Answering the Unspeakable: the Response to the ‘Satanic Panic’ (Satanic Ritual Abuse

scare) of the 1990s

During the early 1990s New Zealand, following the United States, Great Britain and
Australia, suffered an eruption of concern over organized and trans-generational abuse of
children and adults by individuals and groups of Satanists. Some in the field of
psychological services along with survivors themselves alerted the public and law
enforcement to this wide-spread and insidious form of child abuse which was predicated
on Satanic acts and observances. Sensationally high figures provided by activists in the
United States were suggestive of as many as one million Satanists committing “Satanic
ritual child abuse, child pornography and grisly Satanic murders” with figures of 60,000
Americans a year being ritually murdered1. The British and American governments both
commissioned formal studies of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA); the British study by
anthropologist Jean La Fontaine and American studies by Ken Lanning of the FBI as well
as an exhaustive joint investigation by the University of California at Davis and the
University of Chicago2. However, while by the mid 1990s SRA had been thoroughly
discredited by these and other studies, in the early 1990s public unease in New Zealand
was considerable.

As overseas concerns rose, SRA ‘experts’ were introduced to New Zealand to heighten
awareness of the alleged threat of SRA. Many of these speakers, the most notable of
whom were Pamela Klein and Michael Whitman, had evangelical Christian connections3.
As a direct result of these seminars two Wellington women, Jocelyn Frances (or O’Kane)
and Anne-Mane Stapp, responded by forming the ‘Ritual Action Group’ (RAG) in 1991
and presented a SRA workshop to the Family Violence Prevention Coordinating
Committee’s Christchurch conference, ‘Family violence: Prevention in the 1990s’ in
September of that year. Frances and Stapp cited the need to protect children in New
Zealand from “Ritual abuse [which is] usually carried out by members of a cult” and
which may include “Ritual elements (eg devil worship, animal or human sacrifice)”,
groups which “are typically satanic in their symbols and beliefs”4.

1
Geraldo Rivera, “Satanic Cults and Children”, ABC News Special, 19 November, 1987. Cited in J.
Victor, Satanic Panic: Creation of a Contemporary Legend, (Chicago, Open Court: 1993), pp. 32-33; Alan
H. Peterson, The American Focus on Satanic Crime, (South Orange, American Focus Publishing: 1988)
vol. 1, foreword
2
Jean La Fontaine, The Extent and Nature of Organized and Ritual Abuse: Research Findings. (London,
Her Majesty's Stationery Office: 1994), Speak of the Devil. (Cambridge, University Press: 1998); Kenneth
Lanning, Investigator's guide to allegations of "Ritual" child abuse. (Quantico, Virginia: National Center
for the Analysis of Violent Crime, FBI Academy: 1992); G. S., Goodman, Qin, J., Bottoms, B. L., &
Shaver, P. R. Characteristics and Sources of Allegations of Ritualistic Child Abuse. (NCCAN Grant
90CA1405). Final report to the National Centre on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1994. Also see Frank W.
Putnam, ‘The Satanic Ritual Abuse Controversy’ in Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol 15, 1991 and David
Frankfurter, ‘The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic as Religious-Studies Data’ in Numen vol 50, 2003 for further
criticism of SRA on methodological grounds.
3
Sarona Josefa, ‘Satanic ritual abuse in NZ - US therapist’, The Press, 27 August, 1991; Jenny Long,
‘Satanic curses’, Dominion Sunday Times, 1 September, 1991; Michael Hill, ‘Satan’s Excellent Adventure
in the Antipodes’ in Issues in Child Abuse Accusation, Vol 10, 1998; Michael Hill, ‘Some issues an inquiry
into the Civic Creche case could examine’, The Press, March 31, 1995
4
Linsey Morgan ‘Satanic sexual torture more than a nightmare’ Evening Post (Wellington), 3 September,
1991; Family violence: Prevention in the 1990s, Vol 2 (Wellington, Family Violence Prevention
Coordinating Committee: 1991), 6

