The Inquisition, The Satanic Panic, and Rock & Roll

[Paul of Tarsus]

There's a wise old saying that you don't really know people when they are weak but when they are strong. Strong people are more likely to impose their wills on weaker people and are more likely to make their true feelings known to others.

Does this bit of wisdom apply to Christianity? I think we can find the answer in the history books. When Christianity was strong and ruled much of the known world, it often used deadly force to make people act according to the dictates of church leaders and Christian rulers. Perhaps the most infamous example of this deadly force was the Inquisition which tortured and executed alleged heretics and witches as acts of faith in Christ. Christians at that time made no secret that Jesus meant business and that all who opposed him must be destroyed.

Of course, these acts and the Inquisition itself receded as secularism gained enough power to oppose the church. However, Christianity maintained much of its power and influence and has done so to this day. The ideas of a wrathful God, punishment of sinners, and a wily Devil are still with us. In fact, as modern-day Christian prophets like Hal Lindsey predicted the end of the world in the 1970s and 1980s, Christians became almost obsessed with the idea of Satan preparing to go to war with God in the Battle of Armageddon. Satan was showing up everywhere including in New Age books, bar codes, and even Procter & Gamble logos!

But perhaps the main target of this "Satanic panic" was rock acts. Christians saw them as heralds of the Devil and his rule over the earth. Bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were allegedly "backwards masking" subliminal Satanic messages to inspire youth to worship the Devil.

So whatever happened to this panic over Satan? Broadly speaking, secular society rose up and defeated the effort of many Christians to impose their beliefs on society. Much of what those Christians were saying was exposed as not only untrue but as harming innocent people. As I see it, the attempt to resurrect the Inquisition failed because Christianity no longer had the power to impose its deadly will.

So long live rock and roll!

[JoeyKnothead]

In at least the original pressing of 'The Wall', in the song 'Empty Spaces', if spun backwards you can hear, "Congratulations, you have just discovered the secret message."

I've actually won bets with that bit of knowledge.

Sure, but no one was sent to hell over it.

I got married after having done it.

[benchwarmer]

In at least the original pressing of 'The Wall', in the song 'Empty Spaces', if spun backwards you can hear, "Congratulations, you have just discovered the secret message."

I've actually won bets with that bit of knowledge.

Sure, but no one was sent to hell over it.

I got married after having done it.

I sure hope the pretty thing ain't reading this Otherwise you just got yourself a ticket to the second level of hell.

I'm so glad I wasn't drinking something when I read that. I would have choked and/or redecorated my monitor. The humor put forth by my fellow friends on this site is sometimes better than all the debating. You made my day JoeyKnothead!!

[Paul of Tarsus]

Bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were allegedly "backwards masking" subliminal Satanic messages to inspire youth to worship the Devil.

This is just too funny.

Well, at the risk of sounding like a crab, I can't see any humor in people innocent of those charges being libeled that way. As Sharon Osbourne has said, a lot of people were hurt by the lies told about them by the likes of Cardinal O'Connor. I remember when my parents, both Roman Catholics, heard O'Connor's lies about rock music, they came over to my place storming about the "news." My mother attacked me because I enjoy rock and roll, and I hit her back with both barrels telling her that she and her religion are sick. She had abused me in the past to the point where I became suicidal, and her religion was a big part of that abuse. I refused to have anything to do with her for months afterward.

So Sharon Osbourne is right. A lot of people get hurt by the lies coming out of paranoid Christians. I am one of the hurt people.

None of those who made these claims could ever explain how the brain could understand these claimed messages given that they were indeed in reverse.

I suppose many Christians who deny evolution were quick to believe that "science." It's a bizarre idea to conclude that record companies were using technology to advance the cause of Satan. Such a belief is in the same league as the Inquisitors' belief that women went off at night to have sex with Satan.

I do remember a scene from the early eighties where I watched a bunch of "righteous Christian youth" spending a good part of their evening spinning records backwards to hear these so-called satanic messages. Hilarious!

Now I might laugh at that! Is it on YouTube?

[Paul of Tarsus]

I'm not sure it failed at all, as I don't know what its 'end game' was. It caused panic amongst a few and allow Christianity to see what they can do with a stupid society. If that was its desire intent, then it succeeded. I think, by in large, today's society is a lot 'more dumber' than it was then, when it comes to common sense, logic and changing definitions to 'feel good'.

I think the Satanic panic was one of Christianity's last hurrahs in the USA. It was a wake up call to anybody, including the religious or even especially the religious, that what freedoms we do have were at stake. It seems to me that the current decline of Christianity in America was inspired at least to some extent by the Satanic panic. I know it is a factor in my own skepticism.

[Paul of Tarsus]

I had friends destroy their albums and tapes due to it. It was a catch 22 as I wasn't too keen on doing that for that reason but because the music was terrible even when played the correct direction

As much as I hate to admit it I trashed some of my LPs when I was a brain-washed Pentecostal. When I told my pastor about it he was delighted. One of the common denominators between Christianity and Nazism is the burning of books (LPs, tapes, etc.) Maybe it's just a coincidence.

[1213]

There's a wise old saying that you don't really know people when they are weak but when they are strong. Strong people are more likely to impose their wills on weaker people and are more likely to make their true feelings known to others.

Does this bit of wisdom apply to Christianity? ...

I think it applies to human leaders often, not to Christianity, if Christianity is the teachings of Jesus.

[Paul of Tarsus]

There's a wise old saying that you don't really know people when they are weak but when they are strong. Strong people are more likely to impose their wills on weaker people and are more likely to make their true feelings known to others.

Does this bit of wisdom apply to Christianity? ...

I think it applies to human leaders often, not to Christianity, if Christianity is the teachings of Jesus.

Actually, if we can trust the gospels, then when Jesus walked the earth as a Jewish peasant he did little harm at least as far as physical violence is concerned. By contrast, the glorified version of Jesus in Revelation metes out doom, death, destruction, and damnation. So the whole idea of Christianity is to ultimately use power to impose its will on the whole world. Those human leaders you speak of knew this doctrine well and made good use of it when they could.

[1213]

...By contrast, the glorified version of Jesus in Revelation metes out doom, death, destruction, and damnation. So the whole idea of Christianity is to ultimately use power to impose its will on the whole world. Those human leaders you speak of knew this doctrine well and made good use of it when they could.

I am not sure what do you mean with “to impose its will on the whole world”, but, Bible tells some group will go fight against God and they lose. Also, in Biblical point of view, unrighteous people don’t get eternal life.

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Mat. 25:46

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

I think it is good that evil has an end. But, I don’t think Christians should make the judgment, because:

"Don't judge, so that you won't be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you."
Mat. 7:1-2

If people use Bible for evil, I think it is wrong and I hope as many as possible would know what Jesus told, because his teachings should be enough reason for all Christians to not be violent.