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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 7970321" data-attributes="member: 14159">Where I grew up, in rural Kentucky, the "Satanic Panic" fear of D&D lasted at least into the late 1990's.My last encounter with it was in 1998, being kicked out of a small Southern Baptist church  because I mentioned in passing to the Pastor that I play D&D (my weekly game was on Saturday night, I was volunteering at the Church on Saturday to help out, and mentioned where I was going when I was leaving). . .and the reaction I got from that Pastor was to be treated as if I had just admitted to being a outright Satanic cultist, and was told I wasn't welcome at that Church anymore unless I publicly burned all my D&D books and repented in front of the Congregation.  I left and never returned.Circa 1992 it was still definitely going strong in society in general, at least in my town.  My early attempt to learn D&D and get a D&D group together came to a crashing halt when I apparently started all kinds of alarms by asking my friends if they wanted to play D&D.  Some of them apparently went to teachers, and I quickly found myself in the Guidance Counselor's office to see if I was suicidal (because they thought playing D&D made you commit suicide) or if I was trying to recruit for a Satanic cult or something.  My father sternly forbade me from playing D&D after this incident.  I even had a classmate try to "prove" to me that D&D was satanic.  He was sure that D&D was about worshiping tiny idols of devils.  I was sure it wasn't, but he said he'd seen proof and he'd bring it in.  The proof?  A magazine article from some conservative Christian group about the evils of D&D, and it had pictures of these "idols" of "demons". . .the big one was a Ral Partha metal miniature of a Red Dragon, but they just saw wings and red skin and a pointy tail and assumed it was a devil or demon instead of a dragon and just assumed that the ONLY possible use of such a thing was as a religious idol, not as a miniature for tactical gaming.  I tried to explain it to this kid, but he was SURE that his parents and Church wouldn't lie to him in saying D&D was evil, and that instead I was the one who was lying and trying to mislead him.My parents didn't finally accept that D&D wasn't some satanic plot until circa 2000.  Two things changed their mind.1. That D&D was owned by Hasbro, and that there was no way a publicly traded company that relies on a wholesome, controversy-free image to sell toys to kids, would publish something satanic.2. That the math skills I learned playing D&D are what helped me pass my math classes in college so I could graduate.  I sincerely think that if I never played D&D, I might never have graduated college.So yeah, the Satanic Panic was DEFINITELY NOT at an end by then.  It was going strong in the rural South at least until the late 1990's.</blockquote>

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