Chocolate and Gold Coins

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Optimal Exorcisms

William Butterfield of Corner Solution has a wonderful tongue-in-cheek take on a bizarre story about the rise in demand for exorcists from the L.A. Times. The section in the L.A. Times article that caught my eye was:

Only a small percentage of those in distress are judged to be in need of an exorcism, and learning how to tell the difference between demonic possession and other psychological or physical traumas is the main goal of the priestly students taking the course at the Regina Apostolorum.

"When you're dealing with a reality like the devil," said 39-year-old Father Clement Machado of Canada, "you can't just learn the theoretical. You need the pragmatic experience…. It's such uncharted territory."

I don’t doubt that it would be very difficult to tell the difference between a demonic possession and mental illness. It would take someone very wise to be able to tell the difference. Is the Catholic Church helping psychiatrics around the world so that they don’t misdiagnose demonic possession as mental illness?

William Butterfield has own interpretation for why demand for exorcism is rising: the demand for individualized prayer services.

Prayer is a service that adds value in its "production" and churches that have been able to better supply more abundant levels of personalized prayer have outperformed their more "liberal" or "traditional" competitors.


Take for example the generally more liberal and declining Episcopalian church. They pray out of a "Book of Common Prayer" which adds little individual value because, as the title indicates, nobody owns the prayer that is produced. Even the Catholic Church has lost a lot of ground to evangelical Protestants, in part because they have limited the supply of prayer to priests. Evangelicals don't do this, and they tend to pray much more often for each other and much more openly about individualized concerns. Praying openly prevents "prayer free-riding" so you can verify whether or not others are in fact praying for you.

Read his post.

I am concerned that exorcism appears to be a zero-sum game, (these little devils have to find someone to torment) and demons seem to be endogenous to the Catholic Religion. If that is the case, exorcism is essentially rent-seeking.

Of course, from an expected utility viewpoint, there might be benefits to spreading the demonic possession around: if we are risk-averse, it is better to be possessed for an hour for certain than to have a one in 10000 chance of being possessed for 10000 hours. But exorcism is a costly procedure. Therefore, there should be an optimal time that a possessed person should wait before he or she is exorcised. This would be a difficult calculation to make—perhaps more difficult than determining the difference between mental illness and demonic possession.

It just goes to show how important quality cost-benefit analysis is in even the most unlikely applications.

25 Comments:

  • You know in Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the church, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills.

    By Anonymous phd dissertation service, at 1:02 PM  

  • thats really a great sharing.. :)

    By Anonymous buy custom essays online, at 5:08 AM  

  • the exorcism article seems very interesting..

    By Anonymous Best Essay Writing Service Reviews, at 5:09 AM  

  • i just loved it and bookmarked the same..

    By Anonymous best essay writing services, at 5:10 AM  

  • By Blogger Unknown, at 5:21 AM  

  • Great share. If you have doubts in term paper, please visit custom term paper writing service.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:22 AM  

  • Nice list, thanks! But personally I use Custom Essays Writing Service - my friends recommended me this website when I've been searching for a reliable essay writing company. On the ground of their ratings I found and chose the reliable essay writer who helped me overcome difficulties.

    By Blogger AnBlanch, at 9:28 AM  

  • Some of links in your article, doesn't work properly, so it's kind of annoying. Please, fix them until i come back!

    Regards,
    Song.

    By Anonymous Writing Wonder, at 7:26 AM  

  • It is an informative one. It is very interesting to read about christian exorsism. For academic writing service many students use dissertation writing servicein my opinion it is better to choose genuine and best service for academic writing. I follow the same service for my works.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:30 AM  

  • Your way of writing and your style are just excellent as well as at Resumes.Expert service. Thanks for a great post on optimal exorcisms. I’m impressed with your views on this matter!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:52 AM  

  • It is interesting to read about the Christian exorcism. You have well raised about your ideas and views in a detailed manner and it is really good to read. Buy essays online

    By Blogger Unknown, at 6:21 AM  

  • This was a good post on the Christian community and the author has explained the viewpoints and ideas in detail for the readers. Good job and good writing pattern shown over here. dissertation online

    By Blogger Unknown, at 3:42 AM  

  • I have gone through the post that you have written over here and it is really interesting thoughts that you have shared

    By Anonymous custom essay writing service, at 5:05 AM  

  • Clearly, none of the understudies will be fit for taking care of a long exposition. Paper composing is a standout amongst the most troublesome and testing assignments. Understudies are must to invest a considerable measure of energy for looking into and discovering materials for composing thesis.Dissertation Cube

    By Blogger Unknown, at 12:37 AM  

  • Composing your thesis is never simple, notwithstanding for the most experienced and learned scholastics. Right off the bat, you need to finish obligatory PhD-level courses and pass exams before beginning on your exposition. Dissertation Writing Service UK

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:25 AM  

  • I study history and religion at a university and have scientific work in religious studies, I think this article will be useful in my work as I collect various interesting information for this, including work from essay master. In my opinion, this is interesting and most important is an unusual topic for reflection and study. There is no one single position and this makes this question even more exciting. Although not everyone is ready to discuss this.

    By Blogger Amanda Snow, at 10:14 AM  

  • This comment has been removed by the author.

    By Blogger essay service, at 12:58 AM  

  • thank you for sharing the helpful information for me.thnak you so much.I really happy to read your post.thank you so much.best essay writing service

    By Blogger essay service, at 12:59 AM  

  • Nice article) But I don't believe in exorcism and mystic. In my opinion, people have come up with this in order to tickle themselves and other nerves) On the other hand, I use writingleader.com because I believe in perfect articles.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 9:21 AM  

  • Nice article. I really like reading things like this. Thanks for sharing

    By Anonymous Kate Rome, at 6:39 AM  

  • Hello! I always order an essay on https://topwritingservice.com/do-my-excel-homework/ and I help students. Thanks for this topic. I wish everyone a good day and a positive mood!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 8:28 AM  

  • Your post turned my attention. I think many people will like it too. Also, if there are people who look for a really good writing service, here is one https://premium-quality-essays.com/article-writing.html.

    By Blogger Ciana Langham, at 4:40 AM  

  • The blog article is good. It takes about the Optimal Exorcisms. The article says that ‘William Butterfield of Corner Solution has an astonishing tongue-in-cheek take on a strange story about the rise in demand for exorcists from the L.A. Times.’

    Thanks,
    Essays Author

    By Blogger charlie, at 5:26 AM  

  • Evangelicals don't do this, and they tend to wish a whole lot extra frequently for each other and lots more brazenly about Write My Essay individualized issues. Learning how to tell the distinction between demonic ownership and other psychological or physical traumas is the principle aim of the priestly college students.

    By Blogger Stephine, at 2:55 AM  

  • Coupon code was created on the idea based upon sharing discount shopping tips and coupons through an online community system. We motivate discount savvy people to share their experience by utilizing our coupon/deal submission system so that other visitors can get some benefit on their purchases too.
    Once you’re ready to check out, apply the promo code on the retailer’s site. For deals that do not have a code, the discount will be automatically applied. Complete your purchase and save money

    By Anonymous Daddy Coupon, at 12:25 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home