We know quite a bit about the world now than was known when all this came about and was “explained” in terms that would fit in Medieval or neolithic times.

Much has been learned about the brain, its functions and malfunctions, psychology also has been learned and how the patient can play into what the shaman or exorcist is doing. It means going back to prmitive times of less knowledgeable times to darker times of angels and demons etc. Where the idea of brain science, evolution, a thousand other things were not known. That would be a dark age. Even though the appurtenances of technology would persist because that mental darkness of ignorance would be of its people. Like holy warriors flying in B2s to kill possessed people in ‘demonic’ nations with nuclear weapons.

This is certainly a cultural regression being foisted upon us and played to the market where in democracies superstition is just as good as hard factual science. And science may not get the ratings. Only the powerful would benefit from this. A fine way of control.

I don’t consider “wisdom” and “God” to be synonyms. Neil de Grasse Tyson said something like this: if all human knowledge was suddenly gone, science knowledge would come back exactly the way it is now, but no spiritual “knowledge” would. I agree with him. There’s nothing about that type of knowledge that can be relied upon or is certain. While no one can say with certainty that there’s no such thing as God, I personally consider it so extremely unlikely, I’m happy to label myself an atheist. If there is a God and he’s as good as all the good theists say he is, I’m sure He’d understand. After all, he made me this way. I don’t want to be associated in any way with the nasty God of bad theists, and even if he’s proven to exist, I won’t be worshiping him.

I do think it should be noted that it’s nasty people who think God wants them to go around being bigoted or worse, and nice people whose God is one of love.

Actually, reason and learning can only enhance one’s love of wisdom, and hence of God.

In New Zealand we’ve had some very serious cases where exorcism caused death. I haven’t mentioned any of them because all were before I started this website and none were related to Catholicism, and so far I’ve only written about exorcism in relation to Catholicism. The cases here did at least create some awareness around the subject, and hopefully thus reduced the likelihood of it happening again.

I think our species of ape is always looking for answers. Our extreme curiosity is what sets us apart. Gods were a satisfactory explanation when we didn’t have the tools to explain things. It’s no accident that the more educated a person is (not the more intelligent), especially in science, the more likely they are to be an atheist. Even among scientists, the more elite the scientist, the more likely they are to be an an atheist. Education is the key imo. We’re not rational about many things, but we can be taught to be rational. The value of any university education is the critical thinking skills obtained. My history degree, with its focus on Medieval Europe, isn’t really much use for anything, but obtaining it was invaluable because of the way it taught me to think.

Still, we are left with the question of whether the influence of religion on people’s lives are on balance positive or negative. False beliefs can still bring comfort to people, via the placebo effect. This may sometimes be the case with exorcisms. Religion reinforces the cohesion of the in-group, but often directs discriminations and violence on the out-group. This is a complicated assessment and many traditional atheists have declined to enter into this judgment. The New Atheists have been much more convinced that the net effect of religion on society is negative, and thus much more assertive in combating both the truth and the consequences of religion.

But beneath the specific doctrines of any religion is a core sense, which seems to be universal, that there are unseen forces influencing our lives. This is not entirely irrational, since science has disclosed many such forces, as gravity, genes, natural selection, social norms, chemical reactions which are unseen and do control our lives. We may discredit beliefs in omnipotent deities, life after death, jinns and angels. We may discredit religious practices such as circumcision, forbidden foods, sexual taboos. But we humans are not primarily rational beings. We have a thin veneer of rationality barely, and sometimes not even, masking an irrational core composed of primitive instincts and emotions. The hope that the spread of rational enlightenment is going to transform human nature by eliminating or subduing this superstitious core is very likely a chimera.