alternatehistory.com

This is based off of the "Lovecraft founds a religion" thread, and on all of those crazy rumors that proclaimed that there was an evil Satanic cult that was going around sacrificing people. How does one get a religious group - not necessarily Satanic or evil, but still very dark - that has a noticeable impact on life in America? For example, a Cthulhu-worshipping cult, a more influential Church of Satan (which, despite its name, does not actually worship the devil - yes, I know it's weird), or a criminal organization that causes violence and chaos in order to appease the dark god/gods that it worships. It has to be a very large cult, with at least a million followers in the United States and, preferably, an out-of-proportion number of celebrity followers (sort of like Scientology).

My hypothesis: I believe that such a cult could've sprung up in the sixties and seventies, when the old institutions found themselves being challenged from all sides. Make the counterculture more cynical (a longer Vietnam, perhaps?), so that they're less inclined to flock to peaceful, "white-light" New Age groups like the Hare Krishna and Transcendental Meditation. At the same time, undermine the mainstream churches through various means - have Vatican II fail and leave a more conservative Catholicism, set off a series of embezzlement and sex scandals, etc. That way, you've got a wide-open playing field for the Church of Satan and other, like-minded groups.
Top