041-8. [16]
• Leavitt, Frank. “Measuring the impact of media exposure and hospital treatment on patients alleging satanic ritual abuse.” Treating Abuse Today 8(4) 1998 pp. 7-13 [17]
• Neswald, David W. and Gould, Catherine. “Basic treatment and program neutralization strategies for adult MPD survivors of satanic ritual abuse.” Treating Abuse Today 2(3) 3 1992 pp. 5-10 [18]
• A survey done in June 2000, at the National Victim Assistance Academy in Fresno , CA , 82 questionnaires given out, 44 criminal justice professionals responded to the questions, "Have you or a co-worker ever worked with a client/victim that claimed to be a victim of satanic ritual abuse?" Seventeen, 38% of respondents, had worked with clients who claimed to be victims of satanic ritual abuse or had co-workers who had worked with these clients. [Dawn Mattox, Butte County , CA , District Attorney’s Office, 2000]
• Rockwell, R.B. (1994). One psychiatrists view of Satanic ritual abuse. The Journal of Psychohistory, 21(4), 443-460.
• Young, W. C., Sachs, R. G., Braun, B. G., & Watkins, R. T. (1991). Patients reporting ritual abuse in childhood: a clinical syndrome. Report of 37 cases. Child Abuse and Neglect, 15(3), 181-189.
• (edited for family friendly page)

description of study - Young et al. (1991) describe 37 adult patients, all diagnosed with multiple personality disorder (MPD) or dissociative disorder not otherwise specified who reported similar abuses by satanic cults. Apparently, most of the data were collected while the patients were in treatment with the authors. The article lists ten types of ritual abuse and the percentage of subjects who reported each type: sexual abuse (100%), witnessing and receiving physical abuse/torture (100%), witnessing animal _______ (100%), death threats (100%), forced drug usage (97%), witnessing and forced participation in human adult and infant ______ (83%), forced _____ (81%), marriage to Satan (78%), buried _____(72%), forced ____ and ______ (60%).

other books -

• Sinason, V (1994). Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10543-9.
• Oksana, Chrystine (2001). Safe Passage to Healing - A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com. ISBN0-595-201000-8. 1994 pub. HarperPerennial.
• Brown, D. (1994). Satanic ritual abuse: A therapist’s handbook. Denver, CO: Blue Moon Press.
• Raschke, Carl A. (1990). Painted Black. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-104080-0

There are more studies and cases. I am only presenting certain ones here to illustrate the point that SRA is a real phenomenon.

There is an understandable overlap in the literature between SRA and ritual abuse cases. However there are definitions of SRA and one can easily be created for this article. How about this -

Satanic Ritual Abuse usually involves repeated abuse with Satanic symbols and/or rituals over a period of time. It includes extreme physical, sexual and psychological abuse and may include the use of ritual indoctrination.Neil Brick 03:04, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Link to yet another clarification of CZ policy

Text here was removed by the Constabulary on grounds of civility. (The author may replace this template with an edited version of the original remarks.) Howard removed white space from the formatting of the above post. D. Matt Innis 20:20, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Further, the article is titled Satanic ritual abuse and, in its introduction, states a definition. While I'm not claiming "ownership" of an article, I appeal to Editors and the Constabulary to consider that conflating many definitions encourages imprecision. All sadism is not Satanic, there is Christian (as well as many other) ritual abuse of children (e.g., fatal exorcism), etc. No matter how much one Citizen repeats it, SRA is not accepted to be an abbreviation for multiple concepts; indeed, there is a substantial body of opinion that using interchangeable SRA and RA is a large part of why a serious discussion is difficult. I refuse to discuss anything called SRA. I will discuss Satanic ritual abuse. I will discuss non-Satanic ritual abuse in ritual abuse. I will discuss sadistic child abuse in child sexual abuse, an existing article that has never been updated in all the recent activity. I will discuss nonconsensual sadism under sadism and torture, because nonconsensual sadism is not limited to children.

May I point out that a pentagram is not uniquely Satanic? Howard C. Berkowitz 14:41, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Trying for civil explanation; please accept that links alone are not especially convincing, nor are journalistic reports of detectives' allegations, nor books from obscure publishers. Quantity of notes does not overwhelm.

