Guess we’ll merely agree to disagree on that.
Psychiatric “treatment” isn’t the panacea some people claim it to be. However, you’re absolutely correct that “casting out demons” in the evangelical sense is completely ineffective – but at least it doesn’t make the child’s problems worse. (The sinister, isolative behavior inherent in fundamentalist families, on the other hand, is a different story.)
I don’t care about the identity, or even the existence of the Devil. However, I have seen towns squander half their annual budget on lawsuits, only to get their asses kicked by the First Amendment. It’s every bit as stupid as that demon-removal ritual.
Oh, and buddha_david, you apparently wished I were dead, but I don’t return the sentiment about you.
What in God’s name are you talking about???
The First Amendment has never been a valid defense when it comes to neglect of a child’s medical needs. Parents have been prosecuted when it was determined that child suffered from a lack of medical care because said parents chose “faith healing” instead of traditional medicine.
For example, if the parents believed in treating cancer with prayer, rather than taking a child to a doctor, the First Amendment does NOT protect that.
I might point out, here, that Bobby Jindal is not a fundie, despite the state he’s governor of. He’s a Catholic.
Makes me glad, yet again, that I’m an ex-Catholic.
Current SCOTUS:
Antonin Scalia, Roman Catholic
Anthony M. Kennedy, Roman Catholic
Clarence Thomas, Roman Catholic
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jewish
Stephen G. Breyer, Jewish
John G. Roberts, Roman Catholic
Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Roman Catholic
Sonia Sotomayor, Roman Catholic
Elena Kagan, Jewish
Oh, yeah, let’s not forget:
Rick Santorum, Roman Catholic
Nancy Pelosi, Roman Catholic
John Kerry, Roman Catholic
Ted Kennedy (dec), Roman Catholic
Daniel Patrick Moynahan (dec), Roman Catholic
Them Catholics are taking over our politics. From both sides.
And people actually thought JFK was going to be controlled by the Vatican.
God, Himself, can’t control a Catholic. A mere Pope ain’t gonna do it.
The belief that infectious evil spirits called jumbies are responsible for all behavioral or psychiatric issues, and sometimes physical health issues too is all too alive in Trinidad.
I’ve seen schools where the staff doesn’t want to come into contact with special needs kids, or anything they have touched, jumbie gonna get ya!
Occam’s Razor and all that. So obviously, it’s demons.
But now that I’ve fallen into this thread, it reminds me of a young Thai lady of my acquaintance 10 or 12 years ago who had spent a year in Oklahoma as a high-school exchange student. By chance, her host family was some brand of fundies who brainwashed her. Speaking in tongues, the whole nine yards. Returned to Thailand as an avid church member, much to her family’s dismay. She was actually Chinese-Thai, and her family maintained all the old Chinese traditions such as cleaning the ancestral graves during the Qingming festival (which falls this coming Saturday this year), but she would no longer take part, denouncing such as pagan rituals bound to send one to Hell. The last I heard, she had risen to some high position in the local church and was making regular trips to the North to preach to the hilltribes.
The topic of possession never came up, but I have no doubt that was included in her pantheon of spiritual ills.
WTF?? You don’t live I Italy, by chance?? That’s been a reason for prosecution just a few years ago.
I’m quite sorry for your father’s congregation he joins in supernatural delusion. Yet another case for making all forms of imaginary friend worship illegal for so many other countless reasons, BUT… even Locrian the demonic (hee) will offer a logical reason for all the chosen delusions people adhere to:
All humans are just bad actors. Think about it. This woman has a daughter who’s a cutter, most likely. She’s experiencing many triggers where she selects this self-abuse as an out.
How is it really different from a woman blaming demonic possession for this behavior? It’s quite delusional to think that harm saves you from harm, physical pain saves you from mental anguish. Her mom seems to do exactly the same thing, but her method is acting out, thinking away from the world of reality and responsibility, so blaming something that certainly doesn’t exist as a reason brings her some relief.
Then the congregation: praying. The ultimate act of slacktivism. But how would such a small and miniscule creature of the universe feel really important? Really close to being a being of importance? If the kid stops hurting herself, the praying slacktivists certainly pat themselves on the back, thank each other, their pastor, think themselves close to supernatural, give more money and for what again…?
To keep the stage of delusion, which brings good feeling no matter how silly, a real stage. At least one we can see or doesn’t look like a burning bush. 
Even in Christian mythology, Jesus’s resurrection was not unique. He himself brought three other persons back to life – the centurion’s servant, the daughter of some guy whose name began with J, and Lazarus. And the prophet Elijah also brought back to life the son of the widow-woman with whom he was living.
Anyway, it’s all myth and I see no more reason to let it inform my moral choices than I do the tale of Gilgamesh.
Maybe I should have added a smilie.
