Biggest US Religious Panics

Puritan society in early America went crazy with witchcraft in the 1690s.Girls in the village of Salem started acting strangely, having fits and making odd sounds. People suspected witchcraft.Authorities arrested many women right away. These included members of a family feuding with an afflicted girl's family.

In the 1980s, parents nationwide felt a gripping fear.They feared their local preschool hosted Satanic sex abuse.Some girls at a local preschool were actually a haven for Satanic sex abuse.This started with McMartin Preschool in California.Parents and religious leaders claimed the place was controlled by perverted Satanists.They cited occult rituals, secret tunnels, large payments, and thousands of abused children.

Congress held rock music hearings as far back as 1958, including Frank Sinatra.Frank Sinatra called the music lewd for "cretinous goons." In 1985, parents of two kids who tried suicide blamedthe music of metal band Judas Priest for brainwashing their kids.The religious right decided in the mid-'80s that Dungeons and Dragons was a vehicle for Satan.While Dungeons and Dragons existed since 1974, the religious right suddenly saw it as a vehicle for Satan in the mid-'80s.

Activists, anti-occult figures, and worried parents listed reasons D&D was evil. These included rising mental illness and suicide among players, an focus on the supernatural, anti-Christian views on wealth accumulation, and rumors that members formed violent gangs.Ristians openly expressed worry about the LGBT community recruiting new members through indoctrination and normalizing the "gay lifestyle."This became a moral panic in the late '70s. Singer and Christian activist Anita Bryant campaigned against a Florida anti-discrimination law, declaring in her 1978 book

She declared that "homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children."that the debate about how to celebrate Christmas has raged among Christians for centuries.No organized secular group tries to stop destroying Christmas and making it a non-denominational winter holiday.Christians debated the right way to celebrate Christmas for centuries.No organized secular group tries to destroy Christmas and make it a non-denominational holiday.

Faced with same-sex marriage acceptance, evangelicals created a new gay-related panic: what bathrooms transgender people use.State and local governments introduced bills in 2016 forcing transgender citizens to use bathrooms matching their birth certificate gender, not their lived gender.Faced with the acceptance of same-sex marriage, evangelicals created a new panic about what bathrooms transgender people use.State and local governments introduced bills in 2016 forcing transgender citizens to use the bathroom matching their birth certificate gender, not their lived gender., but there is no organized secular attempt to destroy Christmas and turn it into a non-denominational winter holiday.

Faced with the creeping acceptance of same-sex marriage, evangelicals came up with a new gay-related panic to push: what bathrooms transgender people use. A slew of bills introduced in 2016 by state and local governments would force transgender citizens to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender on their birth certificate, rather than the one that corresponds to the gender they live as.

Post 9/11 Islamophobia and groups like ISIL/ISIS enforcing Muslim law caused the ""Creeping Sharia"." conspiracy theory. Devout Christian politicians and pundits push this theory. It claims US courts are taken over by Muslims planning to replace American and Judeo-Christian law with strict Sharia law.

Protestant fear of "Mormon power" and a weak grasp of the LDS church caused mobs to act.Mobs rose up against Mormons.This panic spread nationwide. The fledgling LDS church moved from the East Coast and Midwest to Utah. Massacres, both by and against Mormon immigrants, often fueled by religious hysteria, occurred along the way. Such panic also caused the murder of prominent Mormons, including founder Joseph Smith.

After the Reformation, Catholicism and the Pope faced strong opposition.The newly powerful Protestant movement heavily demonized Catholicism.The Protestant movement fueled this. Centuries later, a strong anti-Catholic movement spread globally. This caused wars in France, the Irish potato famine in the 1600s, and Nazi persecution.

The marriage equality movement in the 21st century caused a slew of laws.These laws target the supposed weakening of American religious freedom.This is based on the supposed loss of American religious freedom. Christians in the wedding industry believe they will be "forced to" bake cakes and design floral arrangements for gay weddings. States passed religious freedom laws. Proponents call these safeguards for liberty; detractors call them a license to discriminate.

Conspiracy theorists point to a shadowy global group, the Illuminati, as masters of everything. The Illuminati connect with American religion. Symbols like the eye of Horus and pyramids are linked to the occult and Satan.Preachers and evangelical pundits link the Illuminati to the occult and Satan.Many fundamentalists see this group as an atheist or Jewish plot aiming to destroy Christianity and start a devil worship religion.

Though exposed as a forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"...The book is a Russian forgery.The book "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"..."Protocols of the Elders of Zion"."Protocols of the Elders of Zion" has fueled religiously-driven anti-Semitic violence for nearly a century and continues to drive hate groups in the US today. The influence of the "Protocols"..."Protocols".The "Protocols" appear in eastern European pogroms, Adolf Hitler’s racial theories, and modern conspiracy theories.