31–40 of 47 posts
Can we ban the Atlantic for being total clickbait?
I don't see clickbait in this case. We did change the title to something a bit more neutral.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I suppose he associated it only with less educated / developed parts of the world. Anyone who's been through the one of the US public education systems can presumably concur with that assumption.
Eh, the public school system doesn't generally teach (any) of the traits that OP's father had/have.
What a horrible way to treat a kid BTW. Sounds like the poor OP's father might have had some other, perhaps biological, issues. I'm glad OP survived!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I suppose he associated it only with less educated / developed parts of the world. Anyone who's been through the one of the US public education systems can presumably concur with that assumption.
While I agree the public school system in the US has a great many flaws, there are plenty of well-educated people who hold irrational beliefs. Consider the frequent use of various vitamins and supplements with mixed or outright negative research backing them for some conditions. (I am not attempting to start a debate over whether various supplements are beneficial for some or all people with various health problems,…
I was quite surprised to find out when I was at MIT that a surprisingly high percentage of graduate students studying cosmology / astrophysics were fundamentalist christians.
Given my naive upbringing (I'd never previously met any devout people) I was surprised to meet any religious people at MIT at all; inexplicably I was somehow smart enough not to investigate as I am sure I would have come off as impolite and obnoxious in the process, which would be unfair and mean.
(I am sure I have plenty of firmly held irrational beliefs too but of course I can't identify most of them)
Long time reader, first time commenter. I witnessed something very similar to what this article describes in my mother when I was only 14. It was absolutely horrifying, being a 14-year-old kid in Texas with Bible-thumping white-trash parents, and seeing this. I now understand it to be mental illness and I can point to many health-related commonalities that underlie thousands of such cases, but as a 14-year-old kid? S…
This is one of the symptoms of the decline of religion. As the moderates abandon their faith, only the more radical members and fundamental adherents are left. Radicals who were previously moderated by the more centrist members now find their hands freed of any of checks and balances and only see fellow radicals in their social circle. There's no social shame or doubt left and they are free to test these abusive idea…
Then why aren’t they on the increase in Scandinavia?
Yes there's cases where they're due to mental illness, or other reasons that could be explained scientifically. But don't let that make you think that these sort of cases don't happen neither.
If you stay away from the doorways that the article mentioned, you should be good. Believe whatever you want to believe on how the world works. But the rabbit hole goes deep.
To be honest I much rather think that these sort of things don't exist also but I've known the truth.
It's not BS. That's for sure. Coming from someone who used to think it's all BS also. Yes there's cases where they're due to mental illness, or other reasons that could be explained scientifically. But don't let that make you think that these sort of cases don't happen neither. If you stay away from the doorways that the article mentioned, you should be good. Believe whatever you want to believe on how the world work…
My (I would consider) fairly deranged father was astounded that repeated beatings, threats to kill or abandon me, encouragements to commit suicide etc. caused 12 year old me to have anxiety and develop odd social behaviors and diagnosed me with having a demon. He brought someone from his church (who later went to jail for pedophilia) to examine me for demons, and took my instant dislike of the guy as more evidence fo…
There is some underlying reason for this however. The Economist had an article (can't remember when) about children being accused of being possessed by demons in Africa and either thrown out of the family or village and sometimes being killed. On examination of these incidents by researchers, it was thought that the likely reason was economics and that the parents simply could not feed all the children they had and w…
"[...] in the form of people seeking salvation from demons through the Catholic faith’s most mystical ritual." Funny that they used the word "salvation" in that sentence, given that exorcism is NOT on the list of the Catholic faith's four "most mystical rituals".
Other Christians just call it deliverance, not salvation. You seek deliverance from demons, or demonic strongholds.