Thursday, 10 January 2008
Pope Razinger Lauds Exorcism, Promoting Superstition and Stone Age Stupidity
Tis a typical scene from the TV series, "The Exorcist": The woman (Strangely, for reasons best known to scriptwriters, most demon-possessed victims are invariably women) is tied to the bed post. The priest, at the footed end of the bed, recites religious or biblical incantations, while the bound-up woman writhes and moans in an inhuman, beastly voice, spewing profanities, blasphemies and finally, a green, viscous fluid in the direction of the offending priest.
Exorcisms: Religious rituals meant to dispel, "exorcise" and eradicate supposedly devious, vicious and ultimately invisible entities from human bodies. It is an ancient practice, prevalent across a myriad of cultures and continents.
Ask any well-respected, credible psychiatrist, and he or she will explain that most supposed "demon-possessed" victims are really victims of clinical psychiatric and mental disorders, and a prescription of medication and well-advised psychiatric follow-ups will do a great deal in alleviating, if not curing these ill-conceived concoctions of the supernatural kind. Schizophrenics, for example, can hear voices in their heads, hallucinate about non-existent objects or entities and cannot differentiate fiction from reality; other mental disorders can cause mental patients to behave in ways so erratic and abnormal that superstitious people are apt to attribute them to an attack from evil, unseen entities.
While Science is still lagging somewhat in terms of mapping out the exact mechanisms behind mental disorders, continuous research into the functions of our brains have given us no reason to suspect a supernatural notion behind mental disorders: Like any other organs, our brains are simply never "designed": It is a product of millions of years of simian evolution, and like our ape counterparts, we are just as susceptible to mental and physical impairment as our evolutionary cousins.
The Vatican, however, is hell-bent on buckling Medical Science: For reasons only the pockets of greedy, opulent churches will know, hordes of God squads have been sent out to "deal" with alleged demonic possessions, all under the name of waging a war with Satan, the alleged archetypal angel-turned demon.
Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan
by Nich Pisa, Daily Mail
The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism. Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult. They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of "Godlessness." Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession. The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican "exorcistinchief," to the online Catholic news service Petrus. "Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on," he said. "Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist.
Turning Back The Clock: Rejecting Science and Reason for Witch Hunts and Superstition
Like the witch hunts of old, the Vatican is adamant when it comes to kick-starting lynchings of this sort, although it must be said that Satanism and Pagans have often bore the blunt of alleged child sacrifices and other macabre acts, which actually paled in comparison to what the Vatican could do in their heyday: Mass annihilation of flowering cultures, from the Cathars in France to the decimation of the Mexican and other north American tribes in the subsequent colonialization of the New World (a blame which was laid solely on secular authorities, despite the fact that mass burnings and coerced conversions were carried out with the blessings of Vatican friars and explicitly requested by the Church).
As a religious skeptic and a bonafide atheist, I tend to smell a rat when the Pope starts brandying anti-science propaganda that, given a modern era such as ours, should be considered a stupid, pious joke rather than a statement that should be taken seriously (Who, except the Catholics and the occasional Muslim who burns cars and flags when the Pope speaks ill of Islam, bothers to listen to that old fuck anyway???).
A lethal combination of priestly pedophilia, bad press and falling tithes may have something to do with this, and while the Vatican has always have priests trained to conduct exorcisms, such a prominent support for such an archaic act truly defies common sense.
The insipid idea that mentally-ill people be unnecessarily subjected to Godly abuse and untested exorcisms is not only an unnecessary waste of money in the form of hiring the impotent priest, exorcism methods, such as dunking a victim's face into water in an attempt to drive out an alleged demon or spirit, can endanger the lives of people who are actually seeking for a cure.
Just as we no longer seek the aid of priests to cure our physical diseases, we should not depend on priests and shamans to cure or alleviate mental problems. If anything else, the Vatican should concentrate on eradicating their own vermin in their backyards, instead of poking their offending noses into the realms of Science.
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy."
