Vatican Demands "Thousands of Trained Exorcists" For Demonic Possession Crisis - Can We Agree Bunkum Never Dies?

The header for the NBC Today story in yesterday's 2nd hour was: "Vatican Training More Exorcists Among Rising Reports of Demonic Possession"- which featured  interviews with a couple of padres including one Spaniard who insisted he was getting at least "one excorcism request" per week. Another insisted the "demand is definitely exceeding the supply" e.g. of trained exorcists. And,we are expected to believe that because of this increased demand,  the Vatican will have to train thousands in the art of exorcising Old Scratch wherever he appears.   May I offer one suggestion? That they commence by sending a team of exorcists to the White House to get all the demons out of the "Prince of Lies", aka Donald Trump?

Indeed, according to several other sources, demonic activity appears to be on the rise not only in Europe but in the U.S. See e.g.

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/us-exorcists-demonic-activity-on-the-riseurope but in the U.S. 

Therein we also learn:

"There is an alarming increase in demonic activity being reported by those who work in exorcism ministry, said the exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Although steps are being taken to increase the number of exorcists, demand is still outpacing supply.

Father Vincent Lampert has been an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis since 2005 and is the pastor at St. Malachy’s in Indianapolis. He trained at the North American College in Rome and assisted with more than 40 exorcisms with longtime Italian exorcist Father Carmine De Filippi. Although the identities of most exorcists are hidden, Father Lampert often gives talks to warn against evil and turn people toward the power of God.

In an interview with the Register, he said that he sees an increasing number of people involved in Satanic rituals and opening themselves up to evil.

“The problem isn’t that the devil has upped his game, but more people are willing to play it,” Father Lampert said. He pointed to rampant pornography, illegal drugs use and the occult. “Where there is demonic activity, there is always an entry point,” he said.

Adding:

"He explained that demonic infestation happens in places where things might move and there are loud noises. With vexation, a person is physically attacked and might have marks such as bruises, bites or scratches. Demonic obsession involves mental attacks, such as persistent thoughts of evil racing through one’s mind.

“In possession I have seen eyes rolled back in the head, throwing out obscenities, bodily contortions, foul odors, temperatures drop in the room, and I’ve witnessed someone levitating.”

An entry point? Give me a break.  Eyes rolling back in the head? Likely an opioid overdose! Foul odors? A flatulence problem and perhaps suffering from lactose intolerance.  Shouting obscenities? Ever heard of Tourette's syndrome?   Levitating?  Have you taken into account brief gyrations from a prone position displacing a body briefly (10 -50 ms)   above a surface? Have you measured the "altitude" and the actual duration?

A far more compelling explanation for this demonic inicrease was offered by UK psychologist Chris French in the NBC piece. That is, by adopting the "possession" mantle the "victims" can more easily absolve themselves of any responsibility for their actons (e.g. "The Devil made me do it")

To see Prof. French's lecture on the psychology of demonic possession go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOW1CS0OC_Q


It will be well worth your investment of time!

Astonishingly,  according to Prof. French, "belief in possession is widespread both geographically and historically and is far from rare in modern western societies". A YouGov poll of 1,000 US adults last year found that over half of the respondents endorsed belief in possession and 20% remained unsure. Only 11% said categorically that they did not believe people could be “possessed by the devil”.

Only eleven percent? One out of every nine?  8 out of every 9 buy into this baloney? You must be kidding!

What this tells me, convincingly, is that the promise of the Enlightenment has never been fulfilled - even in the West.  It couldn't have been if the methods of rational inquiry and  science engendered from it never made their way into the brains of these people.  They may have taken a high school (or even 1st year university) biology, physics or chemistry course and even memorized a lot of formulas and  mastered some principles (conservation of mass- energy) but it clearly hasn't been embedded into their core being.  It hasn't become second nature.  It is more or less in the background "mental ether"  since their superstitious instincts take precedence over their prefrontal cortex and remain intact.

Prof. French in a separate article pointed out that the condition that would often have been interpreted in a similar manner to demonic possession in ages past is Tourette’s syndrome.  He also noted:

"Interestingly, the first recorded description of a case of Tourette’s may be in the Malleus Maleficarum (or Witch’s Hammer) published in the 15th century by Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kraemer. This notorious book served as a guide for identifying witches and the possessed and included a description of a priest whose tics were thought to be a result of possession by the devil."   

