I watched a show about a woman was supposed to possessed by Satan and I wonder if Cecil would know if any one who never believed there was such a being was ever said to be possessed, and had an exorcism.
Monavis
What is Matthew Perry’s religious preference again? Because I could swear that I recall having heard he had a seizure. 
But really, if you mean “in this day and age”, and not “ever”, then in your OP, then well…, I don’t know. Back a while ago, there were almost certainly causes of non-believers having epileptic fits, before the concept of epilepsy was named, and today, it is certainly possible that epileptic kids who belong to a religious family might just be considering non-belief, but I am no mind reader who knows what they have not disclosed to their family, and this is almost certainly not the answer you are looking for.
Well, the best I can contribute to this thread is that I once had the devil cast out of me in a hallway of a hospital by a nutty woman. I didin’t feel any different afterward.
(Well, that’s not exactly true- I did feel a little pissed that she was annoying me.)
Interesting. I was just thinking about this the other day. I thought to myself, “You know, I should ask about this on the SD board.” Then I promptly forgot about it.
That is, until I saw this thread.
I was thinking that you never hear of a Buddhist needing an exorcism. Or a Scienctologist. Not just an unbeliever, but someone who believes something totally different than any Christian.
The way I understand it is that demons are the minions of Satan, God’s arch nemesis, and those demons would search for people who are not in God’s grace to posses. Sure there are atheists and agnostics and such, but there are also other people who do believe in some higher power but not God that, I would guess, would be fair game to any demon.
So if one of Satan’s demons were to posses a Sciencetologist, would they go to a Sciencetologist high priest or whatever to get the demon removed? Would they be forced to go to a Christian priest to be exorcised?
It would first imply that they believed in a demon.if the person were adult why would he think it was possesion if he didn’t believe in such a thing. A child’s
parents may think it posseded if they believed that. I have never heard of a person that didn’t believe in evil spirits go for an excorcism. So to me it would mean it is all in the person’s mind and the minds of those who believe in such things.
Monavis
:smack: I did mean possession.and possessed sorry for not checking before I sent this out.
Monavis
Check out John Safran vs God if it is available where you are. Safran is a well known, but certainly not mainstream, Australian TV figure. He has made several interesting and confronting series. In the final episode of John Safran vs God he allowed an exorcist to perform an exorcism on him. He appeared to be profoundly effected and has stated since that he doesn’t know what happened to him.
Here Safran talks about the show.
The best source turns out to be Wikipedia .
Just repeating an anecdote, but an old colleague of mine recounted how he was “saved”, which involved his wife dragging him to whichever charismatic church she attended - he was a lapsed Anglican and went under protest. During the service she underwent an “exorcism” which involved the removal from her of “the demon of lust” (poor guy). He was freaked out by her falling on the floor and frothing at the mouth, so attempted to remove her from the church. As he did so, the pastor turned his attention to my colleague, who claimed to have felt something immensely powerful within him, which resulted in him being “exorcised” too, and he became born again soon afterwards. Don’t know if that counts. (Or is even true.)
It sounds to me like from what I understood by thewikipedia was that Safran believed in evil spirits. So that would rule out a non believer.
Monavis
Actually, Scientologist auditing can be a form of exorcism as it supposedly releases one from the control of “body thetans”, wandering spirits from our pre-human existence which attach to us. The auditing is to clear us from the emotional stressors (engrams) upon which the thetans latch.
All ancient religions, including Buddhism, acknowledge the possibility of demonic spirits & have exorcism rituals.
It is true that many if not most religions believe in demon possession but I never heard of an Atheist being exorcised, or they had the need for one.
It would seem to me you have to believe in one to be possessed.
Monavis
I’m afraid that having seen the series and read the Wikipedia entry, I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. Safran is nominally Jewish and was supposedly possessed by spirits that have no part in his background. The synopses should give you the impression that Safran was taking the piss about every religion.
According to the Bible the Jews believed in Demons as Jesus was said to have cast them out and it is mentioned a couple of times if I remember correctly.
Monavis