If one must put in a long list of sources:

• Bullet them (prefix with an asterisk) and do not separate references with whitespace.
• Put links in square brackets so they are clickable, but do not display lengthy URLs.
• Be sure that there are no hard carriage returns inside text, which break indentation

Howard C. Berkowitz 21:08, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Regard the use of the abbreviation SRA "3. Use of "SRA." Once we have the definition clear, "SRA" simply stands for the definition, so I have no problem using the abbreviation, as long as each use consciously has the definition in mind." - Robert

I agree with Robert above. The use of the abbreviation SRA is acceptable as short hand for Satanic Ritual Abuse. Sadistic Ritual Abuse was used later as a term by some. The field itself is imprecise around the terminology depending on the author. Perhaps we could add a paragraph to the article about how the terms work in the literature, how some see RA as a subset of SRA and some may see them as more synonymous. Then we can work toward a decision on how there may be subsets of RA and define each as well. I believe that journalistic accounts of convictions of SRA cases are convincing.Neil Brick 01:41, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Proposed definition

As far as the proposed definition,

• Satanic ritual abuse usually is repeated abuse, in the context of Satanic belief systems with Satanic symbols or rituals over a period of time>. It includes extreme physical, sexual and psychological abuse and may include the use of ritual indoctrination.

"Repeated" is not necessary; one act of nonconsensual abuse involving a ritual is offensive. "Extreme" is ill-defined and dramatic. "Ritual indoctrination" has no content here; any ritual system may involve indoctrination. Abuse is not limited to children. Howard C. Berkowitz 14:41, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

If we don't use the word "extreme" then I believe we need to find a synonym, because SRA crimes are usually extreme in nature. I think we should include the idea of indoctrination somehow, as some SRA systems do use this in their practices.Neil Brick 01:44, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

No. What, then, would be "mild" ritual abuse? The adjectives are imprecise and emotional.

Also, "ritual" does not necessarily imply indoctrination. In many societies, captured warriors of the other side were killed quite ritualistically, but that hardly is a form of indoctrination. That's a general anthropological and military observation, though, since I am not and will not comment on something called "SRA", which I do not accept as an agreed-to abbreviation for anything relevant to this article.

Since the article is about Satanic ritual abuse and that abreviation has been associated with several other sorts of abuse, I will not use it in discussion. Do not tell me "the literature" supports it; "the literature" does not universally support the existence of Satanic ritual abuse. Please accept that this is a controversial issue and your definitions will not automatically be accepted. If you wish to entitle an article SRA and use these vague definitions, you may see if it gets acceptance. Now, I do not "own" this article, but I will not discuss a generic SRA. Howard C. Berkowitz 01:52, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

OK, I agree with the deletion of the adjective. The definition stated "may include the use of ritual indoctrination." I believe this is important to add, since many SRA cases do include this. Note the use of the word "may." This implies that only a certain amount of cases use indoctrination. I would agree to changing it to "may or may not" to cover your example as well. I never stated that the literature universally accepts the existence of SRA, but much of the literature does back its existence.Neil Brick 02:41, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

What is an SRA case? For that matter, what, exactly, do you mean by indoctrination? Indoctrination, for example, is, among other things, a term of art used for the process of authorizing access to a specific type of classified intelligence information. Some colleges speak of "freshman orientation", but mine used "freshman indoctrination". Howard C. Berkowitz 02:45, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

You make a good point here. Perhaps the word "brainwashing" would be better. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/brainwashing

1. Intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person's basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs.

2. The application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as an advertising campaign or repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation.Neil Brick 22:34, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

(undent) Brainwashing is absolutely unacceptable to me, as yet another ill-defined term, the Free Dictionary notwithstanding. See thought reform and torture for extensively sourced discussion of it that is not useful as a term.

Changing the word does not change that ritual abuse, of any sort, does not necessarily imply any mental persuasion. A human sacrifice would constitute ritual abuse, and there is little question it was practiced, for example, by the Aztecs and Mayans, or, to the other side of the pond, by various Celtic societies. Having one's heart pulled from one's body or being immolated in a wicker man provide, at best, an extremely short time to affect the belief system of the sacrificial victim. Howard C. Berkowitz 23:59, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Since some systems of Satanic ritual abuse do use forced indoctrination, how about this - "and may include the use intensive, forcible religious indoctrination."Neil Brick 21:21, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

No. Indoctrination, brainwashing, or other supplements to abuse are nonstarters. It's not essential to the definition, especially when some allegations focus on sacrifice or suffering.

First, even if there were established Satanic ritual abuse, it is the abuse that is key, not the attitudinal changes. The fact that you include "intensive and forcible" before religious indoctrination is dramatic, rather than informative. I can think of friends complaining that during their Bar Mitzvah preparation, they'd drill the repetition for hours, and have their hands slapped with a ruler for every mistake in preparation. Does that make it Satanic?

