The religious are nuts. I've just read an interview with an exorcist that is full of details and rules and strange interpretations. This is nothing but modern day witch-doctorin', superstition and ignorance codified into bizarre behaviors. Catholicism has this weird polytheistic cult thing lurking under the fancy robes and overwrought architecture.

They're based primarily on the Bible, according to which God created all beings: mankind as well as the pure spirits, in other words the angels and demons.

…and lares and penates. Let's bring back the little gods!

You may be wondering how you can tell if you are possessed. It seems all you need to have done is see The Exorcist to be fully qualified to recognize the symptoms.

Are there objective criteria that can be used to determine if a person has been possessed by a demon?

The new ordinance on exorcism summarises the criteria for the event of possession very well. The clearest for me as a priest is the deep aversion to holy objects such as the cross, the rosary or the sign of the cross. Also an aversion to the word God - when it is spoken, such people get very nervous. Less significant indications are the supernatural capabilities that these people can suddenly develop. They can speak foreign languages that they've never learned. They can levitate; they can float, they can overcome gravity. Sometimes they become inexplicably strong and violent. But it's not that easy to diagnose cases of possession. I usually suggest that people see a neurologist or a psychiatrist before I get involved in their case. If I am advised by these experts that they can't help, then I can begin a spiritual treatment. As a rule, I would say that of ten people who request an exorcism, one is truly possessed.

I wonder how often this happens…the priest advises a consult with a neurologist. The neurologist examines the patient; he is floating in mid-air, croaking in Latin. Then the neurologist calmly says, "I can't help him."

While priests don't seem too surprised at levitating people, I think a doctor or scientist would be much more excited, and would be calling up the local university to get more people and equipment to study the phenomenon. It would be a sensation. We'd see photos and movies and all kinds of records of the event.

It hasn't happened. I suspect that if you are the kind of gullible priest who goes in for exorcisms, seeing a mentally ill person bouncing on a bed and babbling nonsense syllables would qualify as a demonic possession.

At the end, the priest says to the demon, "Go away! Disappear!" The demon usually answers, "No, I don't want to." It rebels and revolts. Sometimes it says "You have no power over me. You are nothing to me." But after a while, its resistance weakens. This usually happens after the invocation of the Holy Mother, she's very important for that. No demon ever dares to insult her during an exorcism. Never.

Does he have more respect for Mary than for God himself?

Apparently. Otherwise no holds are barred, and everyone is insulted: the priests, everyone present, the bishops, the Pope, even Jesus Christ. But never the Virgin Mary. It's an enigma.

Uh-oh. I've insulted priests and bishops and popes and Jesus, but I don't think I've ever said a cruel word about the Virgin Mary…yet. I'm going to have to think of something mean to say, before some kook priest decides my lack of interest in one of their demigods is a sign of diabolical intent.

(via Black Arts Diary)