Christians are fascinated by conversion stories of ex-occultists, particularly Witches and Satanists. From Mike Warnke and Bill Schnoebelen in the past, to contemporary figures like John Ramirez, these stories help confirm the faith identities and worldview of Christians in a battle of good vs. evil. Douglas Cowan and Joseph Laycock unpack various aspects of this phenomenon, and how they fit into contemporary satanic panic. Doug Cowan is a professor of Religious Studies and Social Development Studies at Renison University College at the University of Waterloo. For many years he was a co-general editor of the premier journal of new religions study, Nova Religio, and chair of the New Religious Movements Group of the American Academy of Religion. Joseph Laycock is an assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University. He has written several books on new religious movements and American religious history. He is also a co-editor for the journal Nova Religio. Douglas Dowan: https://uwaterloo.ca/renison/about/people/douglas-e-cowan Joseph Laycock: https://faculty.txst.edu/profile/1922193   Related resources:Selling Satan: The Evangelical Media and the Mike Warnke Scandal by Mike Hertenstein and Jon Trott https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Satan-Evangelical-Warnke-Scandal/dp/0940895072 Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History by David Frankfurterhttps://www.amazon.com/Evil-Incarnate-Demonic-Conspiracy-Satanic/dp/0691136297/ Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media by Bill Ellishttps://www.amazon.com/Raising-Devil-Satanism-Religions-Media/dp/0813121701/ You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org Support this work:One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead  #occult #apostatetestimony #Satanist #witch