Thank you guys for giving me a welcome.  :-)

You weren't so hostile to me (at least some of you), since I was only opened to hear other opinion or explanations.

I was previoulsy a member of a Thinking Atheist forum, and since it is been permanently shutdown I discover this forum, which is kinda very similar, and that's a good thing, so I decided to register and participate in discussion.

Okay, I can't reply on every post, but some of you gived reasonable and pretty convincing opinions, still I didn't feel 'aha' moment when I read some of those explanation.

First, let make some things clear. I'm not a troll or a fundamentalist believer. All this what I testify in OP post was in time when I was a Catholic believer. Even than I was always skeptic at things, especially all kinds of phenomena and unusual things. I remember when I was a teenager and didn't know nothing about religion, I believed in ghost, but always tried to rationalize and explain things because I was very critical at thinking, those were days when there isn't been internet around, but I was very often in library. Never been into UFO things, and don't believe in ghosts or any paranormal things, even I'm opened to possibility of spiritual realms, or more than meets the eye.

When I was a Catholic I was also believer in many conspiracy theories, because in some sense faith and conspiracy stuff are intertwined in some sense. I believed all this evil and satanic masonic lodges and illuminati plan to take over the world, enslave us and prepare a place for Antichrist. I took a lot of scientific research and research into human psychology to debunk conspiracy theories, at least most of them. I also started to research Catholic faith and it's origin, it was a hell of a job, very hard, and more and more I was into scientific research the more I started to lose faith.

Even now, when I consider myself agnostic or spiritual or at some kind of that sense ( I hate labels), there is still of traits of catholic religion in me, because I was many years and very deeply into faith. I was for some time scared about eternal punishment, whic is doctrine even today.

All this catholic miracles, biographies of saints, many great  theologians and christian philosophers and mystics were take on me huge impact. I was also into NDE experiences, afterlifes, heaven and hell testimonies across internet. I was deep in the rabbit hole. It took me copuple of years to finally admit that Catholic faith is not founded on solid evidence.

In the light of theory of evolution, which bugs me for a long time, to realize are religions are form of human mind and desire to spread it, institutionalize and make some social order and control, and Catholic Church was perfect example of that.

Still I have friends that are believers and other relatives and we sometimes discuss faith snd things to relate to that.

But, demonic possession, that is taboo subject even among the Catholics, it is very uncomfortable to talk about. Croatia is secular country with many people declaring themselves a Catholics, near 90%. And yes, we have Pro Life movements like in Polland or in Ireland, but no many people go to Church on Sunday.


As so called possession phenomena, bottom line is that is some kind of weird hysteria fueled by religion. I'm not sure that every person that was possessed and had weird manifestation was a indoctrinated believer, maybe there were atheist or agnostic. I can't verify that or find that study.

Why someone believes that he is possessed? I mean, that is kinda weird, these people are suffering alot. Wouldn't cure would be accepting atheism or educated themselves in science. Why go to priest and torture thyself? I don't get it.

I don't know personaly anyone who is supposedly possessed , but I know mygood old friend who know possessed girl for a long time. Actualy, she a normal adolescence girl, been to psychiatrist and she sayed that she is not a believer nor atheist, and yet she screamed and spitting like crazy, showed huge strenght and other things.


What I want to say, as a open minded skeptic, that maybe there is something.  I was at Međugorje, well know sanctuary of Virgin Mary apparitions. I was very skeptic of that, even as in believer phase. So what  are you thinking about this screaming from adult males. Here's a link if you can open:

(May 13, 2021 at 7:59 pm)Flavius007 Wrote: Why someone believes that he is possessed? I mean, that is kinda weird, these people are suffering alot. Wouldn't cure would be accepting atheism or educated themselves in science. Why go to priest and torture thyself? I don't get it.

That they're suffering probably has alot to do with their belief that they've been possessed.    Externalizing that suffering and crediting it to a foreign and intentional agent.

Beliefs aren't really curable - the people who hold them find them compelling as that's what's meant to have a belief in the first place. As Boru pointed out before, a person who believes in demonic possession is more likely to also believe that only a priest can help them. It may be an interesting question, why we torture ourselves in any particular way - but ideations and actions around self harm are, likewise, going to pop up in demonic possession stories....so...

Well that is some opening salvo of word salad

(May 13, 2021 at 8:55 pm)Nay_Sayer Wrote: Well that is some opening salvo of word salad

Quite so.  Once wasn't enough.