Exorcisms

[EgoDeath]

I have always been fascinated by exorcisms and possession. I love movies about possession and ghosts and the like. But I always have to wonder, do these people who do exorcisms in real life actually believe what they're doing? I recently watched The Devil and Father Amorth, which is a documentary about a priest in Italy who supposedly did the exorcism that the film, The Exorcism, was based on. The film was clearly made by people with a religious bent, with one of the men in the film straight up admitting, "The priest told me one thing that completely convinced me... he said he couldn't talk about the family's case because they swore him to secrecy... but he said 'This was the real deal,' and that was enough for me." (Not a direct quote)

How strange to be so convinced by a priest saying "this was the real deal..."

Also, there's a very cringeworthy scene where they're performing a "real exorcism," with a woman screaming in Italian, where they very obviously added demonic voice effects... So bizarre.





That's the trailer for the movie. It's available on Netflix right now if anyone cares to watch it. It's all played up and over-hyped to a comedic degree.

What do you guys think about exorcisms and possession? I'd argue that it's untreated mental illness... people with serious schizophrenia and other intense mental health problems, though I'd have to review specific cases to really get into that.

Thoughts?

[onlinebiker]

Drama queen - meet religious dogma.....

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I have always been fascinated by exorcisms and possession. I love movies about possession and ghosts and the like. But I always have to wonder, do these people who do exorcisms in real life actually believe what they're doing? I recently watched The Devil and Father Amorth, which is a documentary about a priest in Italy who supposedly did the exorcism that the film, The Exorcism, was based on. The film was clearly made by people with a religious bent, with one of the men in the film straight up admitting, "The priest told me one thing that completely convinced me... he said he couldn't talk about the family's case because they swore him to secrecy... but he said 'This was the real deal,' and that was enough for me." (Not a direct quote)

How strange to be so convinced by a priest saying "this was the real deal..."

Also, there's a very cringeworthy scene where they're performing a "real exorcism," with a woman screaming in Italian, where they very obviously added demonic voice effects... So bizarre.





That's the trailer for the movie. It's available on Netflix right now if anyone cares to watch it. It's all played up and over-hyped to a comedic degree.

What do you guys think about exorcisms and possession? I'd argue that it's untreated mental illness... people with serious schizophrenia and other intense mental health problems, though I'd have to review specific cases to really get into that.

Thoughts?

Of COURSE it's an untreated mental illness.  There's no such things as demons, so there can be no such thing as demonic possession.

I think that a priest or any other cleric who agrees to perform an exorcism should be brought up on charges of criminal endangerment.  These people are ultimately no different than parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated or be given blood transfusions.  Medical conditions require medical treatment, not prayers and holy water.

Boru

[brewer]

@EgoDeath: You need more Bob Larsen in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-cJ_CkBxvQ

https://www.boblarson.org/religious-skype-encounters/

[Mister Agenda]

I could see it sometimes having some kind of placebo effect or possibly providing some beneficial catharsis, but many methods of exorcism are outright dangerous to the afflicted and I don't see how any benefits could be long-lasting if the subject is really mentally ill.

[EgoDeath]

Of COURSE it's an untreated mental illness.  There's no such things as demons, so there can be no such thing as demonic possession.

I think that a priest or any other cleric who agrees to perform an exorcism should be brought up on charges of criminal endangerment.  These people are ultimately no different than parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated or be given blood transfusions.  Medical conditions require medical treatment, not prayers and holy water.

Boru

Well, the idea that it's actually demonic possession was never on the table for me.

I was leaving the possibility open that it is people simply who are attention-whores, hence the above documentary.

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I could see it sometimes having some kind of placebo effect or possibly providing some beneficial catharsis, but many methods of exorcism are outright dangerous to the afflicted and I don't see how any benefits could be long-lasting if the subject is really mentally ill.

Dangerous how? As in medical neglect?

---

@EgoDeath: You need more Bob Larsen in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-cJ_CkBxvQ

https://www.boblarson.org/religious-skype-encounters/

Ive seen some of these videos before... Ridiculous.

[brewer]

---

@EgoDeath: You need more Bob Larsen in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-cJ_CkBxvQ

https://www.boblarson.org/religious-skype-encounters/

Ive seen some of these videos before... Ridiculous.

That's exactly what I'd expect a demon possessed person to say! 

[Bob Kelso]

Exorcism is the theatrical holy man’s con game. I’d be surprised if there any long lasting effects outside of mental and physical trauma.

Imagine being mentally ill, homosexual, or otherwise “afflicted” -as the bigoted Christians and their ilk would call it- and being tied/held down while a rabid priest shrieks at you and subjects you to their varied ritualistic rigamarole. Probably wouldn’t result in great mental health even if you didn’t have any issues previously.

[mordant]

@EgoDeath: You need more Bob Larsen in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-cJ_CkBxvQ

https://www.boblarson.org/religious-skype-encounters/

There is also Hegewisch Baptist Church, which exorcises demons from Christians. http://hbcdelivers.org

Their founder was quite influential in the midwest and an elder in a church up in Michigan tried to get my first wife involved in "deliverance ministry" to free her of her mental health issues (paranoid schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder). Of course, it would have made matters worse. I didn't have tons of sense in those days, but I had enough sense to steer clear of that. Still, the general attitude towards mental health standard-of-care by my church was that it was highly suspect and not very helpful, and this was common in the fundagelical world.

Ironically, many years and two marriages later, I ended up living within a couple miles of Hegewisch Baptist. I was only dimply aware of where it was located, and only discovered this after I'd been living there awhile. Imagine the whole new level of weird for people to be part of a church where they undergo mass hysteria every Sunday (at a minimum) and act out exorcisms among themselves. Imagine being a child growing up in that sort of environment.

[Fake Messiah]

But why put exorcism under Christianity subforum? because exorcism predates christianity and is present in almost all religions.

Like this hilarious Muslim exorcism