I'm not completely convinced that False Memory Syndrome has never occured, but I'm not inclined to take it all that seriously. Whether or not it exists, the
publicity it has gotten has deeply impaired the
credibility of people who really
did experience
child sexual abuse (and also
physical abuse, but that's slightly more believable to many people).
Reader's Digest once printed a story about one woman's experience with implanted false memories, and quoted her as saying "If you didn't remember being abused, you probably weren't." This is complete bullshit, and I wrote a letter to Reader's Digest telling them so; a lot of sexual abuse victims block out what's happening, refuse to think about it, because as kids they don't see anything else they can do to deal with it.
I did this, locking the room door if I had to be alone in the house with my grandfather without actually admitting to myself why I was doing it. I was 17, three years after the abuse stopped, before I could remember the details of what happened. (I never saw a therapist until shortly before my 19th birthday.)
So anyway, the fact that FMS might exist does not mean that abuse doesn't. Big groups performing ritual Satanic abuse probably don't exist, but a scarily large number of individuals who think they can use children however they please do exist. Don't let your reluctance to believe these things could happen make you think FMS is the explanation for every abuse accusation.