Athiest views on Christian exorcism

reply to post by Ghost in the Machine


Ridiculous.

You made a claim.
They asked you to back it up
You respond by telling them to prove a negative.

it doesn't work that way.

Instead of talking to a priest people nowadays go see a shrink to exorcise their demons. They serve the same, non-scientific purpose: rationalizing the unexplainable.

EDIT -- To be clear, I'm not saying science can't explain what's happening. I'm saying priests who think angels and demons talk to people and pseudo-scientific shrinks who think everyone who hears voices is mentally ill will never be able to explain it. All priest and shrinks can do is rationalize it away and prescribe some placebo (holy water or pills) to make you feel better.



[edit on 6-2-2010 by Crito]

Originally posted by iamnot
doesn't anyone notice how this stuff tends to only happen to catholics?

hollywood always uses the catholic church and priest and crucifix and beads and baubles like it's the only thing in the world that will save you

i have yet to see this kind of thing happen in my end of the world to any one of the christian churches except for the catholic ones. it really is power of suggestion and what you put your faith in.

i had a friend tell me she was temperamental one day and experiencing hotflashes and lashing out at her husband, probably due to pms. so members from his side of the family who were devout catholics were over there throwing holy water at her and chanting rosaries. absolutely ridiculous

in another instance, certain catholics around here won't buy a home without the approval of their priest. the priest refused to give his blessing on a brand new home because the home had odd cutouts in the wall where he said evil spirits could get trapped.

i don't mean to offend the catholics here but some of them are just a little too much

power of suggestion + faith in wrong thing

LOL, it does not only happen to Catholics, most religions have a process for dealing with possession. I find it hysterical that some Christian groups will have mass exorcisms for every vice (which are all completely psychological issues that could be managed and should be managed otherwise) yet when an actual case of possession arises they are told to get a Priest, I've personally witnessed that. To be a true exorcist requires years of training, simply quoting bible versus at random will not suffice. Nor does a hot flash and being a general beyatch require an exorcism. I have also never heard of a Catholic families gathering together to "drive out" an evil spirit, if there is question of evil influence the person may be brought to a Priest, but not all Priests are exorcists (they may give blessings, but that is not the same thing and is ineffective in possession), there are actually a limited number of exorcists, not every church has one, nor does every diocese. This is a very rare phenomenon, and before the person ever sees the exorcist he/she must have a complete psychological exam and no known medical cause must be found.

reply to post by Wertdagf


An option. Which means there are other choices. You dont have to be 'dense' at all to realize you've just contradicted yourself.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


I didnt make a claim. I stated a fact. He challenged that facted without anything to back up his challenge.