Smurfs, D&D, and Demons: Remember the Satanic Panic of the 1980s?

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Pat Kahnke's books are available on Amazon:

"A Christian Case Against Donald Trump" (2024)

"MAGA SeductionResisting the Debasement of the Christian Conscience" (2020)

Tim Whitaker (founder of The New Evangelicals, now host of Tim Whitaker Speaks and co-host of the Tim and April Show with April Ajoy) joined me and Ken Napzok for the most fun we've had on this channel in a long time — a full-blown Satanic Panic trivia showdown.

Ken quizzed us on the real, unhinged claims that defined evangelical childhoods in the 1980s: the Smurfs accused of being "undead pagan demons," Amy Grant branded a sellout for going pop, Rainbow Brite's "pentagram," E.T. as a fake Christ-figure, Dungeons & Dragons as a gateway to all sorts of bad things, and Ouija boards as a one-way ticket to possession. Along the way we swap real stories — He-Man action figures confiscated by a youth pastor, secular CDs bought like contraband, and the "recovered memories" ritual-abuse scares that wrecked real families.

If you grew up in an evangelical home in the 80s or 90s, this is the nostalgia (and reckoning) you didn't know you needed. Tim and I are planning more collaborations soon, so consider this your introduction to his work if you don't already follow it.

I'll be back with hard-hitting news and Christian nationalism analysis tomorrow — today's just for laughs and a good conversation about growing up in the Satanic Panic.