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Introduction
The subject of demons and whether they exist or otherwise attracts a lot of attention across the societal framework. Particularly, it has attracted interest in the Academy and across all religious traditions that form a crucial part of the global order. This debate results from the whole idea of demons and their existence or lack thereof. The study of demons is covered under the umbrella of demonology. Religious conceptions hold that demons exist. On the other hand, scientific conceptions claim that demons do not exist. In this paper, I will argue that demon hauntings, exorcisms and possessions fail to prove that demons exist because the hypothesis ‘demons did it’ of the existence of demons fails to do a better job in predicting this evidence than the competing hypothesis: demons do not exist.
Demon Haunting, Exorcism, and Possession as Evidence that Demons Exist
The evidence of demon haunting is largely premised on story-telling. The story starts when a member of a particular society begins to exhibit weird behavior. The strange behavior of that person is then followed by odd occurrences happening around his or her life to the extent that other members of the society take notice (McCraw, Benjamin and Robert 241). It is at that point that word starts passing from one individual to the next on the alleged demonic attack on person X. There are a wide variety of strange things that a person who is allegedly possessed by demons does.
The strange behavior ranges from the possessed person hearing scratching sounds to things strangely moving around him or her. The strange movement, while occurring throughout the house, also heavily presents itself in the room the possessed person resides. The element of the alleged demon communication to the possessed individual culminates the whole scenario. Another way in which the demon may choose to communicate to the possessed individual is through ‘knocking’ or even through an Ouija board. The aspect of the demon communicating to the possessed individual is seen in various ways. To begin with, words written in blood start appearing in rooms of the house and again, more specifically in the room the possessed resides. In addition to writing in blood on the walls, the individual who is possessed also may start seeing words written in blood on their own person.
The aforementioned occurrences cause the people observing them to get worried call in a doctor to diagnose the health condition of the possessed person. However, the doctor fails to eradicate the situation. The failure by the doctor to fix the situation often leads to the invitation of a priest and eventually an exorcist who struggles with the possessed. As a result of the possession, the individual is given abnormal strength by the demon to the extent that the exorcist is not in a position to physically handle him alone. As a result, the stories indicate that the exorcist is hurt in the process. In addition to the abnormal strength, he or she tends to start speaking in a strange language—Latin, more often times than not. Another tell tale sign is when he or she starts levitating in the air.
More often, the attempt by the first exorcist to get rid of the demon fails which creates room for the invitation of a second exorcist. In the end, the demon typically leaves. The demon may leave only to come back later to disrupt the life of a new victim or to permanently disrupt the lives of the next family (McCraw, Benjamin, and Robert 241). These events pretty much end up in all stories that revolve around cases of demon haunting, possession, and exorcism as evidence of the existence of demons. The stories predictably end with the words ‘demons did it.’ An ideal example of a story that is premised on demon haunting, possession, and exorcism is the 1849 case of a boy who was just identified as ‘R.’ The case was deemed to be a true case of demon possession and inspired the writing of a book by William Peter Blatty that he gave the title “The Exorcist.” The same book went on to inspire a horror movie that was regarded as “The Exorcist.” The horror movie was released in the year 1973. In summary, the cases of demon haunting, possession, and exorcism serve to prove the hypothesis that demons exist because that is allegedly the right and logical way to explain the events that follow such happenings. According to believers, demonology is the only explanation as to why demons are talked into existence and why and how they are capable of doing such things. The religions summarily look at such cases and preach that ‘the demons did it.’
How the Existence of Demons Fails to Align with the Evidence of Exorcism, Possession and Demon Haunting
The stories of demon haunting are often alluded to in an effort to prove that demons exist. As a result, the strange behavior of the person who happens to be allegedly possessed by the demons is only explained in one way ‘demons did it.’ That is how the story ends. Whether the story has sufficient evidence of the existence of demons is something that is highly questionable.
Let me analyze the contentions of such stories and their probability of being accurate in proving the existence of demons. To begin with, such narrations need the audience to believe the story as told. The audience may also proceed to narrate the same story to another audience that is still expected to believe it as told. To that end, one can easily conclude that such stories cannot be conclusive evidence of the existence of demons. That is so because the story is bound to get tainted in the cause of its narration. The evidence of the existence of demons through the telling of such stories expects the evidence always to assume that the witness gives an accurate explanation of all that transpired during the event when someone was allegedly haunted, possessed and exorcized due to him or her being occupied by demons. That is expecting too much. It is asking the audience to believe what qualifies to be regarded as heresy.