Recall I did a blog post on this topic back in  November, 2012,  in terms of rooting out demonic incubi and succubi, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/11/beware-of-sexual-congress-with-succubi.html

In the same  article Prof. French noted:

"Of course, we must not forget that the outcome for the person who is labelled as “possessed” can sometimes be far from positive. To give one notorious example, the parents of 23-year-old Anneliese Michel and two West German priests were convicted in 1978 of causing her death (they received suspended sentences). They had starved the young epileptic as part of a horrendous 11-month exorcism. She weighed just 68 pounds (5 stone or 30 kilograms) at the time of her death. The Guardian has noted that belief in possession has been a factor in several child abuse cases in the UK, including the tragic death of Victoria Climbié in 2000.

The official recognition of such pre-Enlightenment beliefs by the Vatican will do nothing to prevent future tragedies of this kind."

And believe me, more tragedies will occur if this garbage continues. That elicits the question: Why have  Enlightenment values not taken hold?

Readers might regard this stuff as flaky but they'd be wrong. In fact, under Pope Francis, who frequently mentions the Devil, exorcisms are booming. As Exhibit "A" there's  The Pope Leo XIII Institute for the “education & training of priests in the holy ministry of exorcism and deliverance."  which opened in 2014 when the initial exorcist jabber got on the radar. 

Often quoted at that time was Father Francesco Bamonte, president of the Italy-based International Association for Exorcists. Back in 2014 he opined:

“Diabolical possessions are on the increase as a result of people subscribing to occultism. The few exorcists that we have in the dioceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help.”

While it is true that exorcism has been taught as part of Catholic theology – as my old Loyola University Theology notes show, e.g.

No truly mature and rational priest or Bishop really believes that. It is merely fed to them, like the whole concept of “sin”, to keep the faithful at the level of malleable infants to be controlled. I left the Church precisely because I wanted to be an independent thinker …and doer. Not bound to any silly, centuries -old dictates or dogmas.

But that hasn't halted the new breed of superstitious twits from spreading their malarkey - likely as a tactic to take the heat off the Vatican for the sex abuse scandal -  and also create a new demand for Church services and even joining (or rejoining) Mother Church. Why? Well to pump back up her falling numbers! (Pew Religion Research surveys have found Catholic numbers have plummeted by at least 10 percent over the last decade.)

Now, we return to the question of why the Enlightenment values haven't been absorbed - including by university -educated people. The basic reason is that they may go to the finest schools, even "Ivy League" - but they never learned the skills associated with critical thinking.  Hence, they never learned to question claims from alleged authorities deeply and critically.   In addition, too many of those graduating with degrees today only have a limited, one-dimensional education whether in science, business or whatever. They lack the breadth of the liberal arts grounding, i.e. being exposed to multiple domains of learning, that we had in the past. (My background, for example, included not only physics and advanced math but theology, biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics, logic ...oh, and English literature.)

Hence, because their education - such as it is - amounts to literal "ivory towers" - they often find themselves perched atop one or other and unable to connect, integrate and unify disparate findings from other areas.   I mention this because it is precisely such an integrated disciplinary approach which enables the most effective critical thinking. This kind of critical thinking then, becomes a powerful tool whether applied to investigating statistical anomalies in solar flare and CME occurrence in magnetically complex regions,  the Kennedy assassination,  crop circles or demonic possessions and exorcisms.

Those who fail to see how a space physicist could also investigate such things as political assassinations and exorcism,  even questioning the validity (or veracity)  of such "off specialty" inquiries, merely expose their own limited educations and being stuck on academic "steeples".  (Assuming they possess academic backgrounds at all!) They are unable to integrate aptitudes, knowledge and can't see how others can.  Bolstering this view is the WSJ piece (3/2,  p. A13) by Michael Zimm extolling the import of liberal arts education, e.g. :

"Liberal arts courses don't offer clearly defined answers to questions. Rather they nurture disagreements among students and help them to develop the ability to marshal cogent arguments in support of defensibe positions."

