It seems America isn’t the only country that has a problem with people who believe in exorcising demons. In Australia, they’re apparently performing exorcisms on kids as young as two years old, which has psychologists very concerned — and for good reason.
Michelle Pecoult, from Perth-based non-denominational Christian ministry Set Right, said it did four or five exorcisms a day and had treated a two-year-old.
The child had “started growling and snarling”.
“(The demon) was told to leave and in 20 minutes left. The child didn’t know (it had happened),” she said.
The ministry’s website claims depression is a “common low-ranking demon” while schizophrenia is “another demon we have met often and evicted”.
Dr Choong-Siew Yong, who represents psychiatry on the Australian Medical Association’s federal council, said he was concerned about untrained practitioners making claims that contradict science. He warned that saying someone was possessed could reinforce their delusions and stop them getting proper care.
“There is an enormous amount of research that has discredited the idea that people with psychiatric conditions such as depression and schizophrenia are because of demonic possession,” he said.
The ones who really need the psychological help are the people who believe in demon possession.
24 comments
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raven
April 12, 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Playing doctor with exorcisms of nonexistent demons can and does kill people.
This google capture says three deaths of children caused by idiots playing Dark Age Morons.
Michael Heath
April 12, 2012 at 11:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ed writes:
A 2007 Pew survey reports 68% of Americans believe in angels and demons: http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=885
I still agree with Ed, it appears to me that religion suppresses emotional maturity and promotes infantilism; at least on matters regarding faith, belief, and politics.
raven
April 12, 2012 at 12:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I doubt if this website has even a large fraction of all exorcisms that ended up being murders. A lot of this happens in non-English speaking countries. Just recently a Korean minister killed his three kids by exorcism.
JesseW
April 12, 2012 at 12:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The pop-over ads are getting unusually aggressive today. You may want to look into them. Thanks for founding and maintaining FtB. Such thanks can’t be repeated enough.
jamessweet
April 12, 2012 at 12:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A toddler inexplicably growling and snarling? Holy shit, stop the presses!
Artor
April 12, 2012 at 12:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
These people are claiming to offer cures for actual medical conditions. I don’t know what the law in Australia is like, but in the US, isn’t that practicing medicine without a license? They really need to shut the frauds down, right away, and with extreme prejudice.
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
April 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
heddle
April 12, 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Apart from the fact that they are misdiagnosing mental illness as demonic possession, I am always annoyed by this from a theological perspective. There is nothing like an “exorcism” in the bible. Instead, demons are simply cast out–that is they have no ability to resist. When told to leave, they pack their bags and skidaddle. There is no scriptural precedent that says that they have to be dragged out kicking and screaming, thereby creating a dangerous situation for the possessed.
So the algorithm for the church should be:
1) Hey demon, get out of there!
2) If demon immediately leaves, perhaps requesting permission to enter nearby farm animals, then DONE.
3) Else if no immediate change in the patient, then immediately refer to mental health professionals. DONE.
The whole concept of the priest battling the demon has no basis in the bible.
(Although there is the notion that if you are not a believer the demon will mock you.)
fastlane
April 12, 2012 at 12:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I can’t say I blame them for wanting to have a child exorcism.
You know how hard it can be to get the little buggers to leave after a birthday party?
[/ModusOperandi]
schmeer
April 12, 2012 at 12:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well according to the D&D player’s handbook the demon should get a saving throw before being cast out; make sure you carry a 20 sided die and watch that fucker make his roll. He’s a fucking demon and I bet he cheats and claims to have rolled a natural 20.
machintelligence
April 12, 2012 at 12:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Since all we are talking about here is placebo effect, it stands to reason that the bigger the show, the stronger the effect.
With medical placebo effect one pill is good,
two pills are better,
and a shot is better yet.
Didaktylos
April 12, 2012 at 1:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t blame the demon for leaving – if I found myself in the same room as a batshit-crazy exorcist I wouldn’t stay any longer than it took me to find the exit, either.
RW Ahrens
April 12, 2012 at 1:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Don’t they know that if they kill someone possessed, that the soul of the possessed is then consigned to hell? */snark*
Idiots, three times over…
1. there is no god
2. so there aren’t any demons
3. so there’s no possession, so it is simple mental illness.
Morons.
Doug Little
April 12, 2012 at 1:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So the algorithm for the church should be:
Stay the fuck away from children DONE.
heddle
April 12, 2012 at 2:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Doug Little,
Since they [the church] has provided a loving, nurturing environment for my autistic son, a place where he can excel and be treated like a human, a place where people talk to him and he feels comfortable, a place where he is respected for his music skills and his uniqueness, my response to you would be: STFU you don’t know what you are talking about.
harold
April 12, 2012 at 2:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Maybe you’d agree that exorcists should stay away from your son and that autism isn’t caused by demon possession?
Post-modern Christianity sure is liberating; that anachronistic Baptist church I was raised in actually though Christians should be humble, forgiving, slow to wrath, avoid using curse words in anger, etc.
heddle
April 12, 2012 at 2:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Harold,
Since I said that there is no precedent for what we call exorcism in the bible, that is a given, is it not?
And they were correct. (Except for the curse words–Paul himself used a scatological curse word. ) The “swearing” that is explicitly discouraged is swearing an oath. Let your yes be yes. Did they also teach that Christians always live up to that ideal? I suspect not. And did they/you realize that when you read that someone writes and idiom like “STFU” you cannot tell anything about their state of mind, whether they are angry, sarcastic, bemused, or emotionally neutral and simply using a common expression?
And it is not post-modern Christianity that is liberating. It is Christianity that is. Free from the yoke of the law.
d cwilson
April 12, 2012 at 2:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
First cast crushing despair on the demon to give him a save penality.
d cwilson
April 12, 2012 at 2:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Has Australia ever elected someone (like Governor Bobby Jindal) to high office who actually participated in an exorcism?
Doug Little
April 12, 2012 at 3:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How fortunate for you Heddle,
How about the multitudes of children that have been abused emotionally and physically because they are perceived to be different from the accepted norm. That fantastic nurturing environment where children are told that they will burn in hell for eternity if they do not toe the party line of which ever church they belong to, or gawd forbid are attracted to the same sex.
cag
April 12, 2012 at 5:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Heddle will peddle.
heddle
April 12, 2012 at 5:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
cag,
How clever! You are the first person evah to rhyme heddle with peddle. What a rare display of originality! And to share such creative novelty with the world–freely–how admirable.
Doug Little
April 12, 2012 at 5:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Heddle and meddle?
Heddle and treddle?
Heddle and reddle?
Aliasalpha
April 13, 2012 at 7:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
…Fucks sake…
I mean I know there’s relgio maniacs here but this level of shit?