The worst thing which completely undermines the legitimacy of storytelling as a way of proving the existence of demons is the means that is often used to tap into the events that occur when demons haunt an individual. One of the ways that such information is tapped and relayed for the purposes of storytelling is through an Ouija board. As things stand, this is not an accurate means of getting the intricate details of such a crucial event. Having said that, the communication of an Ouija board merely happens because of an unconscious ideomotor effect. That element makes the ‘communication’ between the demon and the haunted individual even more suspect.
The other means to detect the alleged communication are equally suspect. The use of the senses of human beings is the other way through such communication is detected and relayed for the purposes of proving the existence of demons. In relation to this, it would be good to note that the senses of human beings are prone to making errors. As a result, the use of information acquired through the use of human senses to detect crucial details to be used in a attempt to show that demons had haunted and possessed a particular person and, thus, they do exist is suspect. That is so because human beings often see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. Meaning, they might see or perceive the existence of a demon simply because their minds are conditioned to do so. However, the reality might be showing otherwise. Put simply, human senses are not reliable means to get the evidence meant to prove the ‘demons did it’ hypothesis.
How Inexistence of Demons does a Good Job in Debunking the Evidence of Exorcism, Demon Haunting, and Possessions
If stating demons do not exist is the only logical conclusion that one can make, then the evidence presented through cases of demon haunting, possession, and exorcism is not something to go by. This is the case due to the evidence being collected through all the wrong means that are averse to making errors. If the data is collected through suspect ways, then it follows that the conclusion that it arrived at after such data is analyzed is also suspect– fruit of the poisonous tree. More specifically, the hypothesis of the inexistence of demons succeeds by pointing out the grave errors that form from the evidence that is offered in an effort to prove the ‘demons did it’ hypothesis. In relation to this, the evidence cited to claim the ‘demons did it’ hypothesis are largely collected through two broad ways that have been discussed here.
The first method in which the crucial information that is meant to prove the above hypothesis is collected through the Ouija board. The Ouija board was designed in an endeavor to tap and relay the communication that allegedly occurs between the person who happens to be haunted by a demon and the demon itself. It presupposes that at a given point in time in the cause of the exorcism process the victim and the demon have to start communicating. The alleged communication that is observed through the Ouija board is highly suspect because the board itself is prone to making errors. Most importantly, the data it gives cannot be conclusive evidence that may be adduced to prove that demons exist.
The second method that the information that is used to prove the ‘demons did it’ hypothesis is collected through the senses of the people that happen to be around when an exorcist is dealing with the case of the possessed person. On that note, it would be good to note that the senses of human beings tend to be highly subjective as opposed to being objective. They are highly swayed by the perception that already exists in them. In line with this argument, a person who happens to be indoctrinated in religious beliefs and values can only make one conclusion in case he or she happens to be present when the exorcism activity is being carried out. He or she is bound to see what has been put in his or her mind by religious doctrines and dogmas. Briefly put, the evidence that is collected through human senses tend to be highly suspect. That is the same case in the case of proving the ‘demons did it’ hypothesis. If the ‘demons did it’ hypothesis fails, then the opposite of that hypothesis succeeds.
Conclusion
The debate of whether demons exist or not is not argument to take lightly. The debate is being carried out in the philosophical field, in the academia, within the religious circles and so forth. That said, the belief in the existence or inexistence of demons affects the way things are done in the world. This is the very reason why this debate is worth being given particular attention. Saying that demons do exist is something that is largely held by various religious doctrine and dogmas. That said, various hypothesis and supporting evidence are used in attempt to show the world that it is true that demons exist. Stories of demon haunting, possession, and exorcism are particularly used in an attempt to make the world believe that demons do exist. These stories always end by claiming all that happens during exorcism activities serves to reinforce the ‘demon did it’ hypothesis. However, the evidence of demon haunting, possession, and exorcism tend to be rampant with weaknesses. As a result, it fails to prove that demons actually exist authoritatively.
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