Those without such education are often unable to apply critical thinking to disparate claims - especially in the supernatural realm. Such people then become hostage to these  absurd claims, and - if something is remotely not understood - fall prey to the nonsense.  Consider that the most fundamental  premise for existence of demons, and by extension "Satan" - is that there is a supernatural domain.

Once one admits to the existence of this "plane" then he is also liable to accept it can intrude into our material plane, and hence demonic possession.   As I noted in my ASTRONOMY magazine article:  ‘The God Factor’ (Astronomy Forum, March, 1990), science selectively excludes problems for which no practical method of inquiry exists. The supernatural, which is neither measurable or verifiable, falls into this category and that includes ‘God’ - if depicted as "causeless" and "supernatural"  as well as "Satan" and hence, demons and demonic possession.

Demonology perhaps saw its greatest advancement and takeover of human brains - like your typical mind virus - when humans began to take pen to paper to draw demonic characters. For example, in one ancient text the following prominent demons were given names  - and hence - to many of the weaker minded, existence:


Naturally, naming the demon then became an important part of exorcism rituals.  Watch the movie "The Exorcist" again and see if you can pick out the point where the demon possessing Reagan is named by the exorcist. (Hint: the demon's name was Pazuzu, also called "Captain Howdy" by Reagan.)

Christian theologians - with endless time on their hands and nothing positive to energize their brains- ultimately worked out whole hierarchies for Hell. Basically, if one examined them, they pretty well resembled what one beholds in modern corporations. The "head CEO" was Lucifer or “Beelzebub” who – as the Christian top Devil- was to lord it over all other circles and levels. The 2nd hierarchy was to be ruled by Carreau, the Prince of Powers. His specialty was “hardening human hearts”(Lauran Paine, ‘The Heirarchy of Hell’, p. 62)

The third hierarchy was under "Lord Belial". Each hierarchy had its own prince under Satan (Lucifer) and its own specialty for temptation. Probably the total number of Devils in all the hierarchies numbered two thousand, if one omitted their (demonic) “choirs” or sub-orders, which members were to be known as “demons”. To these were allotted the real dirty work of human possession. (Dirty work because a demon never knew when he might be violently ejected from his host!)

It bears noting that the Catholic Church's ritual of exorcism was founded and promulgated not on the belief that demonic possession was real, but that the afflicted person believed it was real. Thus, the rite of exorcism was initiated as a memetic template to cure the belief in the person's possession, not any objective possession per se. Up to now, indeed, no one has been able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that any demonic possession has ever occurred, never mind absurd fictional portrayals like those in 'The Exorcist'.

Doubts that possession was real probably surfaced first just after the period of the Inquisition. This is because the tortures and executions of the Inquisition were self-sustaining, because none of the greatest theological minds could figure out how one might exterminate demons or Devils permanently by killing the allegedly possessed humans. Because they could not be killed, and could still possess humans (according to the Inquisition), then whenever you tortured a heretic or apostate to death  the possessing devil or demon would just skip to another forlorn soul, who in turn would have to be killed. With that possessing demon jumping to another ,…..and so on keeping the Inquisition’s fires and torture wheels going indefinitely.

Eventually, the Church's great brains figured out they could potentially slaughter every single living member of the "Body of Christ" yet not be able to get at the demons or Satan himself! In other words, their own feverish delusions were having them on, leading them to excessive actions and reactions that didn't do a damned thing to advance the welfare of the "Body of Christ".

Adding fuel to Satan-mania was the Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer (Dean of Cologne University) and Jacob Sprenger (Dominican Inquisitor General of Germany). This was the book which gave the prescriptions for exposing those possessed, or under the influence of familiars or witches or other demonic entities (succubi, incubi) under a Bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII.

Because this book allowed persecution to spread to tens of thousands of women - as "witches" - it soon became evident to the best and brightest that belief in demonic possession was in fact a recipe for self-extermination, not purification!

