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Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

theatlantic.com

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Re: Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

#41

Post by chmielewski »

krageon wrote: post #36
eksemplar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why aren’t they on the increase in Scandinavia?

Scandinavia doesn't have a strong religious impulse, whereas the USA is Christian in the most fundamentalist way from top to bottom.

Fundamentalism is a recent branch of Protestantism. TFA is about exorcism as a rite and only mentions Catholicism. Scandinavia has always* been traditionally Lutheran rather than Catholic or Protestant. Lutheran and Orthodox (and maaaaybe Anglican) have exorcism rites, otherwise it's going to be a preacher doing an exorcism he invented after the DSM was created.

(* not "ALWAYS" but you know what I mean)

Re: Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

#42

Post by simonsarris »

eksemplar wrote: post #21
Afforess wrote: post #20

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?

Belief in elves are, instead.

Re: Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

#44

Post by creep »

smackay wrote: post #18
hnuser355 wrote: post #5

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…

When my teen years grew tough for my single mom to handle she often accused me of being possessed. She was very emotionally unstable, so when things got rough for either of us, things went to utter shit. Her last resort was to carry around her bible and ask God to bless every corner of the home.

Later, one of my first boyfriends said something similar-- except I was now the demon. At one point he said I was "the demon at the center of the universe, which spawned all other demons". Of course this all occurred when we were fighting.

Anyways, my point is that I think you're correct. It's a last-resort coping mechanism. Very harmful. I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I'm actually human or some kind of universal mistake.

Re: Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

#45

Post by kenning »

randoinetdude11 wrote: post #22

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…

Nice read, thank you. Glad you got out of there

Re: Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

#46

Post by kenning »

torgian wrote: post #14

It’s so stupid. My parents got more and more into this bullshit as I grew older. All of a sudden I was a demon possessed teenager who, god forbid, had a mind of his own. You don’t know the level of mental abuse kids deal with in families like this.

i do appreciate the comments here from people who actually have firsthand experience with this. i think a lot of people on HN find this story interesting because it's so far from their experience, but feel like commenting anyway.

and it's valuable because the writers at the atlantic can't say "boy this sure is stupid, it's obviously X or Y." they have to write in this awkward tone as if they genuinely can't tell if these people are really possessed or not.

Re: Exorcisms Are Gaining Popularity in the U.S.

#47

Post by torgian »

kenning wrote: post #46
torgian wrote: post #14

It’s so stupid. My parents got more and more into this bullshit as I grew older. All of a sudden I was a demon possessed teenager who, god forbid, had a mind of his own. You don’t know the level of mental abuse kids deal with in families like this.

i do appreciate the comments here from people who actually have firsthand experience with this. i think a lot of people on HN find this story interesting because it's so far from their experience, but feel like commenting anyway. and it's valuable because the writers at the atlantic can't say "boy this sure is stupid, it's obviously X or Y." they have to write in this awkward tone as if they genuinely can't tell if t…

Thanks, I think? Haha :)

I didn’t finish reading the article. One, because it’s long (normally not a problem for me) but two: because it pisses me off how churches are taking advantage of this.

I had anger problems after leaving my family. I never sought counseling, but I probably should have. I did break down during work one day (in the military no less!) and yeah...

Point is, when kids grow up in families like this, it’s a real shitty situation. The fact that people can’t, or won’t, try to seek real help for their loved ones when they “act out”, and the fact that religion preys and even profits from this, just really grinds my gears.

And why are these people having issues? Probably because of their family, or medical condition. Although I’m convinced most of it stems from families that are super-religious, fanatics, or radicals.

My family is self-proclaimed as “radical “ Christians. Everything , literally everything is not from god and is demonic.

I mean, shit. And people wonder why I’m agnostic.

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