1
Central to public understanding of SRA in New Zealand, and the thrust-block against
which the Order was contending, was the Christchurch Civic Crèche case, which first
broke the surface in November of 1991 and less than three months after the conference
that was held in the same city. As the case evolved, allegations of ritual abuse began to
be reported and central to the promotion of SRA dimensions to the accusations was the
mother of the boy whose comment sparked the enquiry. The boy’s mother was a social
worker herself and was influenced by SRA material, going so far as requesting the
appearance of American Pamela Hudson as an expert witness- Hudson had formulated a
well-known sixteen point checklist for SRA and was an influential SRA activist- as well
as setting up a Lotteries Board funded organisation, End Ritual Abuse (ERA), to
highlighted the ritual abuse dimension she believed had occurred5. Ironically, later
researchers would be highly critical of the SRA proponents adherence to the Satanic and
ritual dimensions over the actual abuse dimension of claims, “[there is the concern] that
some of these children really may have experienced some more ordinary types of abuse
that was overlooked in the attempt to prove satanic ritual abuse”6.

Prior to the Civic Crèche case, but as a result of Frances and Stapp’s earlier
‘investigations’, the spectre of SRA had previously been raised in Masterton. In
September of 1991, Upper Hutt based police Senior Sergeant Laurie Gabites was quoted
in The Dominion as saying that Wellington-based Satanists were involved in child
pornography and ritual abuse7. Gabites was another influential figure in the SRA
movement in New Zealand and almost from the beginning of press coverage of SRA in
New Zealand he had referred to, if not by name then by description 8. Gabites had
traveled to the United States and Canada to take part in seminars and training on how to
detect SRA, returning to New Zealand to disseminate the information9.

The Order’s response was initially confined to internal documents and the pages of The
Watcher/The Heretic and rebuttal of SRA was present in sixteen of the twenty issues
available for examination after its first appearance in issue 2 of The Watcher. As SRA
was discussed and debated in the mainstream media, Bolton also started to respond
through the mainstream media as well, usually via letters to the editor and complaints to
the New Zealand Press Council. He was also was offered the opportunity to appear on
television to give a Satanic perspective on Halloween during the height of the SRA
5
Hill, ‘Satan’s Excellent Adventure’; ‘Mother wanted abuse expert's aid’, The Press, 4 December, 1992;
Sarona Josefa, ‘Satanic ritual abuse in NZ - US therapist’, The Press (Christchurch), 27 August, 1991;
Michael Hill, ‘Some issues an inquiry into the Civic Crèche case could examine’, The Press (Christchurch),
31 March, 1995
6
Mary de Young, ‘Satanic Ritual Abuse in Day Care: An Analysis of 12 American Cases’ in Child Abuse
Review Vol 6, 1997. p.84
7
Jenny Long, ‘Satanic Curses’, The Dominion, 1 September, 1991
8
Lindsay Morgan, ‘Satanic sexual torture more than a nightmare’, Evening Post, 3 September, 1991; Long,
‘Satanic Curses’. While I can find no firm documentation of Gabites religious affiliation from the 1990s,
he is currently the people’s warden of St Luke’s, Wadestown, Wellington, an elected position. His
biography on the St Lukes webpage reads in part “Laurie was brought up in the Anglican church and was
christened in Timaru and confirmed at All Saints in Nelson” (http://www.stlukes-
wadestown.org.nz/administration.shtml, accessed 30 January, 2007). In all, it implies a life-long Christian
commitment and thus Gabites fits a common profile of a Christian populariser of the threat of SRA (see
Phillip Jenkins, ‘The Devil Rides In: Charasmatic Christians and the depiction of a Satanic Menace in
Contemporary Great Britain’ in Religiologiques Vol 11, 1995).
9
Julie Roberts, ‘Teens suspected of Devil worship’, Evening Post, 15 July, 1991; Hill, ‘Satan’s Excellent
Adventure’; Long, ‘Satanic Curses’

2
concern, an opportunity which he accepted.

Internally, the Order (as represented by Bolton’s editorship), dealt with the accusations in
three main ways.

The first was to counter-argue claims of SRA on a more-or-less formal basis.

Second was to provide hostile evidence derived from Biblical or theological sources or ad
hominem critiques of councillors or ‘survivors’.

Third was to produce counter-evidence of Christian child molestation in the form of

newspaper clippings, particularly by clergy.