At the very least it meant one half of humanity being exterminated, since generally, throughout the Middle Ages, the belief persisted that the female was closer by far to the demonic hordes, by virtue of her enhanced carnality. Indeed, the demise of male virtue as well as mental power could allegedly be traced to female wiles, and what better way to enhance them than using a herb like savin (given by a witch)

Given the “evidence” of any one or all of these the accused witch could be apprehended and subjected to “the question”. This meant usually prodding her flesh with special instruments to locate the mark of “the Beast” (666) or any similar mark usually associated with the Devil. If a first pass wasn’t enough gradually more pressure and torture would be applied, usually ending up in some sort of disfigurement being found eventually and attributed to the Devil. According to author Peter Stanford (‘The Devil’, 1996, p. 162):

“Witches and warlocks provided an easy target for the Church, intent on rallying the faithful with a bout of demonization”

Probably over a half million innocent women throughout the West underwent such appalling tortures merely to appease savage and depraved minds they didn't have a demon lurking inside them.

Thus, the road to what should have been permanent  rejection of  demonic possession was replete with horrible suffering and endless death. In other words, nearly 2 million innocent humans had to be brutalized, maimed or slaughtered, before humans (at least in the West) figured out that retaining a belief in demonic possession did not redound to their benefit. But alas, that human cost appears to have been for nothing as we see the demands for this archaic and questionable practice resurrected now in the 21st century.

Sadly, while the curse of belief in demonic possession had for a time retreated in the more enlightened West (thanks to the continuing benefits of rational skepticism and the Enlightenment) these dark ideas now seem to be making a comeback, thanks to anti-rationalists in the Church - as well as a 24/7 media cycle that can't get enough bull crap to broadcast.

For the confirmed skeptic or atheist, there is only one place to put this latest rush to sanctify baloney and superstition - in the dustbin of history - along with using leeches to bleed out disease, and slaughtering cats to stop the plague.

See also:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2016/09/did-satan-visit-loyola-university.html

Here Come the Devil Mongers Again! Spouting on Exorcisms and Vampires!

"Woe to Ye Who Scoff At Demons!"  So blared one letter-to-the -Editor headline in the Barbados NATION newspaper in 1979, after I'd written an op-ed scoffing at the very notion of demons, the Devil and exorcisms. As I seem to recall I referred to such nonsense as "emanations from brain embolisms" likely spawned by too much hard liquor or drugs.

Well, it's one thing to write or talk of demons in the Barbados context where "Obeah" is still in vogue. It's another to behold demonic references in the supposedly advanced industrial world.  But recent verbal expulsions by assorted padres and even the Pope make one wonder if we've progressed at all from the Dark Ages.

For reference, let's take this recent expatiation:

“There are those who try to turn people into vampires and make them drink other people’s blood, or encourage them to have special sexual relations to obtain special powers,” said Professor Giuseppe Ferrari, head of The Group on Research and Socio-Religious Information, an Italian occult watchdog, at a conference in Rome last week. 

Seriously? Such a dopey group really exists and devotes time to this balderdash? Evidently, as the padre went on:

“These groups are attracted by the so-called beautiful young vampires that we’ve seen so much of in recent years.”

Vampires? I thought that went out with the Count Dracula legends. Don't tell me that this crackpot takes them seriously!   But incredibly Ferrari is no mere fringe exorcist. The guy is actually backed by the Vatican and the Pope himself, who has insisted that dioceses have one trained exorcist on campus to deal with any urgent possessions. (Hmmm...maybe we need to dispatch one to deal with John McAdams!)


Father Cesare Truqui, a Swiss exorcist and protégé of Father Gabriele Amorth (the Vatican’s longtime chief exorcist) who also spoke at the conference, told The Independent  (UK) newspaper that exorcism training is super important but overlooked. According to Truqui:

 “It’s like training to be a journalist without knowing how to do an interview.”

Yes, but see journalists are expected to do interviews about factual events, not humbug or artificial nonsense fabricated by stoners and wackos. (With the possible exception of former NY Times staff reporter Judith Miller  - who almost single-handedly confabulated the march to the Iraq war with WMD propaganda bullshit).

Readers might regard this stuff as flaky but they'd be wrong. In fact, under Pope Francis, who frequently mentions the Devil, exorcisms are booming. Even here in the U.S.last year a new school for exorcists opened in Illinois:. The Pope Leo XIII Institute for the “education & training of priests in the holy ministry of exorcism and deliverance."  If you can believe it! (Well, at least it's close enough to where John McAdams is located to sic an exorcist or two on him if needed!)

