Jun 26 2009
Gay Exorcism
A Connecticut church is being investigated for possible abuse after a video showed up on YouTube documenting an exorcism of a 16 year old boy to get rid of his “homosexual demons.”
CT is nowhere near the bible belt, and is not usually a place to find fire and brimstone sermons. But there has been a subculture of demonology and exorcism here. I can’t be sure exactly why that is true, but it may have something to do with the historical connection with ghosthunting.
I wrote earlier in the week about our past investigation of the Warrens – perhaps the most famous ghost hunters. Well, Ed Warren was a self-proclaims demonologist, and as part of his schtick he professed belief in demons and evil spirits. He even occasionally worked with ministers and a defrocked priest who performed exorcisms (without the sanction of the church).
I also investigated a spin-off group from the Warrens that actually specialized in exorcism and advocated it as a treatment for apparent mental illness. This group, the Hartford Office for Paranormal Exploration (HOPE) was run by a physician (ack!) and sponsored many exorcisms – some of which I was able to view on video tape.
The one thing you need to realize about exorcisms is that they are extremely boring – nothing much happens. That might have something to do with the fact that demons are not real, and so what you get is a bit of bad acting from someone desperate for attention and perhaps who has issues with reality. Or, in some cases it is the parent who is delusional, and so you have kids who are sitting there being figidty – and that is taken as evidence of their demonic state.
In one case, absolutely nothing happened at all, and that was taken as evidence that the demons fled as soon as the exorcist came into the house. There you go – if something happens that is evidence for demons, and if nothing happens that is strong evidence for demons.
So perhaps it is more the ghost-hunting and demonology tradition of CT, rather than its particular religious tradition, that has led to the local exorcisms.
In this case, we see a trend that has been occuring for the past decade or so – blaming any perceived “problem” on a specific demon. Apparently, there are demons of gluttony, lust, gambling, and just nautiness. Whatever ails you. In some cases we see the merger of Christianity, demonology, and the self-help industry – a winning combination.
The notion of a demon of homosexuality, of course, also introduces the pseudoscientific notion, promoted almost entirely by religious traditions that frown upon homosexuality, that being gay is a moral choice or something that happens to someone – like a demonic possession. Rather – homosexuality is simply a normal biological variant seen is virtually all species. The evidence also strongly suggests that it is not a choice – any more than heterosexuality is a choice.
If the allegations are true, then I hope the hammer comes down hard on this church, for child abuse and violation of a person’s civil rights. I am all in favor of religious freedom, but there is a clear ethical and legal line to be drawn at child abuse.
22 Responses to “Gay Exorcism”
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My cousin has Schizophrenia and at times has been violent towards his parents. His father took this to be evidence of demon possession (not honouring his father you see) and organised a massive prayer effort, which had no effect and his condition degenerated until he attacked his mother with a knife and was committed to institutional care.
I was aware of his condition and had been encouraging them to seek additional medical care and a review of his medication regime, which had been generally effective in allowing him to manage his illness.
Unfortunately they felt that prayer was the better option. It was about then that I went being tolerant of people’s adherence to prayer to feeling that in some cases it contributes to harm.
If you haven’t already, check out Matt Taibbi’s “The Great Derangement.” At one point, he “infiltrated” a bible camp in Texas, and wrote about the casting-out of demons for the whole congregation. The demons were exercised through the mouth, so obviously everyone had to carry a barf-bag with them, and….. well, you can guess what happens.
They casted out demons of incest, sexual abuse, astrology, lust, cancer, etc. But then the good stuff – the demons of handwriting analysis, intellect, philosophy, etc.
Read a few pages here, starting at p91
http://books.google.com/books?id=ektD4t1U_psC&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20great%20derangement&pg=PA91
I’d never before heard about demons making anyone go sailing, but I guess if you’re going to believe about demons of gambling, demons of “nautiness” are just as plausible.
The “Hartford Office for Paranormal Exploration”?
You weren’t kidding about all of the different permutations of acronyms for paranormal groups.
I’m curious about something, in the post you say that being gay or straight is it’s own category, either you are or you are not. I have read an article in “Scientific American Mind” claiming that sexuality is more of a continuum.
What was interesting in the article was the mention of reparative therapy where people who are gay but don’t want to be spend money and are desperately trying to change their orientation but are largely unsuccessful. Then go on to talk about a man who identified as gay and then “changed his mind” and is now married with two kids. It’s only one person that they interview but it suggests that you can change your orientation, but only if you are not genetically hardwired to be strictly straight or strictly gay and this is backed by this study:
Can Some GAy Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation? 200 Participants Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation. Rober L. Spitzer in Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32. No. 5. pages 403-417;2003.
I’m not aware of any criticisms of this study since I’m nothing more than an interested layman so any more info that can be offered would be awesome.
Dr. N: “The one thing you need to realize about exorcisms is that they are extremely boring – nothing much happens. That might have something to do with the fact that demons are not real…”
OK, that goes in the candidate file for Tongue-In-Cheek Understatement Of The Year, lol.