Further, no one else is agreeing there are systems of Satanic ritual abuse. Why not concentrate on getting a definition with no superlatives, no dramatic effect, no attempts to enlarge the problem, such that the substance can be discussed? I can discuss a definition of Satanic ritual abuse that would be objective if there were or were not demonstrated groups. Any phrasing that assumes "systems" of it implies that the existence is a given.

Minimalist definitions will get far further in discussions. Howard C. Berkowitz 22:13, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

I believe that a minimalist definition would not be accurate in this case. The definition should be inclusive of what for some is one of the basic reasons for Satanic ritual abuse. I used the terms "intensive and forcible" because simple indoctrination would be an incorrect description.Neil Brick 03:34, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, we clearly disagree, since in some accounts, sacrificial murder is a basic reason for some Satanic ritual abuse. Voodoo ritual abuse, I suppose, might include posthumous indoctrination.

What, then, is simple indoctrination? Where does simple become "intensive"? Why are you coupling "intensive" with "forcible", since torture is often counterproductive as a means of persuasion? Sorry, I don't read them as anything more than adjectives used to be dramatic.

So, we are stuck, it seems. Insisting all Satanic motivations must be extreme actually makes the argument less plausible, because it restricts the subset of possible abusers. Howard C. Berkowitz 04:27, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Maybe we can find a middle ground here. I used both adjectives as per the dictionary definition above. A compromise could be that we state it may or may not be the case, depending on the type of Satanic ritual abuse. Neil Brick 04:35, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't accept a dictionary as at all authoritative on the subject. Perhaps I'm not communicating something; let me try to be more explicit. There is a substantial body of literature, as in the national-level reports that I cited, that state that they found no convincing evidence of organized Satanist ritual abuse. There are reports that it does, but I note that those reports tend to get softer in definition. Your definitions all have a flavor that the existence of Satanist ritual abuse is a given, which is not universally accepted. My attempt to be specific and free of emotion-laden words is to be able to talk about existence without the topic being a constantly shifting target. Satanic ritual abuse, in English, has to be a subset of ritual abuse.

If, however, there is Satanic ritual abuse, it is quite sufficient to say it is abuse. The adjectives do not add information, but dramatize. The more dramatic, the more desperately it seems to be an attempt to convince about existence in the style of moral panic. Your argument might be much better served if the rhetoric were minimized.

Again, I urge you to look at homeopathy, and see several things there. CZ: Neutrality Policy does not require every statement to be balanced with the opposing view, if one of the views has much larger support than another. At the same time that the article presents very substantial mainstream medical doubt that homeopathy is effective, there is also a definition precise enough that the homeopaths could live with it, with enough caveats that the mainstream felt there were reasonable disclaimers. Even with those, there's been considerable criticism of that article as too pro-homeopathy....said Howard C. Berkowitz (talk)

My definition as originally posed doesn't make a statement nor does it imply either pro or con the existence of Satanic ritual abuse. I don't see the terms "intensive" or "forcible" as being emotionally laden or containing rhetoric. I see them as simply adding more description to the idea that indoctrination may be a part of Satanic ritual abuse. Please note that I used the word "may" as not all forms contain indoctrination. As a compromise, the article could contain two definitions, a short one and then a longer descriptive one. I have seen this done before with this topic.

Possible article text - There are different definitions of Satanic ritual abuse.

Short definition

• Satanic ritual abuse occurs in the context of Satanic belief systems with Satanic symbols or rituals. It includes physical, sexual and psychological abuse.

Long definition

• Satanic ritual abuse is often repeated abuse, in the context of Satanic belief systems with Satanic symbols or rituals. It includes physical, sexual and psychological abuse and may include the use of forcible religious indoctrination.Neil Brick 02:57, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Continuing problem about primary sources role

Nevertheless, there continues to be a continued misunderstanding of the role of primary reports, to say nothing of primary reports from anecdotal sources, in CZ. The purpose of CZ is to establish context, not peer-review anecdotal or small-group studies. Look at homeopathy; there are relatively few primary studies cited, always with a context for doing so; the emphasis is on meta-analysis.

For those Editors and others who are not following the discussion at recovered memory, may I call attention to Gareth Leng's comment at Talk:Recovered_memory#Just to be clear? Howard C. Berkowitz 14:41, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

In establishing content, I believe it is important to draw information from the entire field. Not all sources may be on a page, but since a meta-analysis may be biased or somewhat inaccurate, all data needs to be considered.Neil Brick 01:47, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Unlocked article

I've unlocked the article. D. Matt Innis 17:14, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

more sources

These sources were provided to us by email through the constable mailing list. I leave them here for those working on the article to decide how best to use them. D. Matt Innis 13:03, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

de Young, Mary (2004). The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States: McFarland and Company. ISBN 0786418303. http://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC.

