S02E14 Freddy was Fake - Church was Not episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 8, 2026 · 1H 21M

S02E14 Freddy was Fake - Church was Not

from The Mighty Philbert Podcast · host Phil Barksdale

Send us Fan MailGrowing up Gen X meant two things were always lurking in the background:horror movies… and moral panic.We watched Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers slice their way through VHS tapes and late-night cable — and somehow, we understood the rules.It was scary.It was fun.And we knew it was fiction.Meanwhile, adults were losing their minds.Churches warned us that horror movies opened demonic portals, Dungeons & Dragons summoned Satan, and heavy metal music was basically a fast pass to hell. Welcome to the Satanic Panic — an era where grown adults couldn’t tell the difference between a movie monster and an invisible threat they insisted was real.In this livestream, I'm joined by:Robert from Skeptic Philosophyhttps://www.youtube.com/@UCnSO-OqK5dxeh6PoVMnuaog and Ed from The Rabyd Atheisthttps://www.youtube.com/@TheRabydAtheistWe’re taking a nostalgic (and occasionally sarcastic) trip back to the golden age of horror — and contrasting it with the fear tactics used by the church that followed so many of us long after the credits rolled.Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:We grew out of horror movies.A lot of us are still unpacking church-based fear.We’ll laugh, we’ll reminisce, we’ll talk moral panics — and by the end, we’ll ask the question Gen X eventually had to face:What if the real horror wasn’t the movies… but the fear we were taught to believe was real?#mightyphilbert #deconstruction #exvangelical #genx Video we reviewed:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVs80KsiFYw&t=132s

Send us Fan Mail Growing up Gen X meant two things were always lurking in the background: horror movies… and moral panic. We watched Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers slice their way through VHS tapes and late-night cable — and somehow, we understood the rules. It was scary. It was fun. And we knew it was fiction. Meanwhile, adults were losing their minds. Churches warned us that horror movies opened demonic portals, Dungeons & Dragons summoned Satan, and heavy metal mu...

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S02E14 Freddy was Fake - Church was Not

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This episode was published on February 8, 2026.

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Send us Fan MailGrowing up Gen X meant two things were always lurking in the background:horror movies… and moral panic.We watched Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers slice their way through VHS tapes and late-night cable — and somehow,...

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