According to another padre: Father Francesco Bamonte, president of the Italy-based International Association for Exorcists:

“Diabolical possessions are on the increase as a result of people subscribing to occultism. The few exorcists that we have in the dioceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help.”

While it is true that exorcism has been taught as part of Catholic theology – as my old Loyola University Theology notes show, e.g.


No truly mature and rational priest or Bishop really believes that. It is merely fed to them, like the whole concept of “sin”, to keep the faithful at the level of malleable infants to be controlled. I left the Church precisely because I wanted to be an independent thinker …and doer. Not bound to any silly, centuries old dictates or dogmas.

But that hasn't halted the new breed of superstitious twits from spreading their malarkey - likely as a tactic to take the heat off the Vatican for the sex abuse scandal.  Cripes, even the Brits - who we usually associate with greater rationality - have invested in this crap.

“Until a few years ago, a significant number of people in the Church didn’t believe in the Devil, but people are now going back to the Scriptures,”

said an unnamed British exorcist priest in an interview with The Telegraph. adding:

“Pope Francis has given a certain amount of encouragement to that. A few years ago at least half the dioceses in England and Wales did not have an exorcist. Now, pretty much all of them do.”

But again, the increase in exorcists doesn't prove there is any bona fide object or entity on which to act. It only proves enough superstitious, paranoid people exist who need the crutch of exorcism to manage their stupid beliefs.

Which is sad and shows regression.  The basic problem with the whole exorcism shtick is that it’s based on primitive, superstitious gibberish.  Namely belief in a demonic entity in the first place. We can probably trace it back to Martin Luther. In his ‘Teufelsbucher’ or Devils’ Books, written from 1545- 1600, he laid out the whole warp and woof of how the Devil involved himself in human affairs.

According to Luther,  the Devil was involved in everything that made life worth living: dressing up, food, party going, dancing to poetry, drama, writing. The Devil was behind virtually all the vices and manifestations of the world. Especially sex! The other bottom line made clear is that Satan was not to be trifled with or taken lightly. Woe to those (like atheists) who did, and all that!

But why the obsession?  Why the need for Satan, devils, or exorcisms at all? Little known by the demon mongering idiots is that in Yeshua's time, before the dawn of modern psychiatry, ordinary schizophrenia and schizoid personality disorders were commonly believed to be manifestations of  "demonic possession". Thus, we had biblical allegories and stories referring to Christ "casting out" Beelezebub from sick people, and even animals. But modern biblical scholars now understand these were metaphors for seeking cures (at that time) for the mental illness that stalked the population even then.

Further,  the Catholic Church's ritual of exorcism was founded and promulgated not on the belief that demonic possession was real, but that the afflicted person believed it was real. Thus, the rite of exorcism was initiated as a memetic template to cure the belief in the person's possession, not any objective possession per se. Up to now, indeed, no one has been able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that any demonic possession has ever occurred, never mind absurd fictional portrayals like those in 'The Exorcist'.

Doubts that possession was real probably surfaced first just after the period of the Inquisition. This is because the tortures and executions of the Inquisition were self-sustaining, because none of the greatest theological minds could figure out how one might exterminate demons or Devils permanently by killing the allegedly possessed humans. Because they could not be killed, and could still possess humans (according to the Inquisition), then whenever you tortured a heretic or apostate to death  the possessing devil or demon would just skip to another forlorn soul, who in turn would have to be killed. With that possessing demon jumping to another ,…..and so on keeping the Inquisition’s fires and torture wheels going indefinitely.

Eventually, the Church's great brains figured out they could potentially slaughter every single living member of the "Body of Christ" yet not be able to get at the demons or Satan himself! In other words, their own feverish delusions were having them on, leading them to excessive actions and reactions that didn't do a damned thing to advance the welfare of the "Body of Christ".

Adding fuel to Satan-mania was the Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer (Dean of Cologne University) and Jacob Sprenger (Dominican Inquisitor General of Germany). This was the book which gave the prescriptions for exposing those possessed, or under the influence of familiars or witches or other demonic entities (succubi, incubi) under a Bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII.

Because this book allowed persecution to spread to tens of thousands of women - as "witches" - it soon became evident to the best and brightest that belief in demonic possession was in fact a recipe for self-extermination, not purification!