-David Brookes
I do so agree with you. When I was younger, a family member was supposedly "possessed." I thought she was just being a brat...lol! That's some of my family's reasoning behind a kids bad behavior, which is probably...can we say, bad parenting?? There have been remarks about several "bad kids" in my family. Freakin' stupid shit!
ReplyDeleteI'm embarrassed to even listen to the comments about a kid acting up. I wish I had a fake face in which I turn on to make that hypnotized look in the smileys!
Bad kids: Hell, I was a bad kid once, and certainly, my cavalier, devilish ways can be attributed to a need to express my individuality than some unspeakable spirit.
ReplyDeleteIf the Devil is so besotted with possessing kids, then he must be an ass-loving pedophile from the Vatican chambers.
Beast
Great post
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your analysis of the subject.
I was 12 or 13 when the movie "The Exorcist" came out. My mother & her weird Pentecostal church became hysterical over the equally hysterical hype put out by their denomination over the book & the movie. They actually believed if a person read the book or saw the movie it was like inviting Satan to come & possess you. They started performing exorcisms on each other.
They really believed this shit!
My mother & her wacko friends decided I needed to see one of these exorcisms. It wasn't at all like the movie of course, but it did freak me out for a while. & after all was said & done...they were still the crazy bitches they were before they chased the devil out of each other.
I predict this kind of talk from the Pope will backfire & he will justlose more credibility then he already has.
What more can one expect from a institution that has kept a myth alive for the last 200 years, and they have kept it alive no matter who has been maimed,killed or driven into maddness, these are pathetic people who do this in the name of a non-existant so called god
ReplyDeletesorry I forgot a 0 2000 years
ReplyDeleteI wonder if these newly-empowered exorcists will tend to detect demonic possession especially often in young boys, and if much "laying on of hands" will be involved in the exorcism.....
ReplyDeleteIf you fail to pay your exorcist bill, do you get repossessed?
Go ahead, religious loons, try to defend this Church initiative as anything other than absolute medieval stupidity. He Who Zings Rats is an embarrassment to the modern world.
The comparison between mental health and the Vaticans' Demon Police is not quite apt. I do agree that in past (and present) mental disorders were commonly thought to be the will of the devil.
ReplyDeleteHowever I think this news article refers specifically to people becoming faithless or falling away from God and into the hands of Satan...except for the whole exorcism thing of course...
Just fucking weird really.
larro this news article refers specifically to people becoming faithless or falling away from God and into the hands of Satan
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the difference???
Men who have participated in exorcisms and experienced what happens there take them very seriously.
ReplyDeletehandmaiden, I do see a difference. For example: I was once a beliver, or so I thought. I have "fallen away" but I don't think anyone believes I am possessed or in need of an exorcisim. I agree with the comment that stated that this may backfire on the pope and his followers. I want to believe that people are smarter today and that this may be the one thing that will push them to the side of reason.
ReplyDeleteGreat post as always. Thanks.
No matter what, The Catholic church is still trying to appeal to superstition, something that will always be with us as long as people believe in demons, angels, prayers, curses, & the spooky stuff ghosts are made of.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not the devil or Satan possesses you or just leads you astray seems to be a mote point.
"Whether or not the devil or Satan possesses you or just leads you astray seems to be a mote point."
ReplyDeleteYou may be right but I don't believe in Satan any more than a I believe in God.
I was exorcised aged 4 in Ireland for being too intelligent- a sure sign of the devil, you know.
ReplyDeleteThey had a white coffin ready in case I died, and they could pawn me off as dying from Asian flu which was going around.
So, I had nightmares for 40 yrs.
My daughter was born 1990 and within days the priest was at the door, looking for her too, calling her a Jezebel.
So, I researched to find the answer.
The Vatican somehow had records of us Cathars, and kept tabs on us.
These boys in dresses have a lot to answer for, using all that superstition to keep people brainwashed and living in fear.
Catholic Church is a brainwashing Cult.
You sure had it bad, anonymous one.
ReplyDeleteI do find exorcisms to be quite silly......but yes, hollywood exorcism movies are quite entertaining.
Beast FCD