Sapo, I second this. Please call Child Protective Services immediately. And also whatever agency licenses psychologists in your state. Please call today. This is not funny to me at all.
My son is autistic. Thanks to years of therapy and his naturally good personality, you would be hard pressed to pick him out from his age peers (he’s 14). Well, he’s usually much more polite than his age peers. He’s a great kid. Proper therapy saved my son and my family.
This exorcism crap is wrong, stupid, counter productive, and in all likelihood illegal. The mom has an advanced degree and a professional license in “knows infinitely fucking better than this”. I am livid, and trying not to write anything that puts me in Godwin territory.
Please make the calls ASAP. You can help put this sweet kid back on a helpful track.
And what are they going to do? They can not interfere with the families religious beliefs. There is this pesky thing called the first ammendment. You take the bad with the good. It would have to be proved that some harm was being done to the child itstead of making him annoyed. They were not withholding lifesaving medical treatment. If the kid is healthy, well fed and not in a physically harmful environment the state should not get involved.
Now the AMA or other professional organizations, thats another matter. Just for the fact that she is acting as the kids doctor is plain wrong.
Here’s this for an idea? Unless you know for sure what your talking about, mind your own business.
What you overheard probably wasn’t exactly an exorcism (a formal ritual expulsion of a demon) but a deliverance, a more informal prayer session to cast out an afflicting demon. Now, there are times that totally harmful crap happens by people who are either nuts or just don’t know what they’re doing attempting these things. Then again, there may just be more people helped by these things that you think, even if demons aren’t real. Btw, one can pray to cast out an afflicting demon and totally affirm the personal worth of the person you believe in afflicted. To see a person as demonically afflicted is not necessarily to see them as evil or immoral, but just “afflicted”, just as much as one may be afflicted with a physical illness. Jesus & the Apostles “cast out demons” and it was always in affirmation of the person afflicted, and never any cause for them to disparage the person.
The Mom (Step-mom, right?) marrying the boy’s Dad & continuing to treat him, however. THAT is totally off-base.
Btw, it’d be a real kick in the jimmies if the boy improves greatly after this, huh?
Exactly. I have no idea what was going on there, other than what I overheard over the noises of Prince of Persia. I am sure they don’t call it exorcism, even though the gist of it was clearly “Go away, Satan, in the name of Jesus”.
Whatever it was, I bet it was not illegal. Stupid, funny, pointless, life-changing, your choice. Illegal, most likely not.
What little I know of this people I have gathered on over-the-fence 5-minute chats while we get the kids on the car. According to her, the kid has gone from often catatonic to going to regular school. All in the lapse of the last few years or so.
I don’t know if this is because of the therapy, the exorcisms or the floggings. The authorities will still take it as the kid being well taken care of.
I am sorry, Typo Knig, but I am not willing to turn into the nosy trouble making neighbor for what I know will lead to nothing. This is a mostly laissez-faire community and while we have come down as a group on certain troublesome neighbors before, there has been worse than this that has been let go.
As a curio, there are 3 cops and one Family Services employee (low level drone, really) on my street.
Autism isn’t caused by demons. Autism, by definition, is lack of demons. What these parents need to do is reject Christ, and pray to Satan for his infernal magick, so their child will at least grow up to be Bipolar or something.
1678 R. CUDWORTH tr. Proclus in True Intellect. Syst. Universe I. iv. 219 That before the…Formation of the World, there was Unformed and disorderly Matter existing (from Eternity) together with a Maleficent Soul.
malefice:
c1390 CHAUCER Parson’s Tale 341 Fully ne shal it neuere quenche…but if he were refreyded by siknesse or by malefice of sorcerye or colde drynkes.
maleficence:
1533 tr. Erasmus Enchiridion Militis Christiani xxviii. sig. Qiij, We must haue in mynde the benefycens of god & the malyfycens or noysaunce of the deuyll.
It is a wonderful word. As with tunes, Satan has all the best words!
Yeah, you would probably have a hell of a time, especially with the psych mother. I got the impression that the kid was making a racket, but upon re-reading the OP it seems like it was just the adults.
Still, nothing like a good old-fashioned (and vague) noise complaint from a concerned neighbor to get the cops to check things out.
Did you ever consider how hard your community police officers work? Don’t they deserve something back?
Sure, there’s no laws being broken and there’s nothing the police will be able to do. But give them a call and let them investigate the situation. Police live for things like being able to end their shift and tell everyone else at the station, “What did you do today? A break-in, huh? Well that’s nice but we responded to an exorcism.” All the other cops are going to envy them for having a much cooler story.
I think ‘official’ would be the antonym. There are some things that amateurs just should not do, and I think practicing medicine, interfering in how parents raise their children, and fucking with demons are three very good examples.
(But if it happens again, you might invite a few, four neighbors over for a aperitif by the window.)
Perhaps for the same reason the dreadful people downstairs choose to hold their domestic disputes with the windows open during fine weather, or even right there out on the back porch so that I can listen in while doing my laundry like it was Days of Our Lives.
Loud people do their loudness with not a thought about how far it carries and who can hear. The lady who used to live in the exorcism house before, spent all day singing at the top of her lungs. She sang very well, mind you, but her repertoire was rather limited.
Anyways, I am always afraid of asking such people why they keep their windows open because I am afraid of an answer along the lines of “if the windows are closed, it gets too noisy inside”.
He’s a great kid. Proper therapy saved my son and my family.