Civil Liberties

Witchfinders

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According to the BBC,

Italian police want to set up a special unit to tackle the growth of new religious sects, particularly a violent new breed of home-grown Satanists.

The new police squad would include psychologists, as well as a priest who is an expert on the occult.

It would co-ordinate—nationwide—investigations into potentially dangerous religious movements.

The move follows a spate of high profile, gruesome murders blamed on a new generation of Satanists.

The article points out that the proposal "follows a spate of high profile, gruesome murders blamed on a new generation of Satanists." But as far as I can tell, the "new generation" consists of one miniscule sect cum metal band whose leader has already been imprisoned. Indeed, the BBC report eventually notes that

Experts say the number of Satanists in Italy is tiny—and the product as much of youthful alienation as of any more traditional religious conviction.

But more than a million Italians belong to other minority religions, and some experts are worried that the new police squad could target members of them as well—even though, despite their perhaps strange beliefs, they are entirely harmless.