Editing Church of Satan (section)

===1980s, early 1990s, and "Satanic Panic"===

In the 1980s a phenomenon that became known as the "[[Satanic ritual abuse#As a moral panic|Satanic Panic]]" arose and the media reported concerns of criminal conspiracies by the Church of Satan.  According to a report released in 2020, LaVey indicated to FBI agents who interviewed him on October 31, 1980 that he had lost interest in the Church. 
{{blockquote|“LAVEY STATED THAT HE IS WELL AWARE THAT MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHURCH OF SATAN ARE IN FACT ‘FANATICS, CULTISTS, AND WEIRDOES.’ HE STATED HIS INTEREST IN THE CHURCH OF SATAN IS STRICTLY FROM A MONETARY POINT OF VIEW AND SPENDS HIS TIME FURNISHING INTERVIEWS, WRITING MATERIALS, AND LATELY HAS BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY.”<ref name=Footnote119>Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Acts Release – Subject: Anton LaVey,”  capitalization as in original. quoted in Joseph Laycock, ''Satanism'', 2023</ref><ref name=JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise/>}} 

During the 1980s and 90s, LaVey  was no longer interested in making media appearances and began a "long period of silence", becoming "increasingly reclusive".<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise/> In 1985, he began sending his daughter Zeena to represent the CoS. She appeared on television and radio broadcasts (including ''[[The Phil Donahue Show]]'', ''[[Nightline]] with [[Ted Koppel]]'', ''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'', ''[[Late Show with David Letterman|The Late Show]]'', ''[[Secrets & Mysteries]]'' and ''[[Sally (1983 TV series)|the Sally Jesse Raphael Show]]'')  {{#tag:ref|She explained that she did this on behalf of her father while being interviewed alongside her husband by televangelist [[Bob Larson]].<ref name="The First Family of Satanism">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WcKrdFHTds | title = The First Family of Satanism | website = [[YouTube]] | place = Denver Colorado | date = 1989}}</ref>|group=Note}}
to both educate about the Church and to debunk Satanic ritual abuse and any connection between those allegations and true Satanism (specifically the Church of Satan).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDNwdcKdboQ | title = KJTV Interviews Zeena LaVey | website = [[YouTube]] | place = Los Angeles | date = 1987}}</ref> She also became the High Priestess of the Church during this time<ref>{{cite web|title=Zeena Schreck Interview in Vice Magazine, Beelzebub's Daughter, by Annette Lamothe-Ramos|date=26 September 2012 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/beelzebubs-daughter-0000175-v19n4/}}</ref> and in 1988 married [[Nikolas Schreck]].<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise/>

On Walpurgisnacht 30 April 1990, Zeena formally renounced any association with the Church or LaVey, whom she now called her “unfather,” changing her [[Maiden and married names|maiden name]] to her then married name Schreck, the surname she retained after her divorce.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schreck |first1=Zeena |title=FAQ on Zeena Schreck's website |url=https://www.zeenaschreck.com/general-info.html |website=zeenaschreck.com}}</ref> Shortly after leaving the church, Zeena testified against LaVey in support of her mother's (Diane Hegarty) [[Palimony in the United States|palimony]] lawsuit against LaVey. The court awarded Hegarty half of LaVey’s property, forcing him to sell [[Black House (Church of Satan)|the Black House]] and bankrupting him.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise/> Zeena and her husband later joined the Temple of Set for a time but in 2002 she resigned and formed the [[Zeena_Schreck#Sethian_Liberation_Movement|Sethian Liberation Movement]]. 

In the 1990s remaining members of the Church of Satan became active in media appearances to refute allegations of criminal activity. Members of the Church who were active in producing movies, music, films, and magazines devoted to Satanism include [[Adam Parfrey]]'s [[Feral House]] publishing, the musician [[Boyd Rice]], musician [[King Diamond]], and the filmmaker [[Nick Bougas]] (a.k.a. A. Wyatt Mann).<ref>{{cite web|title=Nick Bougas, a.k.a. A Wyatt Mann|url=http://garrisongraphics.blogspot.de/2015/02/racist-and-anti-semtic-cartoonist-wyatt.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Buzzfeed article by Joseph Bernstein "History Of The Internet's Favorite Anti-Semitic Image"|website=[[BuzzFeed]] |date=5 February 2015 |url=http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/the-surprisingly-mainstream-history-of-the-internets-favorit#.xfzZKwrNG}}</ref>

In 1994, Kenneth Lanning, an [[FBI]] expert in investigating child sexual abuse,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/heimbach050102.htm |title=Testimony of Michael J. Heimbach, Crimes Against Children Unit |last=Heimbach |first=MJ |date=2002-05-01 |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=2008-04-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061230100851/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/heimbach050102.htm | archive-date = 2006-12-30}}</ref> produced a report on Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) aimed at child protection authorities, which stated that despite hundreds of investigations, no corroboration of SRA had been found. Following this report, several convictions based on SRA allegations were overturned and the defendants released.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nathan |first=Debbie |title=Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt |year=1995 |isbn=9780595189557 |publication-date=January 1, 1995 |pages=230|publisher=iUniverse }}</ref>