Greetings heathens, zealots, web denizens and the rest of you!
Earlier this month I wrote in my regular Grant Rant column that Pope Frank, for all his positive attributes, is doing the world a massive disservice with his bather about the Devil, about how he can cast out demons and allowing the Vatican to officially recognize a global exorcist organization. As has always happened the “exorcised” are the mentally ill who end up being, if you will excuse the phrase, demonized, abused and mistreated when what they need is medical attention.
You can read that column here: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2014/07/07/leave-ghost-busting-to-the-dark-ages
By way of a reply one Joe Hvilivitzky of Niagara Falls wrote a letter to the editor which you can read here: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2014/07/14/letters-to-the-editor-for-july-15
I am going to reply to Joe’s letter in full because, well, it’s not often I am told I am really just a pawn of the devil doing the devil’s work by pointing out that exorcism is utter and total nonsense.
So Joe, you’d best wear a cup:
“A columnist’s job is to provoke, inform and entertain. Unfortunately, Grant LaFleche’s July 7 Rant bats 0-for-3. Instead of being provocative, it is simply mean-spirited; it lacks any useful information or insight; and its only entertainment value is in the writer’s laughable lack of knowledge or understanding of Catholic teaching.”
I am uncertain as to which teaching I am unclear on in this context. Is that the Pope believes in the devil? Is it that the Pope believes demons can inhabit the bodies of people and he can say prayers to cast them out? Because I think I am pretty clear on the church’s teaching when it comes to believing the ultimate boogeyman. I’ve also included an artist’s rendering of Satan to make the matter clear:
I am sorry you did not find my column entertaining Joe. True, I did not crack that many jokes, but then I don’t find the institutional abuse of the mentally ill a subject that is particularly funny. So, just to make sure you get your dollar’s worth, is a link to the mirror sketch done by Groucho Marx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5lU52aWTJo
“The column also raises a couple of questions, the most obvious being: why did he write it? Why does LaFleche, a self-described atheist, even care what Pope Francis says or does? When the Holy Father spoke of the need for a worldwide association of exorcists, he was addressing the world’s 1.5 billion Catholics, and no one else.”
For the same reason it matters when any religious figure with sway over millions says anything. I need not share in the Catholic faith to pay attention to what he says and does and decide for myself if what he says is good or bad, or will have positive or negative results. The pope is not some lone quack on a street corner barking at parking meters. He is the leader of the single largest and most influential religious organization on the planet. What he says, and what the Vatican does, has real world impacts. It influences the decisions of billions, with a B. And anything that can impact the lives of a billion of my fellow creatures is worth commenting on, particularly when the impact could be tragic.
“While LaFleche’s denial of the existence of demons is consistent with his denial of God, simply dismissing the whole notion as mere superstition is a non-argument and hardly the basis for a rational discussion.”
So what would be the basis for a rational discussion, exactly? Demons are a rational starting point? Accepting, without any real scientific evidence, that demon possession is real? That when someone is behaving strangely, or acting violently, or hearing voices, or has sudden personality shifts, or sees thing that aren’t there, we should consider demonic possession a real alternative “treatment”? That is not rational. That is, I am sorry to say, barking mad.
Imagine if we took this approach with every line of discourse. Someone believes, say, Elvis is still alive. Do we discount this belief because of the lack of evidence, or do we accept his belief on fact because he believes it?
We know what mental illness is. It is brain illness and while we have much yet to learn about the human brain, we know for a fact it is not caused by a demon or a witch or a warlock. The longer notions of supernatural malevolent influence continues to exist, the more people with mental illness will suffer. The pope and the Vatican should have disavowed exorcism, not called it charity and urged for compassionate treatment of the mentally ill and increased research into the causes and treatments of mental illness.
“LaFleche regards belief in demons as a holdover from medieval times, and therefore unworthy of consideration. On the contrary, the fact that there are enough active exorcists around to have an international association points to the existence of demons, and their continued influence throughout our world.”
Ah, man where in the name of Odin’s unseeing eye do even I start with this? Sigh….
Ok, so, here is the thing Joe. Just because lots of people believe in something, that doesn’t make that something true. If a billion people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. Facts are not determined by opinion polls, popularity contests, honestly held beliefs, ancient texts, or wish thinking. Facts are determined by evidence. QED. And there is no evidence, none, to support the conclusion that exorcism does anything other than abuse someone who is suffering from a mental illness or, perhaps, a chemically induced hallucination. In either case what is required is a medical doctor, not a voodoo man.
I mean, look, there are millions of people who believe that Elvis isn’t dead, the moon landing was faked, and the Loch Ness is home to giant, if sneaky, sea monster. Millions of Muslims believe the prophet Muhammad was carried to heaven on the back of a winged horse. Are we to conclude, then, that the Pegasus is real? Or we do concluded that Muhammad did not borrow a ride from Zeus, this is just an ancient myth, and horses don’t, in fact have wings?
Facts matter. Evidence matters. Compassion for the ill matters. Ancient rituals born from the darkness of human ignorance do not.
“Catholics believe in the existence of God, and of Satan, and they know that one of the devil’s most potent weapons is convincing us that he doesn’t exist. LaFleche’s vicious attack on the Church’s belief in Satan, may just prove the point.”
And there you have it. I am actually a pawn of Satan, doing his bidding by asking the Catholic Church to end a practice that victimizes some of the most vulnerable people in society. You cannot beat this kind of idea which regards any opposition to it as proof they are right.
Of course, Joe, what you haven’t considered is that maybe I am not a pawn at all. Maybe I am actually the Morning Star himself, the ruler of the underworld, disguising myself as a journalist who, after going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it, I write columns to make people think I am not real so I can silently build my army of evil. Maybe, pitch fork in hand, I am standing right behind you…
Made you look, didn’t I?