1986: When A Former Nazi Sued Satan In The Name Of Jesus Christ

By | October 18, 2019

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Jon Lovitz as the devil, on Saturday Night Live. Source: IMDB

In 1986, Ralph P. Forbes of London, Arkansas, decided he'd had enough of Halloween devilishness, and filed a lawsuit.

On behalf of himself, Jesus Christ, and children.

Against the Arkansas Department of Education, the National Education Association, the Russellville School District, the Church of Satan and Satan. 

At issue was the state's tolerance of non-Christian rituals in schools on October 31. There was some diabolical stuff going on in Arkansas schools, and Forbes wanted it to stop. The Arkansas educational system was playing footsie with Satan himself by, in the words of the suit, "permitting pupils to wear costumes to school on Halloween."

Who Was Ralph Forbes?

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Ralph Forbes in the '60s. Source: dailybreeze.com

It's important to know that Ralph Forbes wasn't just a cranky, anti-fun Christian. Forbes was a Nazi -- a real, American Nazi. He had been a high-ranking officer in George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party in the 1960s. Forbes was one of a few Nazis who made headlines in 1961 (and got a nod in a Bob Dylan song) for picketing the movie Exodus in Philadelphia. Forbes was active in Rockwell's organization in California in the '60s, and at some point Rockwell gave Forbes the job of setting up a Christian Identity group.

Christian Identity is a white supremacist theology that figures white Europeans -- and not Jews -- are the descendants of the Old Testament Israelites. 

By 1986, Forbes was identifying himself as a "former" member of the Nazi party. He was also working with the political campaigns of America's favorite Klansman-politician, David Duke.