After Germany Arrests, a Look at Other Deadly Exorcisms

[edhopper]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-arrests-deadly-exorcisms-35695530

read...

Five South Koreans were arrested in Germany on suspicion of murder following the death of a relative in an exorcism ritual attempting to "expel a demon," authorities said Thursday. Here's a look at some other fatalities from rituals performed around the world in recent years in the belief they would drive the devil or other evil spirits from people.

And there are people on this very forum who have defended exorcism as something other than a barbaric practice.

[HassleCat]

1. More common than you might think

I worked for a program that provided job training to young adults. One of the students had to go to the hospital because he was afflicted by demons, so he said. The staff performed an exorcism in the waiting room, and they said they saw the demon jump out of the student's body and flee through a window. I didn't mind so much, but they refused to get the student any professional help for his drinking problems, insisting he just needed more Jesus to keep the demons at bay. I figure it's OK to use religious rituals to calm somebody down, if that's what they need, but such stuff is not a substitute for competent mental health assistance.

[edhopper]

2. Just by buying in to the demon bullshit

you are harming the sick person.

If someone is mentally ill,they need to be treated as so, not act as if it is the 12th Century.

[HassleCat]

3. They all believed it

The student believed it, and the staff believed it, so there was no way they would tell him the truth, that his demons came from a bottle, and Jesus was not going to protect him from that. I think the reason they refused to get him counseling was because they knew the counselor would contradict their religious beliefs. It was a sad episode, but it served to warn me about how ingrained this sort of thinking was at all levels of the organization.

[edhopper]

4. What fucking Hospital was this?

I must avoid at all cost.

[HassleCat]

5. Not the hospital

It was the program staff who took the student to the hospital when he freaked out. This is a federal, residential program to provide job training and education to "at risk" young people ages 16 to 23. The students live on site, and are monitored by staff people. I won't tell you the name of the program, but there is really only one that fits the description just gave.

[edhopper]

6. Fucking

faith based bullshit.
Thank you G W Bush.

[cleanhippie]

7. Everyone involved in this is mental ill

And should receive mandatory help.

But it's religion, so it's cool.

[struggle4progress]

8. not much to go on here

... Police .. arrested .. a 44-year-old woman, her 21-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter as well as two boys aged 15, one of whom was the victim's son. The suspects had used "severe violence" against the woman, beating her chest and stomach while gagging her with a towel and then a cloth-covered coat hanger. National news agency DPA reported the five were South Koreans of unknown religious affiliation who had arrived in the city around six weeks earlier ... The investigation led police to discover a second suspected victim, a badly injured female relative suffering hypothermia and dehydration, in the garage of a house the group had rented in the town of Sulzbach ...

... "According to our current information the suspects subjected the victim to pain and agony for at least two hours, and their actions were motivated by a callous and merciless attitude," said Niesen ...

... The dead woman's body was covered with bruises and she had been gagged with a towel that had been stuck in her mouth with a coat hanger ... The victim underwent "at least two hours of pain and agony and finally died by suffocation due to massive thorax compression". The female relative was badly injured, had hypothermia and was dehydrated ...

[Lordquinton]

9. Saddle up!

[struggle4progress]

10. ... “It’s not clear exactly what happened to her, we are still investigating that,” Niesen said ...

http://nbc4i.com/2015/12/10/mother-killed-during-exorcism-ritual-five-family-members-arrested/

[struggle4progress]

11. ... A spokesman for the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) confirmed there had been an incident but

but declined further comment ...

http://www.dw.com/en/south-korean-dies-during-suspected-exorcism-in-frankfurt-hotel/a-18908444

[struggle4progress]

12. hessenschau.de says a Korean Evangelical Zion pastor called the police but

indicates those arrested weren't affiliated with the Korean Evangelical Zion community; see http://hessenschau.de/panorama/exorzismus-opfer-wurde-von-pfarrer-gemeldet,exorzismus-beschuldigte-100.html

Bild says the woman found in the Sulzbach house was wrapped in plastic; see http://www.bild.de/regional/frankfurt/exorzismus/frau-stirbt-bei-teufelsaustreibung-43726064.bild.html

Frankfurter Rundschau reports neighbors in Sulzbach say they repeatedly heard screaming from the basement of the rented house there; see http://www.fr-online.de/frankfurt/toedliche-teufelsaustreibung-evangelische-sektierer-als-exorzisten,1472798,32900490.html

Frankfurter Allgemeine reports neighbors in Sulzbach say the shades were always down at that house; see http://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/frankfurt-teufelsaustreiber-holten-evangelischen-pastor-13959245.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_2

Die Welt says the 19 yo and 21 yo arrested were the son and daughter of the 44 yo arrested; see http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article149833540/Mit-dem-Kleiderbuegel-wollten-sie-den-Teufel-aufspiessen.html

[Warren Stupidity]

13. In all fairness it seems that the entire flock of exorcism defenders have fled.

Nobody is stepping up to defend this idiocy anymore.

Oops. my bad, the google gish gallop has emerged to attempt to defend the indefensible.