Eisenhower Auditorium became a lecture hall last Thursday night for 1,100 students and community members who were interested in Satanism.

For almost 2½ hours, Jon Rittenhouse, a Wisconsin police consultant and authority on Satanism, spoke on the dangers of satanic worship and showed slides and film clips in his presentation, "Satanism: Dangerous Dabblings," sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ.

The slides depicted Satanic rituals such as animal sacrifices and a film clip from the documentary, "In the Name of Satan."

"I want to educate the populace that this is a dangerous philosophy," Rittenhouse said before the program, adding that involvement in Satanism leads to self-destruction.

Some reasons people are drawn to Satanism are the quest for personal power, dissatisfaction with traditional religions and curiosity, he said.

Rittenhouse explained the "doorways to Satanism" as interests in the occult, horror movies, white witchcraft and role-playing games. He said such activities could lead to later involvement with Satanism.

His attempts to link heavy metal music with satanic activity met with initial laughter from the audience, and one heckler voiced his protest.

The audience noise died down, however, when Rittenhouse further explained his position by identifying rock bands such as Witchcraft Coven, Danzig, Slayer, and Black Sabbath as promoting satanic activity.

But Brian Herbertson (junior-psychology) said after the presentation that he did not fully agree with Rittenhouse's view that heavy metal is satanic.

Rittenhouse said heavy metal itself does not promote Satanism, but can be associated with the occult.

"Heavy metal is not bad in and unto itself. When an association with the occult is formed, problems can occur with impressionable young adults," he said.

The slides, some from crime scenes where Satanism was involved, helped to explain the significance of satanic symbols such as the inverted crucifix and the upside-down pentagram. The symbols are used to show the reverse of Christian values.

Although some students walked out of the auditorium when questions turned into a debate on religion, student reaction to the program was mostly favorable.

Dan Reany (sophomore-anthropology) said, "I expected to hear a biased opinion but (Rittenhouse) seemed to take a non-extremist point of view."