Controversies

During the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s the Church was repeatedly named in allegations of organised ritual abuse of children. The Church publicly disclaimed any connection to the alleged conspiracies; the FBI’s 1992 report by Kenneth Lanning concluded that the alleged organised ritual-abuse network did not exist as described, and the principal criminal cases of the period were subsequently overturned or discredited.

LaVey’s own biographical claims — including a youthful career as a circus organist, a stint as a San Francisco police photographer, and an affair with Marilyn Monroe — were challenged in a 1991 Rolling Stone investigation by Lawrence Wright and in subsequent biographies. The factual record on his pre-Church life is contested.