Exorcism Bad? No freakin' way!

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CNN recently reported that a priest in Romania was sentenced to 7 years in jail for murdering a nun, during an exorcism. The nun in question " Irina Cornici, 23, died from dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation" at the hands of the priest and 4 other nuns. Apparently, the nun, who by the way suffered from schizophrenia, believed she heard the devil speak to her. The Orthodox church that the priest belonged to "defrocked Corogeanu and excommunicated the four nuns" and condemned what had happened as deplorable.

Of course the church did not go so far as to condemn the practice of exorcism. Apparently, it was the priest and the nuns who somehow botched an otherwise safe and beneficial process. But what did they do?

The news item does not give a lot of details. All it says is that the unfortunate nun was tied to a cross (no mentioning if she was standing up or laying down) and she was denied food and water. She died of dehydration and suffocation. So some sort of physical force was used on her, hence the suffocation. But what is an exorcism? What are acceptable practices during an exorcism?

I searched the Vatican site and came across the following : "When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcising.¹⁷⁸ In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.^179"

Please pay special attention to the last sentence. It says that : "Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness." But how does a priest, or nun, or bishop, or whatever you have, tell the difference between a schizophrenic who thinks the Devil is talking to them, and a supposedly "honest" person to whom the Devil is in fact speaking to? Do they actually consult a mental health doctor? If they do, isn't it likely for the doctor to diagnose any person who thinks they're being spoken to by the Devil, with some sort of mental disorder? At some point, the exorcist then must disregard the medical advice, which defeats the purpose of this guidance.

I am really bestowing more respect than it deserves on it, by even taking the time to write about exorcism. This is what I think of exorcisms. An exorcism is a stupid chain of events, based on an even stupider set of beliefs. Such beliefs include the believe that demons are real, that they can and do take over human bodies, that reading poetry can force these demons out and such and such. Of course all this goes back to the even more idiotic set of beliefs, cumulatively known as Christianity. It is nothing more than fear mongering, another way the Church has devised to blackmail people to do its bidding. Why? Well we're all meat for grabs for all the demons out there, and only a priest has what it takes to cast them off and save us? Now if one really believes that do you think they'll stand up to the Church on any other issues? The church is nothing more than a big bully who uses fear to advance its ideology. Fear of the Devil, of eternal burning in Hell, fear of God. Fear and religion go hand in hand. But what do I know. For all I know it's probably the evil one who's speaking through me. Quick, someone hand me a phone. I got to call 1-800-EXORCIST.