I have a boxer named Rainer. I think demons have possessed her. Sometimes she runs wildly around the yard, for no apparent reason. On more than one occasion, I have seen her twitching and paddling while sleeping. Once she collapsed while on a hike. She could not pull herself upright for several minutes. At least twice, I have seen Rainer looking at me with a perplexed expression while her head quivered with small tremors. Maybe an exorcism is in order. After all, during The Early Show on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008, Mark Phillips of CBS News reported that the number of exorcisms, both in the U.S. and worldwide, were on the rise.

Being inquisitive about the alleged increasing number of exorcisms and the underlying reasons for these rituals seems reasonable. Such social phenomena raise interesting questions into human nature. However, to my dismay, the news media was enthusiastically reporting on, and legitimizing the absurd belief that powerful evil supernatural entities have the ability to possess, haunt and otherwise terrorize humans, dashing my hope for enlightenment. Interviewing Father Thomas Williams, Dean of Theology at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome…whew…was the best CBS could do in their anemic effort to elucidate?

According to Williams “there may be two reasons” for the rise in exorcisms. The first is that there is increased interest in the occult and Satanism. The second is that people are “less careful,” praying less and “playing around with things they shouldn’t play with” (whatever that means). These reasons necessarily imply that the increasing number of exorcisms is due to an increasing amount of demonic possession, and this is the substance of Williams’ claim. Should we take such a claim seriously?

Williams provides no evidence for the claim that a demonic possession is a true phenomenon. In fact, he admits that distinguishing between legitimate psychological problems and demonic possession is a challenge. This does nothing to deter his conclusion. He has no doubt that, “the spiritual demons, or bad angels, do exist”. Williams’ unsupported belief should not count as evidence for any rational thinker.

Are other hypotheses available that may help in illuminating the reasons for increased exorcist activity? How do they compare to Williams’ claim of demonic possession? I think there are several. Perhaps there are a larger number of people afflicted with psychological disturbances, seizures, drug use or amplified suggestibility. Possibly a larger labor pool of self-deceived exorcists is the explanation. I have no more evidence than Williams, but unlike Williams, these hypotheses are testable and potentially verifiable or falsifiable. In addition, these claims do not appeal to an unwarranted extraneous hypothesis such as an unknown supernatural force. Finally, these hypotheses are consistent with our wider body of knowledge about human nature and pathology.

The unsupported belief of Williams seems wholly inadequate when one thinks critically. CBS commits the logical fallacy of an appeal to an inappropriate authority. Williams is not an authority in psychology, psychiatry, human behavior or sociology.

As with my dog, Rainer, the possible explanations for the observed phenomena go well beyond demonic possession. The result is that I have gained no knowledge that might help explain why exorcism is on the rise, and I wasted fifteen minutes of my morning watching The Early Show.

Douglas Schrepel  May 2008