Originally Posted By skinnerbox Here's yet another notch for the "religious right wingnuts shouldn't be elected" fence post: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/11/1370092/-State-Senator-Justin-Harris-and-Wife-Believed-Adopted-Daughters-Possessed-by-Demons-Had-an-Exorcism">http://www.dailykos.com/story/...Exorcism</a> State Senator Justin Harris and Wife Believed Adopted Daughters Possessed by Demons, Had an Exorcism <> No, really, they had an exorcism. If you haven't heard by now, Arkansas State Senator Justin Harris (Republican, of course) and his wife Marsha are attempting to fight off a huge scandal. They fostered and adopted two little girls, aged 3 and 6. The 6-year-old had been sexually abused before she came into the Harris home and the Harrises knew of the childrens' emotional disturbances. There were originally three sisters taken into the Harris house but they sent the oldest back to the state before formalizing the adoption. She was too disturbed for them to care for her, even though they had been warned in advance that she had some severe problems. In fact, county DHS workers warned the Harrises not to foster and adopt any of them, because they weren't a good match for these little girls. But the Harrises pulled strings, got the head of DHS to overrule them, and got the girls anyway. It lasted 14 months, at the most. Harris and his wife "re-homed" the other two girls a little over a year after taking them into their home to a family whose father later raped the oldest girl. The man was an employee of the Harris' Christian-based daycare facility. The man was fired from the daycare facility in the middle of the "re-homing", ostensibly for excessive absenteeism. That didn't cause the Harrises to take the little girls back. At the time the arrest came to light Justin Harris went on public record as being sickened that such a thing had happened, but assured the public that none of the children at his daycare were harmed. What he didn't say was that the little girl who was raped was his own adopted daughter that he had given away to the rapist. The Arkansas Times is all over this story. Every couple of days some new information comes to light that directly contradicts the Harrises. The latest article quotes the Harris family's babysitter, now a college student, previous foster parents of the girls, the children's biological mother, and unnamed sources. This here is the kicker: "The first night I was over there, I just broke down and cried with this little girl because I just felt so bad for her," Goldsborough said. According to Goldsborough, the two girls were kept in separate rooms that were outfitted with locks, alarms and video cameras. They were not allowed to be around each other because of the Harrises' belief in demonic possession and telepathy, she said. While Annie would be allowed to roam the house and interact with other family members, Mary was often confined to her room, Goldsborough said. "We couldn't ever take [Mary] out. I'd watch her from a camera. I think it's crazy. They were adopted, so they're going to want TLC." Goldsborough said the "exorcism" was performed by specialists from Alabama who came to the house to orchestrate the event. Other sources confirmed to the Times that Marsha Harris told them at least one "exorcism" was performed on the girls. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/casting-out-demons-why-justin-harris-got-rid-of-kids-he-applied-pressure-to-adopt/Content?oid=3725371">http://www.arktimes.com/arkans...=3725371</a> The babysitter states very clearly that the 6 year old girl was kept isolated from the family. Previous articles suggest the bedroom in which she was kept was "sanitized" of any books or toys. They kept her isolated in a bedroom with only a surveillance camera for company. The Harris family believed both girls were demon-possessed and could communicate telepathically. So they scheduled an exorcism. An exorcism was performed on little girls aged 3 and 6. Let that sink in for a minute. Of course the Harrises deny such things occurred, and blame DHS for...pretty much everything. No doubt there is some questionable behavior in at least one DHS employee, but that doesn't excuse Justin and Marsha Harris for the things they have done to two vulnerable little girls. <> If this is what your 'belief in God' pushes you into doing to helpless minors with mental and emotional problems, then you need to be locked up for a very long time for child abuse. I am sick and tired of this religious garbage influencing adults into irrational beliefs and behaviors. We are no longer living in the Dark Ages. Demon possession was an understandable explanation for mental illness before medical science advanced. But those days are long since passed. Crazy shyteheads like this politician and his wife need to ditch their tent revival nonsense and join the rest of us in the 21st Century. Blasted Bible-thumpers and their effed up fantasies. I want to pitch the whole lot of 'em into the tent revival snake pit and let 'their god' protect them from harm, if that's possible. Their brand of religion is pure poison for the rest of us!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Surely you don't believe one word of what that guy said, do you? The guy got in over his head, adopting children more deeply troubled than he expected. You don't just take kids to the human society when they become a problem... not if you want to stay in the legislature. What to do... what to do??? Oh, I know. say the devil made him do it.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox If the wife admitted to the press that they performed at least one exorcism on the girls, then I believe that these wingnuts did precisely that. Of course they were in over their heads with the girls. But I have no doubt that they fell back on their Christian fundamentalist beliefs regarding demon possession when nothing they tried seemed to work. Their egos were way too big for them to admit that they didn't know what they were doing. So they took the easy way out and blamed the boogeyman. As most religious nuts do at some point in their pathetic hypocritical lives.