During the climate of SRA sensationalism, newspapers began running stories concerning
Satanists and suspected SRA. Initially the Order responded within the pages of The
Watcher and in internal documents by means of rebuttal of SRA ‘evidence’, making the
first direct and semi-public response in The Watcher 5 (November 1990) with the
headline ‘Anti-Satanist Hysteria Spreading’ and responding in general terms to “the
hysteria that has been whipped up in the USA by Christian preachers and their dupes in
the media and police depts [sic]” as well as “weird and wonderful tales” told by
“neurotics [paraded before] t.v. audiences with tales of how they had been molested by
Satanists as children”. Bolton then goes on to quote from South African, English and
New Zealand newspapers concerning alleged SRA findings in those countries and the
absurdity of the reported events while commenting that an FBI study has found no
credibility in any SRA case10.

By The Watcher 8, Bolton had started to address the Satanic Panic closer to home and
reprinted in full an Evening Post article from 15 July, 1991, ‘Teens suspected of Devil
worship’. The article described a ‘satanic cult ring’ operating in Masterton and cited
‘about 20 youngsters [had] been drawn into the sect’ and were involved in drug abuse.
The coordinator of the youth centre first became alerted when “all of a sudden we noticed
a real change in attitude…becoming uncooperative and arrogant…we knew there had to
be something very wrong to make them change like this”. Bolton replied in a short
editorial comment, noting that the group mentioned was not Order of the Sword of
Damocles (a ‘legitimate’ Satanic order) which did not even permit alcohol consumption,
let along drug use. Bolton then makes two observations consequential to the article. The
first is that drug-use by Satanic covens is ‘an open invitation for the police to disrupt
Satanism as a bona fide religion, for the mass media to print its sensationalist smears, and
for the church to justify its intrusions” while the second piece of advice is that in New
Zealand “one can stay within the laws of the land and practice Satanaism. On this basis
no Satanist should take any crap from police, churchmen or social workers…Any
intimidation of Satanists in pursuit of their legitimate religious and ethical beliefs…will
be taken up with the appropriate complaints authority”11.

By November 1991, things had heated up some more. The Sunday News of 3 November,

10
Kerry Bolton, ‘Anti-Satanist Hysteria Spreading’ in The Watcher 5, November 1990. The FBI reference
is to the Lanning Report, cited above.
11
Kerry Bolton, ‘Editorial comment’ to ‘Teens suspected of Devil worship’ in The Watcher 8, May 1991

3
linked the Order to child pornography and ritual abuse through the comments of Snr Sgt
Gabites. Bolton wrote a letter of complaint to Superintendent B.P. Donnelly, Police
National Headquarters, the same day, requested to know whether the OHLP was under
observation or suspicion in regards to SRA claims as well as informing Donnelly that the
Sunday News article was subject to a complaint to the New Zealand Press Council 12.
Donnelly’s reply is unavailable, but the NZPC ruled in Bolton’s favour, citing “the article
had expressly linked the OLHP with what was said to be a recently exposed child porn
ring in Christchurch without providing any information to support the allegation” 13. In
the November issue of The Watcher Bolton makes a brief front-page mention of the
article, singling out Gabites “who was supposed to be some kind of authority on the
subject” for particular scorn14. Various articles in the same edition were also printed
which included the theme of Christian child abuse almost by way of retaliation, including
‘Modern Witch-hunt: A big joke or serious threat?’ by Markku Siira, a Finnish member of
the Order whose sturm und drang perhaps outweighed coherence, who called for
Satanists to “more than symbolically trample [Christians] underfoot”. There is also a
reprint of a letter to the editor of the Evening Post stating that SRA allegations are simply
not credible by K. Raymond, presumably Bolton writing under his middle name,
Raymond15.

To put these dates into context, in December 1991 Peter Ellis was suspended from the
Christchurch Civic Crèche on suspicion of sexually abusing a child and charged on 31
March, 1992, during a period which Greg Newbold characterises as the period of ‘Satanic
panic’16.

