Dwight Longenecker is a Catholic priest, award winning blogger, and freelance writer. A graduate of Oxford and Bob Jones University, he has written sixteen books on different aspects of religion. Longenecker is a highly sought-after speaker for scholarly and Men’s Conference events, and often leads parish missions, retreats, and diocesan events. He and his wife, Allison, have four children. Longenecker serves as pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

Dr. Douglas Groothuis is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, Evangelical Philosophical Society, and Society of Christian Philosophers. Dr. Groothuis received a PhD and a BS from the University of Oregon, and an MA in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has served as adjunct professor at Seattle Pacific University, visiting instructor in apologetics for Westminster Theological Seminary, and instructor at the University of Oregon . He is the author of Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Christian Faith, Unmasking the New Age, Confronting the New Age, Revealing the New Age Jesus, Christianity That Counts, Deceived by the Light, Jesus in an Age of Controversy, The Soul in Cyberspace, Truth Decay, On Pascal, and On Jesus. He has written for scholarly journals such as Religious Studies, Sophia, Research in Philosophy and Technology, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Philosophia Christi, Trinity Journal, and Asbury Theological Journal as well as for numerous popular magazines such as Christianity Today, Moody Magazine, The Christian Research Journal, Christian Counseling Today, Modern Reformation and Perspectives. He has also written editorials for a variety of newspapers.

I’m trying to imagine what the world would have been like if the Salem witch trials had been on the right track.

Impossible to imagine? Sure, for two reasons. First, we’ve got the facts securely in hand now. The accused “witches” of early Massachusetts were no such thing, for there is no such thing. Present-day Wicca is nothing like their supposed practices.

And a second reason we can’t imagine any truth to witch-hunt hysteria is because we can’t envision so many people being so bad. Europeans tried some 100,000 alleged witches in the early modern period. Could evil that horrible really be so widespread? It seems unlikely.

Not a Witch-Hunt

Or it seemed unlikely, that is, until Harvey Weinstein’s downfall opened a torrent of sexual misconduct accusations. Now nearly 50 prominent men have been accused. Their numbers are rising at pace that shows no signs of letting up. The parallels with witch trials are striking. Except no one is calling it a witch-hunt.

The difference, of course, is that sexual harassment and violence are both real and wrong, unlike Salem witchcraft. The charges are supported by credible testimony, too. I seriously doubt they’re all correct, but the great majority seem credible and are probably true.