Thursday, November 26, 2009

“Hey, Little Suzie is having a Tourette’s episode. Who’s up for an Exorcism??”

  • Oct. 22, 2009 an 18-year-old Virginia woman died during a Korean exorcism intended to evict demons or other spiritual entities.

  • October 2007 an exorcism in the Wellington, New Zealand suburb of Wainuiomata led to the death of a woman and the hospitalization of a teen.

  • July 29, 2007 Phoenix officers responding to a report of an exorcism on a three year old girl found her grandfather choking her and used stun guns to subdue the man, who later died, authorities said Sunday.

  • Jun 21, 2005 a Romanian priest and four nuns have been charged in the death of a reportedly schizophrenic nun who was crucified in an exorcism.

  • July 9, 2004 Milwaukee, Wis. preacher found guilty in eight year old boy's 2003 exorcism death.

  • March 2000 Emeryville, Calif. Five members of a small Christian religious group have been charged with the beating death of a 25-year-old Korean woman, who police say was killed during a [exorcism] ceremony to "cast out her demons."

And this is just the "advertised" craziness. The majority of the stories are below the surface, hidden away, sanctioned by the church, quietly practiced by the religiously devout and completely deluded. The power of Christ compels them it seems.

Exorcisms pre-date Christianity and were practiced by the ancient Jews. But they gave it up long ago. Christians just don’t seem to be able to break the habit. After all, what was sauce for their divine goose Jesus is sauce for the modern day Christian quack shaman. Let modern understanding of brain malfunction and psychiatric conditions and their treatments be damned! This is Satan’s handiwork and the religiously afflicted and mentally constipated aren’t going to stand by and watch Satan win THIS soul, no siree Bob !!

Not just your Old World Catholic great grandmother’s mumbo jumbo, exorcisms are also sanctioned and practiced by a variety of Protestant sects: Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostals… possibly others. There are also the do-it-yourself exorcists who jump into action at the first sign of a loved one’s demonic possession. Then there are the free lance exorcists anxious to ply their trade and cast out those little demons from those little devils. Hey, they’re just doin’ the Lard’s work.

What we don’t know, what the media never reports, are how many mentally challenged children and adults are subjected to this religiously inspired ritual madness, survive, and whose conditions are exacerbated by forced physical deprivation, the rattle shaking and incantations of these throwback practitioners of pre-scientific ancient ignorance.

Jesus Honking Christ people, it’s the 21st century and the civilized world, not the 6th century or the jungles of Borneo !!!

Like the dirty little secret of church suborned child molestation by priests and ministers, exorcism is not openly discussed among the clergy. Oh, they enjoy doing both those things, but best it be kept quiet, practiced discretely, behind closed doors… and only by those best endowed with special powers. I can imagine their whispering to the possessed patient “Don’t tell anyone, it’ll be our little secret, it won’t hurt too much … besides God wants me to do this.” Oops, wait… that’s the wrong chapter and verse.

12 comments:

NewEnglandBob said...

"This is Satan’s handiwork and the religiously afflicted and mentally constipated aren’t going to stand by and watch Satan win THIS soul, no siree Bob !!"

Wait! Don't go pinning this on me. ;)

I do not see what can be done to stop this, other that prosecuting those who harm people while performing this nonsense and publicizing and educating the public that this practice is useless and barbaric.

zarton said...

Wow Hump,
This one really takes me back to my youth. Not only did my church believe in being demonically possessed and preforming exorcisms, but we believed in what we called being demonically oppressed.
This was when a demon was assigned to possess someone, but the individual was to strong to let them in. This could even happen to a "true Christian". To alleviate this it took a mini exorcism, or a diet exorcism if you will. It was basically the same thing except we needed even less evidence to to believe it was real, and we could preform them on each other.
Betcha never heard of that one!

zar,
P.S. I'm with you Hump, I am pinning this one on NE Bob.

NewEnglandBob said...

OK, I give in due to the exorcisms. You guys are correct. I caused Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the guy who created reality TV to be possessed. I didn't realize how out of hand it would get. Especially that last one.

Anonymous said...

There's also a little thing called blatant disregard for the truth that helps to propagate these superstitions. Check out the real story used for the Exorcism of Emily Rose. Those priests were definitely responsible for her death (http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/emilyrose.php).

And the Exorcist (http://www.strangemag.com/exorcistpage1.html) in which a kid throwing a tantrum got turned into a huge possession story.