The Sunday News article was revisited in the following edition, February 1992, under the
headline ‘Salem Revisited: Witch-hunt New Zealand, 1991’. Interestingly, Bolton
editorialized that the “hysteria was first publicized in July 1991, when a bunch of
untermenschen were found by social workers to be operating a self-styled coven of ‘devil
worshippers’ in the Wairarapa. They were a simple collection of street kids being led by
a drug-soaked alcoholic”. Bolton’s comment has two particular points of interest to it.
The first is that it is the first time in a journal of the Order that a phrase that could be
explicitly tied to neo-Nazi ideology was used; secondly, it is a firm assertion of Satanic
orthodoxy in that the Order adopted a straight-laced neo-Nietzschian philosophy and that
more libertine forms of Satanism are not to be countenanced. While this edition of The
Watcher was far from the first to be harshly critical of what could be called juvenile
Satanism, it was the first time that vindictive had been attached to a specific group
whereas in prior instances criticism was of a general nature. Also reported was TV3
interviewing Bolton in his role as Magister of the Order for a Halloween special report
and Bolton concluding that it was a fair and balanced piece. Bolton’s editorial concludes
with a reprint of a letter to the Evening Post on SRA (under another Bolton pseudonym,
12
Les Wilson, ‘Satanism Linked to Child Porn’, Sunday News, 3 November, 1991; Kerry Bolton, letter to
Supdt B.P. Donnelly, 3 November 1991.
13
‘Press Council Decision’, Sunday News, April 19,1992
14
The Watcher 9, November 1991. Bolton also referred to Gabites as “NZ’s witchfinder-general” in The
Heretic 7
15
The Watcher 9, November 1991
16
‘Allegation of Abuse’, The Press, 2 December 1991; Greg Newbold, Talk to Canterbury COSA
(Causalities of Sexual Allegations) 27 April 1998 by Dr Greg Newbold, Department of Sociology,
University of Canterbury

4
‘Ray’) and an announcement that “in reply to the anti-Satanist hysteria, the OLHP has
launched a ‘campaign against christian [sic] child abuse, both as a defensive measure and
as a genuine public service. This will be an ongoing campaign, world-wide in
scope…”17. To this end, Bolton published and distributed a one page flyer, ‘Christian
Child Abuse’. The Watcher 10 also represents a watershed edition in the level of
confrontation in general, as articles in later editions exhibit a small but significant jump
in the use of virceptitude and belittlement, such as a propensity to spell Christian with a
little c.

The Christian child abuse flyer itself is little more than a catalogue of child sex abuses by
Christian ministers and priests between 1979 and 1991, extracted from an unreferenced
book, Christian Child Abuse: The Reality (but later in this edition of The Watcher it was
being advertised as being available for $5.00 from Realist Publications, Bolton’s
publishing house18). However, Bolton does preface the list with a theological argument
of sorts. Bolton contends that “Christianity encourages perversions such as child
molestation because it represses normal physical drives as ‘sins’” and quotes 1
Corinthians 7:1 (“It is good for a man not to touch a woman”) and Matthew 5:28 (“But I
say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman lustfully has already committed
adultery in his heart”). The pamphlet concludes with a quote from a clinical psychologist
and former Jesuit priest with words to the effect that because of the position of trust and
authority a priest holds, the damage done by sexual abuse is greater than that done by a
babysitter or stranger.

The Order’s offensive immediately bore fruit, as in The Watcher 11 was printed an
exchange between Bolton and Graeme Wilson, the Youth Pastor of the Hamilton
Apostolic Church who found the leaflet ‘Christian Child Abuse’ pinned to the church
noticeboard19. Wilson’s response was that his ministry was deeply concerned about child
abuse across the whole of society but the Biblical material quoted in the leaflet was out of
context. Wilson underlined that Christianity encourages “committed monogamous
marriages with full healthy sexual relations”, and cherishing of children while opposing
pornography (which degrades women) and sexual immorality and could not understand
how sexual continence leads to sexual repression. Bolton’s reply opened with a sarcastic
faux-apology for the leaflet pinned to the noticeboard,

I shall instruct my supporters…to seek permission before undertaking such activities in

future. Given christianity’s history of upholding tolerance and freedom of thought, I am in no
doubt that all christian ministers will readily allow such a display of alternative viewpoints for
the enlightenment of their congregations. “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free”,
right?