At the very least it meant one half of humanity being exterminated, since generally, throughout the Middle Ages, the belief persisted that the female was closer by far to the demonic hordes, by virtue of her enhanced carnality. Indeed, the demise of male virtue as well as mental power could allegedly be traced to female wiles, and what better way to enhance them than using a herb like savin (given by a witch)

Given the “evidence” of any one or all of these the accused witch could be apprehended and subjected to “the question”. This meant usually prodding her flesh with special instruments to locate the mark of “the Beast” (666) or any similar mark usually associated with the Devil. If a first pass wasn’t enough gradually more pressure and torture would be applied, usually ending up in some sort of disfigurement being found eventually and attributed to the Devil. According to author Peter Stanford (‘The Devil’, 1996, p. 162):

“Witches and warlocks provided an easy target for the Church, intent on rallying the faithful with a bout of demonization”

Probably over a half million innocent women throughout the West underwent such appalling tortures merely to appease savage and depraved minds they didn't have a demon lurking inside them.

Thus, the road to rejecting demonic possession was replete with horrible suffering and endless death. In other words, nearly 2 million innocent humans had to be brutalized, maimed or slaughtered, before humans (at least in the West) figured out that retaining a belief in demonic possession did not redound to their benefit.

Sadly, while the curse of belief in demonic possession had retreated in the more enlightened West (thanks to the continuing benefits of rational skepticism and the Enlightenment) these dark ideas now seem to be making a comeback, thanks to anti-rationalists in the Church - as well as a 24/7 media that can't get enough bull crap to broadcast.

Is there a way to cure or limit the spread of demonic obsession as manifested in reviving rites of exorcism and sensationalizing them for the sake of a passing publicity (given how the Church loses more members each year)"

Not too likely. Decades of research discloses only limited value for psychotherapy, and in any case, the true believers and upper echelon (priest, bishops, ministers, preachers) are seldom subjected to treatments, only their forlorn victims.

What is needed is a non-negotiable agreement or contract that obligates anyone who practices religion in any form to reject demon-mongering – including all exorcisms or other manifestations that even indirectly validate the Satan-Hell myth.. And – if they do not – they must submit themselves for "demonic expurgation" by whichever method works the best and drives demonic belief from their brains.

Probably the optimum method right now is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). Much different from the antiquated version (shown for example in the movie, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'), the new ECT uses milli-amp range bursts for brief periods of seconds to re-energize and renew the brain for improved reality cognition.

I warrant if ECT stations replaced all the exorcists, and people could be treated for their "possessions" 24/7 we'd see a dramatic fall in this bull shit. But, of course, the response of the exorcists and the Vatican would likely be that "demonically possessed people are proposing this as a way to avoid detection".

And so it goes. 

Exorcism Bunkum: Is this the 21st Century – Or the 12th?

The recent news that a new school for exorcists opened in Illinois:. The Pope Leo XIII Institute for the “education & training of priests in the holy ministry of exorcism and deliverance” is depressing to say the least.   Just when the rationalist would have hoped that humans had finally abandoned primitive thought and come of age in the 21^st century, one learns that this backward superstitious dreck is back in the news once more.

The current program was launched at the Mundelein Seminary in February — when the first cohort of trainees arrived for a 10-day seminar. For just $1,500 (plus $960 room and board; check and credit card accepted; donations welcome and tax-deductible), priests receive instructions from some top exorcists — using a curriculum that was reportedly pre-approved by a committee of credentialed bishops. (Are U kidding me?)

Of course, the media hasn’t helped by churning out idiotic headlines and via broadcast news that 'Exorcism is back!'  The  buzz? The Catholic Church "is training a new class of priests to perform exorcisms to meet a growing public demand.”  According to one padre: Father Francesco Bamonte, president of the Italy-based International Association for Exorcists:

“Diabolical possessions are on the increase as a result of people subscribing to occultism. The few exorcists that we have in the dioceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help.”

So wait! Too many kids are getting hooked on Ouija boards, being seized by demons leading to  swiveling heads in 360 degree circles, babbling in Aramaic and projectile vomiting? Or is it that the assorted "news " has gone histrionic including  juicy interviews with priest-exorcists — and their lurid descriptions of what demonic possession purportedly looks like: “people babbling in languages foreign to them, shaking uncontrollably and vomiting nails, pieces of metal and shards of glass.” 