Irrational beliefs trump logic every time, unfortunately.

ktward said...

Wait. I'm supposed to just take you at your unsubstantiated word that these events transpired as characterized ... by you?

Links, dude. It's the internet. Easy-peasy. (You had me fooled with all those underlined words. What a tease.)

p.s. I'm a UU, so I've no religious druthers; plenty of common ground to be had, you and I. But I've several--okay, many--skeptical bones that hold everyone to the same substantive standards.

For instance, you write sarcastically, "Let modern understanding of brain malfunction and psychiatric conditions and their treatments be damned!" In fact, John Paul II revamped the rites in 1999 to expressly rule out, by medical experts (Docs, not priests), all possibility of mental disorder before even considering Exorcism.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/263604.stm

Just saying.

Chris said...

I am reminded of some family history my dad and uncle discussed at a family dinner tonight. Seems their dad (my grandfather) was feeling rather ill. The self-appointed family overseers threw some oil in water in a pan, made a sign at it, spit in it, and observed that the oil separated from the water.

This conclusively proved that someone had given him the evil eye and they needed to pray and chant to undo this diabolical plot.

He later went to the hospital where trained medical professionals removed his tonsils and made him all better.

We all joked about "curing" him of the evil eye by simply throwing some dish soap into the pan.

Dromedary Hump said...

kt,

No, you don't have to take my word for these examples being accurate.

You can google "exorcism deaths" , or "exorcism + the dates" I provded for each incident, and see them for yourself. I usually don't have to spoon feed my readership. As skeptics/thinking people, they can verify my data for themselves.

As for the Pope's edict, please. These few incidents among many more are evidence that the pope's 10 yr old edict has done as much to stop exorcisms, by any sect, as the Pope's 1/2 hearted apology for priest pedophila and the church's cover up has stopped child molestations by the clergy of any sect.

Or as much to stop exorcism of the mentally ill by edict as Pope Pauls 1962 1/2 hearted apology for 1700 years of blaming jews for their man-gods death, and lifting the blame from Jews by papal edict, has stopped anti-semitism by Christians.

Are you saying that there is no more Christian anti-semitism because of Pope Paul's edict?

Are you saying there are no more pedophiles, or church cover=up's or atempts to evade responsiblity for it?

Are you saying exocism of the mentally and physically challenged doesn't happen?

Funny... I thought you said you were a skeptic. I smell the stench of contradiction.

Dromedary Hump said...

KT,
BTW.. are wqe suppose to accept your aleged papal revision for exorcism in 1999? I don't see a link.

Interestingly i can't find anything about having to have a certfied dr. examination before exorcism. Maybe you can help us out there.

But to prove my point,and to discredit your assertion the POPE HIMSELF conducted two exorcisms after 1999 that did not have any medical preview / examination:

"According to a New York Post article of February 19, 2002, John Paul II has personally performed three exorcisms during his tenure as pope. The first exorcism was performed on a woman in 1982 who writhed on the ground.
His second was in September 2000 when he performed the rite on a nineteen year old woman who had become enraged in St. Peter’s Square.
A year later in September 2001, he again performed an exorcism on a twenty year old woman. "


OH, and here's your link to the details: http://www.irelandinformationguide.com/John_Paul_II

and many more corroborate it.

I patiently await your explanation for the pope violating his own supposed edict, for which you have provided no citation...yet.

Dromedary Hump said...

PS:

Your link says this:

"The exorcist will decide with prudence" after consulting with spiritual experts and "if considered opportune, with experts in medical and psychiatric science,"

"IF CONSIDERED OPPORTUNE." !!!!!

I want the link that says what YOU said:

"... revamped the rites in 1999 to EXPRESSLY RULE OUT, by medical experts (Docs, not priests), ALL POSSIBILITY OF MENTAL DISORDER BEFORE EVEN CONSIDERING Exorcism."

[EMPHASIS MINE]

KT, type less, think more, and stop preetending you're interested in fact and substantiation. You're not. You're as suseptible to preferred interpretation and as gullible as any beliver -- UU or otherwise.

Rachelle said...

Crazy sh-t. And for many of us...this is the 21st century.

George Garrigues said...

Shame on you for showing this guy getting his upskirt jollies!

Dromedary Hump said...

George ...
You caught that eh?
Well... they ARE priests afterall.
;-)