17
Kerry Bolton, ‘Salem Revisited’, The Watcher 10, February 1992
18
Advertising blurb reads: “This booklet is jam-packed with documented, court-proven cases of christian
child abuse, drunken priests, child porn in rectories, paedophile reverends. From medieval monasteries
when special laws had to be decreed to prevent monkish incest, to cases of priest child abuse up to 1991.
Illustrated, 32pp”.
19
Kerry Bolton, ‘Campaign Against Christian Child Abuse- the Nazarenes React’ in The Watcher 11, April
1992. It is important to note that Graeme Wilson of the Hamilton Apostolic Church is not the same Graeme
Wilson who was a member of the Order and has been cited in connection with his membership. Unless
otherwise noted, any reference this chapter to Graeme Wilson is taken to mean the Hamilton Apostolic
minister

5
Bolton followed this with a reference to Christian protests at the unveiling of Horus and
Sobek at the Hamilton Gardens the previous year as an example of “christian tolerance
and open-mindedness”, noting the participation of the Hamilton Apostolic Church in
those protests. The bulk of Bolton’s rejoinder was concerned with Christianity endorsing
marriage only as a way of making the best out of man’s inherently sinful nature rather
than marriage and sex being a normal and natural state of affairs in its own right. Bolton
also noted the distinct anti-woman bias found in much of the New Testament, noting that
“for a Christian to accuse anyone of anti-women attitudes is the height of hypocrisy”.
Bolton makes further Biblical references to support his argument and concludes by
pointing out that “children have been beaten ruthlessly by zealous parents” in accord with
Proverbs 23:13-14, that child abuse by Christians is regularly reported in the media, such
as an Auckland Assembly of God pastor being convicted of 12 counts of child abuse on
the day that Wilson wrote his letter, as well as “a recent case in the USA of a woman
plucking an eye from a boy, as a literal interpretation of Matt.5:29”. There was no further
correspondence on the subject, either in this or subsequent issues. While the level of
debate was not of a sophisticated nature, Bolton managed to forcefully dominate the
debate in his reply to Wilson, painting Wilson into a corner by which his only recourse
would be to deny the essential Christianity of some modern sects of Christianity, of some
of the offenders themselves and/or some of the members of the early Church such as St.
Jerome or the otherwise obscure Matthew of Avignon. Bolton had deftly maneuvered
Wilson into an unwinnable position.

That was to be the final issue of The Watcher, as it amalgamated with The Realist,
another Bolton publication but one with more political overtones, to produce The Heretic
in July of 1992. In the editorial, Bolton announced the Satanic victory over the
“Christlings”, noting that the media had now turned their attention to widespread and
provable cases of Christian child abuse. Bolton even went as far as to congratulate New
Zealand Truth “which had previously done its bit for the anti-Satanist hysteria” for a
“properly documented feature quaintly titled “Church tries to hide sex pervert”20.

The Heretic 3 ran a major article, ‘BBC Exposes Anti-Satanists’, a synopsis of a BBC
documentary broadcast by TV One. The article highlighted the vacuous and harmful
nature of many of the Satanist allegations made by social workers in the UK and how
they had been thoroughly rebuffed by the legal system there. In the same edition,
‘Current Comment’ noted that in the Civic Crèche trials Freemasons were implicated and
Bolton asks the question “will we now see the intrepid Sgt. Gabites in hot pursuit of the
Masons?”, with the implication that Galbites will do no such thing as the Masons are
respectable (in contrast to the fringe and comparatively vulnerable Satanists)21. This
edition also featured a letter to the editor, which in itself was a response to the leading
article published in The Heretic 1, ‘Self-overcoming: The Pagan Way’, which opened
with a comment that an aspirant for Adepthood (the second degree of the Order) was
rejected because he had a defeatist attitude to life and other similar shortcomings. The
rejected hopeful, A. Metz, responded to his rejection and wrote “I believe in the use of
children for sex, incest as well as using them in the magic circle as a sexual conduit…It is

20
Kerry Bolton, ‘Editorial: Christling Follies’ in The Heretic 1, July 1992
21
The accusation against Freemasons by SRA supporters was repeated in The Heretic 6. In both instances
Bolton appears to believe that SRA claims against Freemasonry represents how far SRA proponents are
prepared to go and how ‘cracked’ they really are.