Frankfurter, D (2006). Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Ritual Abuse in History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691113505. http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 .

LaFontaine JS (1998). Speak of the Devil: allegations of satanic abuse in Britain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521629349. http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 .

Nathan, D; Snedeker M (1995). Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. Basic Books. ISBN 0879758090. http://books.google.com/books?id=JVVsAAAAIAAJ&q.

Victor JS (1993). Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. Open Court Publishing Company. ISBN 081269192X. http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&printsec=frontcover .

From any perspective, these books are from what are called the "Nihilists" and have a strong anti-perspective. To get a balanced perspective, the article would need to include balancing sources from different schools of thought.Neil Brick 02:51, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

"Any" perspective? May I offer the disproof that I had never considered them nihilistic?

Further, CZ: Neutrality Policy does not require that every statement be 50:50 balanced, if there is a difference in expert perspective about the predominant view. Again, look at homeopathy. It defines what homeopaths consider to be their model of healing, but the article also makes it clear that the majority view in medicine does not support their usage.

Homeopathy, on the other hand, is a discipline, with curricula, licensing in some areas, etc. No one questioned its existence, and there was a reasonable consensus, between homeopaths and physicians, what homeopaths do. Howard C. Berkowitz 03:03, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

The schools of thought had been previously divided into different points of view. One was called "nihilistic." From the sources cited so far, it appears there are many sources on both sides of the line, as well as some in the middle.Neil Brick 03:09, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Who is doing this dividing, and why is their division authoritative? Howard C. Berkowitz 03:16, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Noblitt has a chapter "Nihilists and Revisionists" [19] page 222 where he discusses the history of the term.Neil Brick 03:48, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Biased phrase?

As a former editor of the Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) article in Wikipedia (WP), the CZ phrase "One article has termed the Wikipedia article on the subject a promotion of pedophilia" strikes me as pretty POVish and just wrong, even though it's sourced. Has any of you taken a good look at the very extensive WP skeptics/believers debate on the archived SRA talk pages? By the way, this is my very first post in CZ. Please tell me if I'm not supposed to talk about WP here or WP slang ("POV", etc). Thank you! --Cesar Tort 20:02, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi, Cesar, welcome aboard! I'm the Constable who recently approved your request to join. We can certainly talk about WP here, although we try to avoid spending much time on the subject, and we (as far as I know) absolutely refuse to accept anything in WP as being a reliable source for citations or references in any of our own articles. In other words, in our article on Martinis, you can say on the Talk page, "Well, gee, the WP article has sixteen sources saying that the martini originated in Crete in 1751." You can't, however, put that info into the article itself and cite WP as being the only source of that info. We also particularly eschew a couple of the WP abbreviations, particularly NVOP and a couple of others that I can't remember at the moment. As you'll see in some on-going discussions on some of the talk pages and right now in the Forum, we also try to avoid "notability" in favor of "maintainability", which has somewhat difference nuances. Best, Hayford Peirce 20:23, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice, Hayford Peirce. I'll now read your CZ policies. Cheers :) --Cesar Tort 22:50, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Totally agree with Hayford. These pages have more information on wikipedia problems.

[20]

[21]

[22]Neil Brick 03:04, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Puzzling addition to bibliography

This was added in response to my comment that the article, titled about "sadistic", not "satanic" ritual abuse mentioned "Satanic" in one paragraph and one footnote. I may have missed this table. The table, however, adds no detail: it uses the word once, in the course of constructing an acronym. Five of the six other bullets don't mention it.

Defining sadistic abuse: A summary mnemonic

• Sadistic sexual and physical abuse
• Accounts of torture
• Despotic over-control, intentional terrorization
• Induction into violence
• Satanic, cult, and/or ritual involvements
• Malevolent emotional abuse and neglect

Yet Satanic abuse is not the topic of the article. One might think that if the author were concerned with Satanism, there would be more concern about it — indeed, "sadistic" is the emphasis, as the key word in the title.

Let me make a point or two here. I have no trouble, at all, believing that there is sadistic abuse, meeting the DSM-IV definition of "sadism". I have much more problem with a plausible case for large-scale Satanic abuse, using a reasonably precise definition of Satanism. Howard C. Berkowitz 03:25, 1 April 2009 (UTC)