Originally Posted By utahjosh Wow, skinner, you must be in a really bad mood today. I hope you feel better soon. Not all "relgious nuts" live "pathetic hypocritical lives." Sure, some do. Like this couple.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip There is only one major religion (I am aware of) in the U.S. that officially sanctions exorcism, and that is the Catholic Church. I think there are only 7 or 8 Catholics in Arkansas, and I doubt that guy was one of them. He was just a freelance wacko.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Not all "relgious nuts" live "pathetic hypocritical lives.">> Yes, Josh. They do. By definition. That's why we call them "nuts." They've allowed their religiosity to get the better of their logical and rational thinking. Beliefs such as demon possession have no place in modern society. Period. Anyone espousing this type of nonsense -- especially those who have attained higher education and sit in political office -- should be summarily dismissed as a wackadoodle. And any elected official engaging in this kind of child abuse should be kicked out of office and permanently banned from politics. It's bad enough when Joe Schmoe engages in this behavior. But when our elected representatives do this crap? Geez. What a laughingstock this country has become to the rest of the world.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<I think there are only 7 or 8 Catholics in Arkansas...>> You just made Pope Francis cry! Shame on you, RT! ;^D
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<You just made Pope Francis cry! Shame on you, RT! ;^D>> Have you been to Arkansas? I think I very likely made Pope Francis quite happy!!
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>There is only one major religion (I am aware of) in the U.S. that officially sanctions exorcism, and that is the Catholic Church.<< Also, before attempting an exorcism, the RCC will first exhaust all other options, including psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Also, the RCC is not the only Christian denomination with exorcists. All of the Eastern Orthodox churches have them as well. Also, per wikipedia, there are 122,000 Cathlics in Arkansas.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Weird... I've been a Catholic for 67 years. Educated in Catholic schools for 9 years and this is the first time that I have ever heard that we sanction exorcism. I got a few demons that I would like to send packing. Anyone have a phone number of a reliable exorcist?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Well, as fkurucz said it is very rarely done, and then only as a last resort. You'd probably have to spend some time is a psych ward first, and who wants to deal with that?
Originally Posted By TomSawyer The southern churches have to be careful of casting out demons for fear of losing their allies in the GOP.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I'm sure that Obamacare doesn't because, according to a whole lot of people that are never wrong, that was created by the Devil himself. It would be counter-productive to cover that.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Different Republican in a different state. But the overreaching religiosity is still at work: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/16/1378220/-Iowa-Republican-There-is-one-true-God-Christianity-should-be-taught-in-public-schools">http://www.dailykos.com/story/...-schools</a> <> The American Taliban is on the move in 2015. This time in Iowa, where Tamara Scott, a Republican National Committeewoman made the case for teaching Christianity in public schools during an address to the Republican Presidential Forum: From Right Wing Watch: “What you don’t know is that yesterday, the imam prayed,” she said. “That one didn’t make the press. You see, when we’re not willing to defend our God in the public square, we shouldn’t be surprised when others try to replace Him. When we fail to teach it in the public school, the history of this nation, the God mentioned in our Declaration, the Supreme Being mentioned in the preamble of this constitution of the state. And we not only don’t teach it, but we surpress it and refuse to allow it to be taught.” “We shouldn’t be surprised when others do differently and expect differently and think that religion is just about equality, because it’s not,” she continued. “There’s only one true God. And the Bible’s quite clear about what happens when we refuse to tell the truth and we allow others to tell a wrong truth. That’s where we’re at. We’ve been neglectful, we’ve been very neglectful. So no one even spoke about the imam being there yesterday or the Muslims that were all around the center of the capitol, talking and evangelizing about their way of life. “Do they have that freedom? Absolutely. But the shame is that so little people know the truth about the heritage, the Christian heritage — I’m sorry, Mr. President, but we are, we were a Christian nation and we were founded on Christian values.” <> More at the link. These people are dangerous. Not only do they believe that we were founded by Christian leaders determined to make Christianity the national religion (we weren't and they weren't), these religious zealots simply do not understand the fundamental principle of 'separation of church and state.' It's disturbing enough when someone is supremely confident that they know *exactly* what their god wants them to do. But it's even more disturbing when that person judges someone else for not being privy to that 'higher communication': “We shouldn’t be surprised when others do differently and expect differently and think that religion is just about equality, because it’s not. There’s only one true God." This is how the Nazi Party began. Segregation of the populace into different religious classes, and the justification of killing those of the 'lesser religions' simply by knowing the "one true god." These people need to be voted out of office and quick. This is the very reason bigotry and intolerance exist: "My god is the one true god and he doesn't like you." Put the Holocaust front and center and never, ever let us forget it.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer If we're founded on Christian values then the woman needs to shut up and be quiet. She has no biblical right to try to teach men or to hold authority over them.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: To lump all Christians who still believe in demon possession into the same camp of 'nuts' is jumping to a wrong conclusion. Just because you don't happen to believe in the Bible, yourself, doesn't mean its principals aren't as true in the modern world as they were in the 'dark ages'. But, of course, this is something everyone has to learn for themselves. In the meantime, I would caution anyone who is an atheist or an agnostic to not make such bold, conclusive statements against the Bible or modern day Christians. When you assume you know the truth about such things, you set yourself up for a mighty big fall.
