Applying Occam’s razor to the subject of ritual satanic abuse, it can no more be true that ‘everyone is lying’, than it can be the case that ‘everyone is telling the truth’. From my own experiences of seeing paedophiles being processed through the courts, those inclined towards abusing children are very good at insinuating themselves into positions of power or trust over children, in schools, the church, youth groups. It is not too hard to imagine some using black robes and a copy of the Satanic Bible to terrify children into silence in the same way that priests and teachers use their power.
It is not shocking that some priests abuse children (given the nature of the ‘celibacy’ required of them). What is shocking is the extent to which the sexual and sado-sexual abuse of children did indeed become ritualised, and the extent to which the church has deliberately covered up evidence and protected those who were offending, deliberately putting other children at risk.
Also, for at least two decades while this was happening, the church was instigating a Satanic panic: police and childcare services were kicking down the doors of the innocent and seizing their children.
It could, of course, be that just a handful of fundamental Christians found a good paying gig in propagating the myth of RSA and it snowballed, but depending on how paranoid you feel, RSA could have been a sideshow that took attention (and police resources) away from real abuse happening in church institutions.
Given the Pope’s recent attempt to blame child abuse in his church on American secularism and pornography: http://archive.opusdiaboli.info/2008/04/17/pope-calling-the-kettle-black.aspx – the question you have to ask is, are you paranoid enough?

I know that Satanists think that “satanic ritual abuse” is a big Christian fundamentalist propaganda scam, but people reporting SRA have consistently reported Christian priests leading the abuse, or participating in the abuse. Take a look at Margaret Smith’s 1993 book on “Ritual Abuse” – in a survey of 52 adults reporting ritual abuse, almost one in five reported that a Christian priest as part of the abuse.

The survivors of the Boston clergy abuse scandal published in their accounts a few years ago in a book called “Survivor’s Lullaby” – it contains details of organised and ritualistic abuse by Catholic priests.

Just an FYI.