That one time Mother Teresa got an exorcism

[Fix The Stupid]

This is a hoot.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/08/one-time-mother-teresa-given-exorcism/

This also sticks out:

'As you may know, Christianity is not the only religion to perform exorcisms. Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam all have their rituals related to exorcism'

And this:

The Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry D’Souza, shared the same doctor as Mother Teresa when they were both hospitalized for heart problems. When he learned of her distress at night, he came to the conclusion that the devil must be disturbing her sleep. He said of the incident:

“When doctors said they could not find a medical reason for her sleeplessness, I thought she might be getting attacked by the devil… I wanted her to calm down and asked a priest, in the name of the church, to perform an exorcism prayer on her.”

You can all rest easy though...the exorcism worked!!!

'Whatever the case, it reportedly worked. Archbishop D’Souza stated the nuns who were watching over Mother Teresa told him she slept soundly afterwards.'

So, in the vein of 'serious discussion' , let's discuss exorcism shall we?

I'll start.

Anyone who believes in this nonsense is a fool at best.

[bearsfootball516]

1. Personally, I do believe in it, but I think actual cases are extremely infrequent

[PragmaticDem]

3. I honestly don't although I wouldn't mind an exorcism on Trump.

[trotsky]

5. If you think demons can possess people, how do you know when one does?

Versus "normal" mental illness?

[bearsfootball516]

7. I think that's one of the hardest things about it

99 percent of them are probably mental illness.

[trotsky]

8. I'd say 100% of them are until someone can demonstrate demons exist. n/t

[bearsfootball516]

9. Can you demonstrate that they don't exist?

[trotsky]

10. That's not how this works.

[bearsfootball516]

11. We both have points to prove, but neither of us really have the ability .

I could give you lots of cases of exorcisms, but you wouldn't believe me, so is it really worth it? It's easier and better for both of us to just happily go along with our lives.

[trotsky]

14. No, I don't need to prove demons DON'T exist.

The person that asserts they do needs to prove it.

Otherwise you also need to prove that leprechauns, unicorns, Santa, the Big Bad Wolf, and about a billion other things DON'T exist. Better get started, that's a long list.

[bearsfootball516]

16. So you want me to start posting links detailing famous exorcisms?

I’m more than willing to, but I don’t really see what good it will do other than get you upset, which isn’t what I’m going for.

[trotsky]

19. LOL "upset"

I guarantee you I won't be the one who will get upset. The problem here is that all of what you will post will be stories, not evidence. No demons have been shown to exist. Ever. No psychiatric analysis was done in any of your examples, either before or after the exorcism.

Go ahead and prove me wrong. Bet you can't.

[bearsfootball516]

22. I'm not trying to prove you wrong, I never had any intention of that.

The OP posed a question, and I provided my opinion. I never said anything about wanting to prove you wrong.

[Voltaire2]

23. No right upthread you claimed to be able to prove

that demons exist.

Please proceed.

[bearsfootball516]

24. I never claimed anything like that. I said that we both had points to prove

But I never said anything about actually being able to prove that exorcisms are real, because it's not something that can be readily proven, it's just something I believe.

You can keep telling me to prove it if you want, but I don't think this is going anywhere...

[Cuthbert Allgood]

12. Um, those with extraordinary claims are the ones with the burden of proof.

Person 1: Demons are real and can possess human beings.
Person 2: I don't think so.

Which one do you think is making the extraordinary claim? Pro Tip: It's not Person 2.

[bearsfootball516]

13. I could always post links to a bunch of famously known exorcisms

But it’s pretty likely that people who don’t believe in it would just dismiss them as not real. So if you really want me to, I can. I just don’t think there’s much use to it.

[trotsky]

15. Please post those links.

Were any of them done in a controlled environment with professional psychiatric analysis?

[bearsfootball516]

18. Sure! Here's a couple that are better known.

And to answer your question, no, they were not.

https://www.historicmysteries.com/anneliese-michel-exorcism/

http://altereddimensions.net/2016/ronald-hunkeler-exorcism-inspired-the-exorcist

[trotsky]

20. Just as I predicted.

Stories with zero actual evidence.

"historicmysteries.com"? "altereddimensions.net"? Really? LOL

[bearsfootball516]

21. You're certainly allowed to believe what you'd like, and same with me.

[MineralMan]

2. We laugh at cultures not our own that believe disease is caused

by "evil spirits." We consider it backward and ridiculous when a local shaman performs ceremonies to drive out those spirits. And yet, the largest, most influential denomination of Christianity still performs exorcisms of evil spirits in the 21st Century. We have another Christian leader who has built a museum showing people and dinosaurs living together, despite our certain knowledge that such a thing would be absolutely impossible.

Religion has the extraordinary power to hold us back to an extent many people do not understand. We learn things through religion that date back to the iron age or even the bronze age and that are absolutely incorrect. And yet, many of us flock to places to worship deities invented in those olden times when humans understood so little about the world. Religion has the power to keep us in ignorance and delay our progress, and has done so again and again.

When will we awaken from this slumber and step into the future? When will religion finally be seen as something that explained stuff back in ancient times when we knew nothing? When will we look at all we have learned and recognize the outdated nonsense for what it truly is?

[byronius]

4. I choose to believe that Abbie Hoffman did indeed exorcise and levitate the Pentagon.

Because it was a brilliant artistic statement.

Otherwise it's all primitive tribalism and placebo effect.



Timeline

[trotsky]

6. Well, she always did get the best care for herself.

For her "patients" not so much.

[Mariana]

17. There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot,

to suffer it like Christ’s Passion. The world gains much from their suffering,”

Sure, as long she didn't have to do any of it.

Imagine deriving joy from watching other people suffer, not people who've voluntarily forgone pain treatment but people who have no choice in the matter, and thinking it's beautiful.

[Voltaire2]

25. She also kept the Vatican bank solvent.

She literally parked billions of dollars in that bank, donations to her charity that somehow never got spent.

[Irish_Dem]

26. My mother was a nurse in the 40's and in Catholic Hospitals back then they still performed exorcisms

in the psychiatric wards. She says a priest would come in and perform the exorcism on a very troubled patient,
and in some cases the patient showed improvement.

Today we would call this placebo effect. This is a well known phenomenon in which patients respond to personal expectations rather than the actual treatment. In other words, we can trick our minds into curing us, or make us feel better. Physicians used to look negatively at the placebo effect, but psychologists are intrigued and use it now in their work.

But shows you how primitive mental health care was not too long ago. And also illustrates the power of suggestion.