6
the job of an adult to prepare the child psychologically for their role in sex whatever it is.
This form of behaviour modification would help the children and prevent mental
problems in the future”. Bolton responded unequivocally:

The above was received in response to the article “Self-Overcoming” appearing in The
Heretic #1. Metz had been rejected for OLHP membership because his view of life – as
pointed out – was a fatalistic, self-defeating one with no desire & Will to change; the very
antithesis of the Nietzschean/Promethean spirit the OLHP seeks to cultivate.

His attempted defence of paedophilia is a predictable rationalisation of those

WEAKLINGS & INADEQUATES who can only manifest a Will-to-Power by preying on the
defenceless.

It’s interesting to note that Mr Metz cites the Judaeo-christian Bible as justification
for paedophilia now that he has seen there is no scope for such fantasies within the context of
Satanism. And incredibly enough, he cites the Bible as though I as a Satanist am supposed to
accept its authority. Ye gads????!!!!

And emphasizes the ubermensche attitude that is at the heart of the Order’s conception of
Satanism and links a failure to realise the will-to-power with paedophilia and by guilt-
through-association, with Christianity.

By the end of 1993/beginning of 1994, Bolton had pronounced victory over SRA in a pair
of articles, SRAM: Magister Bolton looks at how SRAM (Satanic Ritual Abuse Myth) was
killed off in New Zealand and Torn R.A.G announcing that “the truth has finally caught up
with the anti-Satanist crusaders”22. ‘Truth’ being the results of the New Zealand Skeptics
Society conference which “trashed the ritual abuse hysteria”, an investigation launched
by the minister of Social Welfare of the time (Peter Gresham) into misspending by RAG
which resulted in Jocelyn Frances being convicted of defrauding DSW of $30,000 and a
quote from a Sunday Times columnist which read in part “ It is a major disgrace that the
DWS [sic] and Police Dept. staff are involved in this rubbish at all…[psychiatrists and
social workers] should clean up their act, and disbar colleagues who have joined the
loonies of the sexual abuse industry”23.

Further editions of The Heretic that are available (up to Heretic 11) follow the same
general presentation of SRA- claims that SRA is in its death throws and comments and
editorialising over articles that appear in the mainstream press, all of which show a
universally negative attitude to SRA. From The Heretic 9 onwards, and including its
successor magazine, Nexus, emphases shifts towards printing media reports of child
abuse committed by Christian ministers.

Throughout The Watcher and The Heretic’s handling of reporting of SRA there has been
a consistent editorial style and agenda. Bolton’s prime focus was to provide material for
rebuttal in the form of informing readers of overseas developments and reports which
challenged the whole notion of SRA in the early stages of the ‘Satanic Panic’ and then as
mainstream media in New Zealand began to question the essential authenticity of SRA,
Bolton passed onto the offensive by starting the Campaign against Christian Child Abuse
and providing evidence of the untrustworthiness of SRA claims to truthfulness through
22
The Heretic 6 (December 1993), The Heretic 7 (March 1994)
23
Frank Hayden cited in ‘Torn R.A.G.’ in The Watcher 7 (March 1994)

7
reports from the media, both print, television and radio. However, while providing ‘hard
information’, Bolton’s articles were undoubtedly polemical in nature as well and used
language which belittled, scorned and degraded SRA and SRA claimants. However, it
must be emphasised that polemical language, while being used, was used in moderation
and never threatened to swamp an article in vindictive. At all times Bolton maintained a
register which implied rational discourse over emotive reactions but at the same time left
no doubts that claims of SRA should be treated with contempt.

Bolton’s second response to the SRA scare was to challenge SRA through Biblical
reference or to challenge the integrity of SRA proponent’s affiliations to genuine social
work in light of their own faith, was not a particularly strong direction of attack.

Through various articles, including the dialogue with Graeme Wilson, Bolton sought to
identify child abuse as a systemic problem within Christianity, with the unspoken
implication that if child abuse occurs within Satanic circles it is the act of aberration
rather than conformity with ‘real’ Satanic doctrine24. Bolton did this by seeking to prove
that because of Christianity’s traditional concern for chastity and sexual continence,
natural sexual desires were repressed and, in fine Freudian fashion, later manifested in
inappropriate desires and actions25. As an overall line of reasoning, Bolton’s argument
can be summarised as:

1. Christianity has suppressed normal sexual desires, interpreting them as sin. In

this Bolton relied most heavily on Pauline though as expressed in 1 Corinthians
7:1-2 and Bolton interpreted as marriage being a kind of administrative
indulgence used only to overcome the damnable sin of fornication26.

