Exactly how many kids has heavy metal sent to Hell?

Recently, someone calling themselves “April and Wayne Show” (it’s not clear whether that’s the name of a couple of the name of their show) began posting videos to YouTube purporting to expose metal bands as “Satanic Illuminati.” Although the dictionary says “illuminati” means “those who are enlightened,” many people colloquially use the term to refer to something cult-like.

As I’ve said before, while some metal bands use anti-Christian symbolism as a theater prop, very few are actually Satanic. Still, some people look at these bands and see nothing else. At first, it seems like April and Wayne Show’s videos might seem tongue-in-cheek, but the tone comes across as fairly serious and straightforward. Which means we’ve got some debunking to do.

Some of their claims include:

“Metal destroys the lives of many youth and leads millions of souls to Hell.”
“Metal has caused many youth to turn to drugs, become rebellious, and become sexually promiscuous (including bisexuality).”
“Metal promotes self-destruction (including suicide). Rock music gets millions of youth to experiment with drugs.”
“Metal artists have sold their souls to the devil and Satan uses metal bands to lead millions of souls to Hell.”
“Metal … promotes witchcraft and Satanism, demonic possession and rage, violence, blasphemy …”

Note that all of this is presented without a single shred of evidence. There’s no science backing their claims about drugs, sexuality, or even suicide. To say nothing of their more spiritual claims. Sure, it’s hard to prove whether “millions of souls” have gone to Hell, or that Satan’s using the music to lead them there, but you could at least try.

Let’s assume for the moment that these teens get to Hell by committing suicide. Roughly 4,400 teens a year succeed in killing themselves. Even if every single teen who committed suicide since 1970 — the year proto-metal band Black Sabbath released its first album — and we assume that every teen who commits suicide a) did so because of metal, and b) went to Hell because of it, it comes to 184,800. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of kids, but it’s by no means “millions.”

They go on:

“Metal artists are under demonic control during performances. These demons not only control artists’ performances, but enhances (sic) their skill.” (Quotes from artists ensue.)

Their example is a drummer they describe as “faceless,” who plays with his eyes closed (how does he have eyes if he doesn’t have a face?), but somehow plays perfectly, as shown in the video. Have these people never heard of dubbing? Or, you know, muscle memory? Many skilled musicians can play with eyes closed; it has nothing to do with demons. Also, since when are demons good at performing music?

Then there’s a narrative from a “regional bride of Satan,” named “Elaine,” who claims that numerous musicians told her that they sold their souls to the Devil, and that she attended “numerous ceremonies” in recording studios to place “Satanic blessings” on the music recorded there. And that the demons appeared on the records, especially in the “backmasked messages.”

I think it’s worth saying that we probably shouldn’t trust a woman who believes she was married to Satan. Even if you get beyond the idea that Satan is a real being who can get married, it’s not like such a marriage would be legally recognized anywhere. At this point, it’s safe to assume that “Elaine” was imagining or hallucinating pretty much everything she claims. The red herring is the “backmasked messages” comment, considering that the metal bands accused of backmasking messages were exonerated in court, after it was found that the “subliminal messages” were imagined, not intentional.

Part 2 of the video series gets into the idea of a “secret society.” “What secret society?” “The Illuminati!” — mostly old, rich guys. Who, as we know, are serious and hardcore metalheads:

I won’t go through the whole thing line-by-line, but needless to say these videos are not worth trusting. I hope parents who come across them while searching for information about their kids’ interests don’t give them too much credence. If anyone has questions about what they’re seeing in these videos, please ask in comments.

Or, if you see something in one of these videos you’d like to debunk, please do. Cite your sources!

“The Rite” priest claims Internet is causing increase in demonic possession

Image by Flickr user Joe Howell.

Since Anthony Hopkins’ new film The Rite is #1 at the box office right now, public attention has turned once again to the classic Catholic ritual known as exorcism. This happens every few years, as with the release of The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005 and The Last Exorcism in 2010.

It’s interesting that humans can’t really shake this idea that it’s possible for evil spirits to enter us and take over, as though we were puppets. Certainly some forms of mental illness (as well as tremendously bad moods or poor impulses) can feel this way. And for some reason we are especially attached to the idea of teenagers falling prey to the charms of the Devil.

That may explain why Father Gary Thomas, the real-life priest played by Hopkins in The Rite, is warning parents about the demonic dangers of the Internet. In his eyes, looking at Web sites devoted to the occult — everything from Tarot cards to séances — makes teens vulnerable to “demonic influences” and, ultimately, possession. Of course, the only cure for possession is exorcism, which is Thomas’ line of work, so to speak.

As usual, his claims are pretty much based on hearsay and/or anecdotes:

He said there were “no statistics” on how many people might be possessed but said there was a definite increase.

“What I can tell you is that there are more and more Catholics involved in idolatrous and pagan practices,” he said. “That’s really why there’s more demonic activity. There’s the absence of God in the lives of a lot of people.”

He added: “A lot of parents today have no critical eye of faith with which to even recognise the dangers their children are in. A lot of this is going on with the internet. There are lots and lots of demonic websites.”

Since Fr. Thomas doesn’t describe the symptoms of “demonic influence,” it’s hard to say objectively what might be on the upswing. It sounds like he’s talking about more than simply straying from the Catholic flock. But what exactly? Unusual behavior? Criticisms of organized religion? Heads turning 360 degrees? I can’t help but wish he’d been more specific, but I suppose that would make his Internet claims easier to debunk.

From my own observations of cultural behavior (specifically in the context of moral panics), the #1 cause for increases in anything is increased awareness of that thing. You know how when you buy a particular kind of car, suddenly you notice all the other people who own that same car? Now imagine you’ve just been told that demonic possession/influence among teens is on the rise, and the Internet is causing it. What are you going to see the next time your teen acts weird?

Here’s my question for readers today: Did you grow up in a religious household, or do you know someone who did? Did your parents (or the parents you knew) ever chalk up a kid’s bad behavior to “the Devil?” I’d love to hear those stories.