Then you have padres expatiating on alleged dangers to the press, including the predictable line (as reported by the UK Telegraph in January:)

 “The rise in demonic cases is a result of more people dabbling in practices such as black magic, paganism, Satanic rites and Ouija boards, often exploring the dark arts with the help of information readily found on the internet.”

Hmmm…… I dabbled in Ouija boards as well as “black Masses” (using the “Satanic Bible” of Anton Lavey) with other college friends in the late 1960s and at no time was there ever a case of possession. Oh, there was one instance where the Ouija board pointer appeared to be stuck and wouldn’t budge. It then began to seemingly move of its own accord to the ‘west’ and stopped. We attributed it to a girl named Gail pressing on the planchette then pushing it that way – which is the only sensible conclusion a rationalist would draw.

Why dabble in this baloney? Oh, likely out of curiosity and .....probably because of the brainwashing we received in Theology class- as more or less encompassed in the class notes (from 1964) saved and shown here:

The point is that though we did much more than dabble,  no one got “possessed”, and no one expected to be!  The mighty limit law on inordinate bullshit states that:

  “Only a finite amount of  bullshit and jabberwocky is allowed into reality at any one time and it is mutually exclusive with all forms of BS and jabberwocky operative at the moment”.  In other words the probability of demons manifesting from Ouija boards is vanishingly small.

While it is true that exorcism has been taught as part of Catholic theology – as my old (1964 Loyola notes show- 

no truly mature and rational priest or Bishop really believes that. It is merely fed to them, like the whole concept of “sin”, to keep the faithful at the level of malleable infants to be controlled. I left the Church precisely because I wanted to be an independent thinker …and doer. Not bound to any silly, centuries old dictates or dogmas.

According to the Vatican’s new exorcism guidelines people who claim to be demonically possessed must be examined by doctors — to rule out the presence of physical or mental illness. Assuming that priests really do require medical clearance (they’re not regulated, so it’s hard to say), who is providing it? Who are these doctors—and are their actions in line with their obligations as medical professionals? We should be asking why and which doctors support the use of exorcism on people who believe that they are possessed by demons.

The basic problem with the whole exorcism shtick is that it’s based on primitive, superstitious gibberish.  Namely belief in a demonic entity in the first place. We can probably trace it back to Martin Luther. In his ‘Teufelsbucher’ or Devils’ Books, written from 1545- 1600, he laid out the whole warp and woof of how the Devil involved himself in human affairs.

According to this “first Protestant", the Devil was involved in everything that made life worth living: dressing up, food, party going, dancing to poetry, drama, writing. The Devil was behind virtually all the vices and manifestations of the world. Especially sex! The other bottom line made clear is that Satan was not to be trifled with or taken lightly. Woe to those (like atheists) who did, and all that!

But why the obsession?  Why the need for Satan, devils, or exorcisms at all? Little known by the demon mongering idiots is that in Yeshua's time, before the dawn of modern psychiatry, ordinary schizophrenia and schizoid personality disorders were commonly believed to be manifestations of  "demonic possession". Thus, we had biblical allegories and stories referring to Christ "casting out" Beelezebub from sick people, and even animals. But modern biblical scholars now understand these were metaphors for seeking cures (at that time) for the mental illness that stalked the population even then.

Further,  the Catholic Church's ritual of exorcism was founded and promulgated not on the belief that demonic possession was real, but that the afflicted person believed it was real. Thus, the rite of exorcism was initiated as a memetic template to cure the belief in the person's possession, not any objective possession per se. Up to now, indeed, no one has been able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that any demonic possession has ever occurred, never mind absurd fictional portrayals like those in 'The Exorcist'.

Doubts that possession was real probably surfaced first just after the period of the Inquisition. This is because the tortures and executions of the Inquisition were self-sustaining, because none of the greatest theological minds could figure out how one might exterminate demons or Devils permanently by killing the allegedly possessed humans. Because they could not be killed, and could still possess humans (according to the Inquisition), then whenever you tortured a heretic or apostate to death  the possessing devil or demon would just skip to another forlorn soul, who in turn would have to be killed. With that possessing demon jumping to another ,…..and so on keeping the Inquisition’s fires and torture wheels going indefinitely.

