Editing Satanic Panic (section)

==Global Context==
On the note of ''"American moralfags"'', one might be inclined to wonder why there was no analogous (or at least proportionate) moral panic about [[Warhammer]] or [[Warhammer 40,000]] in the UK, considering that it was miles above anything from contemporary D&D in terms of edgy and [[grimdark]]. It likely says something about the culture of the populations in question, or at the very least about the placid nature of the [[Ecclesiarchy|Church of England]].

The Panic has its roots in late 19th century Anglo-American Protestantism. As more mainstream Protestant sects began to incorporate liberal elements of Biblical interpretation and as Anglophone culture as a whole grew more secular (to say nothing of things like the growing acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution), other more tradition-minded sects declared a need to return to the "fundamentals" of Christian faith, based on literal interpretation of the Bible and a general rejection of secular culture. The goal of these 'fundamentalists' was to attain something of a throwback to the atmosphere of the early frontiers, where anyone who fancied himself a preacher or prophet could set up shop - even if what he was preaching had very little traction on common sense, they'd gain a following as long as he had a glib tongue, enough charisma and some impressive sounding Bible verses (context not necessary due to the literal interpretation part). As they saw it, this was a return to the core traditional principles of the faith, free from un-Biblical modern thinking. Small wonder, then, that the movement clustered in hinterlands like Ulster (John Nelson Darby was seminal) and found ready ears across Dah Pond in America's own backwoods.

Following the debacle of the [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial| Scopes "Monkey" Trial] in 1925 (where a teacher was accused of violating a Tennessee law preventing the teaching of evolution in school, but in actuality was staged so the town could get tourists- the teacher was found guilty on a technicality but popular sentiment was in his favor), they had withdrawn into their own subculture, growing increasingly convinced that America had become godless and corrupt under the influence of the secularists. These sentiments only increased in the 60s, when the country was coming off the heels of [[Communism|the second Red Scare]], and growing acceptance of extramarital sex and feminism came to be perceived as a threat to "traditional family values".  This intensified again in the 70's when those prior events opened the door for another potential threat via No-fault divorce laws being introduced across states.

By the 80s, a new generation of charismatic Protestant preachers such as Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham paved the way for these 'fundamentalists' to return to the public sphere. Thus began the rise of what then called itself "Moral Majority" and is now known as "the religious right", as the fundamentalists quickly forged ties with like-minded politicians. As Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan - different political parties, note - were among the politicians in question, this meant they had a ''lot'' of influence in American society. Funnily enough, these same people’s politicization of Christianity would drive younger people away from it in later generations, a fact they are only now coming to realize (although they blame the later generations for it, because in their minds nothing is ever their fault). 

Britain, for what it's worth, only ever came as close to the panic in the mid-'80s through the efforts of one [[Inquisitor Greyfax|Mary Whitehouse]]'s campaign against "[[Slaanesh|video nasties]]" (i.e. horror/exploitation films that were unclassified, because obsolete British film censorship laws [[FAIL|hadn't been updated to account for the existence of videotapes]], and thus could be legally rented by viewers as young as 10) - and very few people took her seriously even then, on top of the campaign [[Derp|sparking a profound interest in the otherwise unremarkable low-budget grindhouse/horror movie schlock that made up the majority of that list.]]  True to her brethren setting their crosshairs squarely on DnD across the pond, however, in her crusade to stamp out material she'd never actually seen but objected to on vague overheard principle, she similarly instinctively homed in on anything remotely dungeony or dragony, resulting in the significant toning-down of beloved and totally inoffensive childrens' dungeon-crawling TV gameshow "Knightmare" - amongst modifications made to placate her, the face-turning-into-a-skull health meter was replaced with a pie losing slices.