coa44@seq1.keele.ac.uk (Mark Scase) (04/09/91)
An American preacher has been recently touring the area where I live in England and has been making various allegations about the company Procter & Gamble. He has written down these allegations and they have been passed around a number of local churches. I have not spoken to this preacher so I cannot give any more explanation to his article. What I would like to know is whether there is any truth in these allegations? If it is true then it seems that this is an important issue facing Christians. If not, then I will do my best to inform local churches of the truth as further reproduction of the article would be giving Christianity a bad name. Any comments would be gratefully appreciated. Here is the article verbatim ----------------- The president of Proctor & Gamble appeared on the famous Phil Donahue show on March 1st 1990. He announced that he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of satan and he stated that a large portion of the profit for the Proctor & Gamble products goes to the support of the church of satan. When asked by Mr Donahue if stating this on TV would hurt his business he replied "There are not enough Christians in the USA to make a difference". The purpose of this information is to remind Christians that when they buy any of the products of P & G they will in fact be taking part in the support of the church of satan. Stop buying any products manufactured by P & G and that will proof enough that there are a sufficient number of Christians to make a difference. It was also reported that on a recent Merv Griffiths show a group of cultists were featured of which one was the owner of P & G. He said he had told satan that if he would help him to prosper then he would give him his heart and soul. He then gave satan all the credit for his riches. ------------------ end. -- Mark Scase, | JANET: coa44@uk.ac.keele Dept of Communication, | BITNET: coa44%keele.ac.uk@ukacrl University of Keele, Keele, | Internet: coa44%keele.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK. | Other: coa44@keele.ac.uk (Phone: +44 782 621111) | UUCP: ..!ukc!keele!coa44 [In short, no. I asked a close relative to comment on this one, as he was an executive of P&G until his retirement a few years ago. (I forgot to ask him for permission to use his name, so I'm not going to give further identification.) He knows much of the upper management, and heard the details of this the first time the rumor went around. He seems to have kept up on the most recent incarnation as well. This rumor has now gone around at least twice. The first time was about 5 years ago. Most recently it was 1990. In both cases it was apparently possible to trace the rumor to its source, which was a competitor to P&G. Court cases resulted, in Georgia the first time and most recently the mid-West (Kansas?). Both representatives of P&G and of Phil Donahue deny that any such appearance took place. In fact most upper-level P&G management are active in local Christian churches, and the churches in Cincinnati depend very heavily on P&G staff. I have known a number of them or their children. I'd say it would be hard to find a major company with a more Christian management. If you find this response insufficient, I'm willing to get more details. Aside from personal concern for the reputations of innocent people, I don't want to see Christians spreading lies. --clh]
mchamberland@violet.waterloo.edu (Marc Chamberland) (04/10/91)
[Mark Scase posted an allegation made by an American preacher in the U.K. about an associate between Procter and Gamble and Satanism. I responded with a history of this lie, and some evidence against it. --clh] I remember seeing this either in 1984 or 1985. Except for the 1990 date on this recent copy, everything else seems to be the same. Same Donahue show. Same encouragement to stop buying P&G. Also, I seem to remember people making connections between the P&G logo (it has a crescent moon and stars) and Satanism. It's all a lot of bunk for gullible people who have nothing better to do than soak in some useless rumors. Marc Chamberland [Yup. That was the last outbreak. Sounds a lot like the yearly claim that somebody has petitioned the FCC to prohibit Christmas programming. Complete with a supposed FCC petition number. But false. --clh]
belville@athena.mit.edu (Sharon Belville) (04/10/91)
Just to add to your personal info about P&G - you can use this if the discussion continues and you see fit. My roommate has accepted a job at P&G and will be moving to Cinti in June. Being a strong Christian, she was concerned about the rumors, and talked to a Christian here in Boston who used to work for P&G and a Christian in Cinti (who's part of the church Patti will join when she gets there) who works for P&G currently. Both of them dismissed the rumors, and said much of what you said, that much of the upper management is involved in church. Sharon Belville
stephen@betwixt.cs.caltech.edu (Stephen O. Mast) (04/10/91)
In response to the recently posted article, all of the rumors about procter and gamble are not true, as I understand the situation, they were started by some Amway salesmen, in attempt to discredit the corporation. The symbol that has been referred to has been recently taken off of all of the Procter and Gamble products, but the rumors still linger on. Procter and Gamble is a good company and they are not involved in the Satanic Cult thing, and would not. Thanks. Stephen stephen@betwixt.cs.caltech.edu [I think we've now had enough answers on this topic (indeed maybe too many). It's apparently not a case of rumors lingering, by the way, but of a different salesman starting a new set in a different area. The symbol was "deemphasized" after the last set of rumors. It's sort of a shame. The symbol was a fairly old one, as least as American companies go. I believe the stars came from Star candles, one of the earliest prodcuts. I don't recall where the moon came from. --clh]
jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) (04/21/91)
In article <Apr.9.02.53.06.1991.5127@athos.rutgers.edu> coa44@seq1.keele.ac.uk (Mark Scase) writes:
+An American preacher has been recently touring the area where I live
+in England and has been making various allegations about the company
I have often wondered why Christians do not approve of pornography
and yet produce some of the most violent rumors. The last rumor bing
centering on P&G used such evidence as the century old logo using
stars and moon as part of the motif.
The 'satanist' thing seems to be a wonderful way to whip up flaging
hysteria when such ploys as 'rapture' or 'armagedon' or 'evil
communist empire' fail. Whereas the 'rapture' didn't happen,
'armagedon' was avoided, 'communism' has fallen, 'Satanism' can be
anywhere you look. You can see 'cult' crime in your own
neighborhood, school, or church. It of course can't be 'proven'
directly because th cultist are to clever and led by ultimate evil.
So it can be used over and over.
It is clear to me that some Christians use the satanist tack to
allow themselves a vicarious look into the sex, drugs and
rock-and-roll that they normally deny themselves. It is one thing to
condemn behavior, it is another thing to luridly describe the goings
on in the 'cult' groups. This of course is under the title of
'education', i.e. how can we tell the 'cultist' in the population at
large.
Of course even if there were a 'large spread' Satanist cult, does
the Bible command that the Christian use force to prevent the cult
activities? Only to those same Christians who believe the Bible
tells them to set up a kingdom on earth?
--
John Clark
jclark@ucsd.edu