2. And, according to Bolton, repression led to perversion, a causal chain that could
be proven by reference to both historical figures such as Ss Jerome and Augustine
as well as contemporary accusations of child abuse, such as the list of convicted
Christian ministers which forms the major part of the pamphlet ‘Christian Child
Abuse’.

The idea of repression=perversion was given free rein by Bolton in a poem which was
reprinted in Sinistra Vivendi entitled Corruption of Youth.
…“And if we can’t corrupt him with our sick creed,
We’ll violate his very body with our vice,
Then twist the blame until we succeed
In making him of his Self to despise.”

What crime is this ‘gainst innocence,

To take what is natural and call it foul –
These preachers with their gospel of penitence,
Lawding over the young with self-righteous scowl…

24
c.f. reply to A. Metz in The Heretic 3
25
‘Christian Child Abuse’ 1992
26
“It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his
own wife, and let every woman have her own husband” 1 Cor. 7:1-2 (KJV); Christian Child Abuse; letter to
Pastor Graeme Wilson, cited in The Watcher 11.

8
In a following stanza, Bolton writes:

“For ‘tis the innocence of youth we [Christian priests] must destroy”

A phrase which in a fine twist which may or may not be deliberate, resonates with
Australian SRA believer/councillor Dr Anne Schlebaum comments in a 1990 speech to
the conference of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychology, Psychiatry
and Law, “Satanists all around the world are reported to have declared the eighties ‘The
Decade of the Destruction of Innocence’”27.

Bolton also notes in his response to Wilson that sexual abuse is not the only kind of child
abuse, pointing to Proverbs 23:13-14: “withhold not correction from the child: for if thou
beatest him with the rod, he will not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt
deliver his soul from hell”.

During this period, a further number of internal documents were privately circulated
within the Order that interpreted Biblical passages as giving endorsement or otherwise
supporting actions or beliefs which now constitute child abuse, physical as well as sexual,
and elaborating on the general argument outlined by Bolton.

The third response of Bolton was to print mainstream media accounts of sexual
transgressions of Christian ministers, sometimes with some form of editorializing
attached, but more often just letting them stand with little or no comment. This approach
became more prevalent in later issues of the Heretic and the subsequent Nexus magazine.
The printing of examples of Christian abuse highlighted the contrast between the
sensationalist, and illusionary, claims of SRA with the seemingly endemic occurrences of
child abuse within Christian circles. Christian child abuse cases were ones proven in the
courts of law and not the result of manufactured hysteria. Such reporting by Bolton also
reinforced general anti-Christian sentiment among the Satanic subscribers and reminded
readers that Christianity is the religion they love to hate the most.

27
Richard Guilliatt, Talk of the Devil. (Melbourne, The Text Publishing Company:1996), 90

9
Bibliography

Bolton, Kerry. ‘Anti-Satanist Hysteria Spreading’ in The Watcher 5, November 1990.

___________. ‘Editorial comment’ to ‘Teens suspected of Devil worship’ in The Watcher
8, May 1991
___________.letter to Supdt B.P. Donnelly, 3 November 1991
___________.‘Salem Revisited’, The Watcher 10, February 1992
___________.‘Campaign Against Christian Child Abuse- the Nazarenes React’ in The
Watcher 11, April 1992.
___________.‘Editorial: Christling Follies’ in The Heretic 1, July 1992

Frankfurter, David. ‘The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic as Religious-Studies Data’ in Numen
vol 50, 2003

Goodman G. S., J Qin, B. L Bottoms, & P. R. Shaver. Characteristics and Sources of

Allegations of Ritualistic Child Abuse. Final report to the National Centre on Child Abuse
and Neglect, 1994.

Guilliatt, Richard Talk of the Devil. (Melbourne, The Text Publishing Company:1996)

Jenkins, Phillip. ‘The Devil Rides In: Charismatic Christians and the Depiction of a
Satanic Menace in Contemporary Great Britain’ in Religiologiques Vol 11, 1995

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