Eventually, the Church's great brains figured out they could potentially slaughter every single living member of the "Body of Christ" yet not be able to get at the demons or Satan himself! In other words, their own feverish delusions were having them on, leading them to excessive actions and reactions that didn't do a damned thing to advance the welfare of the "Body of Christ".

Adding fuel to Satan-mania was the Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer (Dean of Cologne University) and Jacob Sprenger (Dominican Inquisitor General of Germany). This was the book which gave the prescriptions for exposing those possessed, or under the influence of familiars or witches or other demonic entities (succubi, incubi) under a Bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII.

Because this book allowed persecution to spread to tens of thousands of women - as "witches" - it soon became evident to the best and brightest that belief in demonic possession was in fact a recipe for self-extermination, not purification!

At the very least it meant one half of humanity being exterminated, since generally, throughout the Middle Ages, the belief persisted that the female was closer by far to the demonic hordes, by virtue of her enhanced carnality. Indeed, the demise of male virtue as well as mental power could allegedly be traced to female wiles, and what better way to enhance them than using a herb like savin (given by a witch)

Given the “evidence” of any one or all of these the accused witch could be apprehended and subjected to “the question”. This meant usually prodding her flesh with special instruments to locate the mark of “the Beast” (666) or any similar mark usually associated with the Devil. If a first pass wasn’t enough gradually more pressure and torture would be applied, usually ending up in some sort of disfigurement being found eventually and attributed to the Devil. According to author Peter Stanford (‘The Devil’, 1996, p. 162):

“Witches and warlocks provided an easy target for the Church, intent on rallying the faithful with a bout of demonization”

Probably over a half million innocent women throughout the West underwent such appalling tortures merely to appease savage and depraved minds they didn't have a demon lurking inside them.

Thus, the road to rejecting demonic possession was replete with horrible suffering and endless death. In other words, nearly 2 million innocent humans had to be brutalized, maimed or slaughtered, before humans (at least in the West) figured out that retaining a belief in demonic possession did not redound to their benefit.

Sadly, while the curse of belief in demonic possession had retreated in the more enlightened West (thanks to the continuing benefits of rational skepticism and the Enlightenment) these dark ideas now seem to be making a comeback, thanks to anti-rationalists in the Church - as well as a 24/7 media that can't get enough bull crap to broadcast.

Is there a way to cure or limit the spread of demonic obsession as manifested in reviving rites of exorcism and sensationalizing them for the sake of a passing publicity (given how the Church loses more members each year)"

Not too likely. Decades of research discloses only limited value for psychotherapy, and in any case, the true believers and upper echelon (priest, bishops, ministers, preachers) are seldom subjected to treatments, only their forlorn victims.

What is needed is a non-negotiable agreement or contract that obligates anyone who practices religion in any form to reject demon-mongering – including all exorcisms or other manifestations that even indirectly validate the Satan-Hell myth.. And – if they do not – they must submit themselves for "demonic expurgation" by whichever method works the best and drives demonic belief from their brains.

Probably the optimum method right now is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). Much different from the antiquated version (shown for example in the movie, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'), the new ECT uses milli-amp range bursts for brief periods of seconds to re-energize and renew the brain for improved reality cognition.

Yes, this is extreme, but given the horrific effects of demonic or Satanic belief it's clear we can't allow it to seize control of more vulnerable minds. Thus, we have to treat those minds that initiate or spread the beliefs at their source as major sources of mind virus infection.

A last possible option, but not yet developed, is the implantation of quantum dot electrodes in strategic parts of the brain, such as the amygdala and temporal lobes.

Quantum dots are tiny ( ~ 1 -2 nm) conductors that operate to control, electrical -neural information loads. They're small enough to be integrated with brain tissue, neurons to alter brain functions, including eliminating Satanic ideations. This can be effected via the replacement of primitive neural maps residing in the brain's "fear center" or amygdala, with more organized neural maps which strip the atavistic residue as they are impressed

If we can thereby eliminate the belief in "demons" we can surely eliminate "exorcism" as a prescription to eject demons which do not exist. Maybe more priests need training in psychotherapy, as opposed to exorcism.