Exorcism and Homosexuality

[The original document at http://freeassemblage.blogspot.com/2009/06/exorcism-and-

homosexuality.html contains live links to referenced material and sites.

NEW YORK - Truth Wins Out [TWO] condemned Manifested Glory Ministries in
Bridgeport, Conn., for practicing child abuse in the name of religion, after a
video surfaced where the church tried to exorcize demons from a gay
teenager....Patricia McKinney, pastor of the nondenominational church who
describes herself as a prophet, told CNN that she believes homosexuality, like
crack addiction can be influenced by demons. "It's not just the homosexuality
spirit. It could be the alcohol spirit, the crack cocaine spirit, the adultery
spirit. Everything carries a spirit," McKinney told CNN.
http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/church%E2%80%99s-exorcism-of-gay-
teenager-is-child-abuse-and-fanaticism-disguised-as-faith/

"Everything carries a spirit." We would expect Christianity to employ

supernaturalism; it wouldn't be Christianity if it didn't.

But, "Things of this sort [spirits] are the Platonic Forms, abstract entities that
exist independently of the sensible world," says Britannica. (Platonism was
inextricably welded to Christianity, most notably by St. Augustine, as well as by
many others.)

This means that that which are objectively considered abstractions by the the bulk
of western civilization are considered to be real objects, or "reifications" of
the abstractions, in the tradition of Platonic metaphysics.

This means that the "spirits" are considered to be universals inherent in things.
About universals: "The metaphysical issue is whether or not these features exist
independently of the particular things that have them: [Platonic] realists hold
that they do..." Britannica

Universals in the Platonic thinking are "special existents unrelated to man’s

consciousness—[not] to be perceived by man directly, like any other kind of
concrete existents [tables; apples; children], but perceived by some non-sensory
or extra-sensory means," wrote Ayn Rand.

"Unfortunately, this terrifying incident is not unique" continues TWO. "It is a

standard part of groups such as Exodus International, which promise to help people
"pray away the gay." "When talking to the public or media, such organizations try
to appear mainstream and uncontroversial," said Wayne Besen, TWO's director. "But,
when they get behind closed doors, they engage in practices that are barbaric and
backwards. While demons do not cause homosexuality, the efforts of churches to
'cure' gay people can accurately be describes as quite evil."

The attempt to view such intangible universals as non-material entities in a

supernatural world, to be perceived only by supernatural means, provides an evil
view of existence, where the burning of witches by the Catholic and Protestant
churches comes to mind. But even in modern Catholicism, "[exorcism is] but rarely
used, and never without the express permission of the bishop," says the New Advent
Catholic Encyclopedia.

Why is it rarely used? Because "there is room for no end of deception and
hallucination when it is question of dealing with the unseen powers." New Advent

When humans attempt to perceive "deception" and avoid "hallucination" while

dealing with supposed supernatural inhabitation of humans, there is not only room
for error, but the error is inherent in the nature of the beastly act itself.
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