~*~
Thinking the exorcism practice emitted from some connection to Catholicism, which is more popular ‘up there’ than down here in the Bible Belt (I’m in rural NC), I looked into the church in question. Yikes. It’s something called the Manifested Glory Ministries of Bridgeport CT, run by the McKinneys: ‘Overseer’ Kelvin and ‘Apostle’ Patricia. They are well-staffed with not just one, but three actual prophets.
I wasn’t able to determine any particular denominational theme beyond protestant and perhaps some pentacostalism, but then, I’m hardly knowledgeable on religions. One photo has Overseer Kelvin in what looks like a type of priest’s robe, while another page thanks a Bishop for mentoring them. Catholic? Epsicopalian? Does it matter?
They assure us they don’t hate gays, but after all, Eden had Adam & Eve, not Adam & Biff nor Eve & Jessica, so God obviously doesn’t want gays and who are they to argue. They have separate pages devoted to the assorted dreams, visions, and prophesies of their staff prophets and some zippy background music with the home page.
http://manifestedgloryministries.com/
I couldn’t disagree more vehemently with the earlier comment about exorcisms being “boring.” They are anything but!
I’ve been to two exorcisms. The most disturbing was at a Holiday Inn in Bakersfield, California in 1999. It was run by a man named Charles Schultz (no relation to the cartoonist, I’m sure), and he managed to pull a crowd of about 75 people to the convention room that evening. Some people in the audience seemed to be “plants” (I know bad acting when I see it), but others appeared to be suffering from various forms of psychosis (I’m a psychology professor, so I know THAT when I see it, too).
They writhed on the floor in front of us, cursed at Schultz, talked to people who were only in their heads, and generally acted “crazy” as he laid his hands on them and called out for god to rid them of the demons that were haunting their bodies. Some (presumably the “plants”) seemed better afterward and praised Jesus.
Others (presumably the truly sick) were no better, and were either blamed for the failure, or were announced as having particularly “difficult” demons, and were scheduled for a private session later.
All the while, people prayed loudly, called out in a din of hallelujahs, and/or sobbed. The worst part of this spectacle is that many people brought their children, some as young as about 5 years of age, who either sat in horrified silence, or clung to their delirious parents and cried. It was a sickening sight that lasted for over an hour, and was ANYTHING but boring.
– Sheldon
BayAreaGuy: If there were 75 people there, what you saw wasn’t an excorcism, it was a performance. One in which, no doubt, a collection plate was passed, and people want their money’s worth.
“Real” excorcisms, the ones performed by people who believe what they shovel, are far more boring.
The female minister who conducted this ritual served time in prison for crack cocaine use. She reports she has used the drug in the last 15 years. She really gets an adrelin rush performing her rituals with other persons on a kid with homosexual urges. She probably didn’t like doing time with lesbians, afterall, guess what she did to support her crack cocaine habit on the street! You will see homosexuality express itself in jails because they aren’t co-ed. I don’t see this as any different than a gang initiation beating in the same neighborhood.
Excuse me! She said she hadn’t touched crack cocaine in 15 years. But apparently she needs that emotional high!
BAG – I had the same reaction as taustin – I was talking about private exorcisms where the people involved all believe it. Exorcism for performance sounds more lively.
Ought to call them sexorcisms.
DA- “Ought to call them sexorcisms.” Nice !
Sexpulsion ?
Crack cocaine is a lifetime addiction. That’s just reality on the streets of the U.S.A.
HHC, is all this having a deleterious effect on the price of tea in China?
A.D., Wrong continent! The cocaine in Connecticut came up from South American and Mexico. The minister and any of the exorcising group members could have consumed crack prior to the service or another locally available drug of choice, say alcohol. Their manic behavior towards the kid caused him to seizure and vomit. Extreme stress, like the kid ritually experienced can trigger seizure activity. By the way, seizures can also result as a result of crack/ cocaine usage. These are all issues that must be considered when investigating harm done to the child.
HHC, yes, I can agree that a gentler form of exorcism might at least have avoided some of the counter-productive aspects. Exorbitantisms can be a real pain.
There is a potential adverse effect of exorcising gay demons, as this report points out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/26/colbert-the-problem-with_n_221506.html
Ha! Ha! The joke ‘s on that church and any one who thinks such demons exist. Exorcisms are nonsense. Magical rituals cannot cure the magical thinking that imaginary spirits exist.
HHC, does that mean in the end that the joke was on the teenager for inviting his own abuse?
James Severin
Interesting.
The only thing I could find about the efficacy of exorcism and the changing of one’s sexual orientation is here-
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t11172lpu33wv328/
but this is very old.
I lived in San Francisco for many years and have been invited to engage in any number of sexual activities. I think I have choice in the matter.
I doubt we humans are really ready to deal with these sexual issues in a sane manner.
sonic,
Just because you felt you had a choice to act or not act on your preferences does not mean you had a choice in the determination of those preferences.