Religion

I do not believe in the 'Great divide', where people and groups tend to isolate themselves from bad influences. It makes them unapproachable and more sensible to extremes. Therefore they get much easier upset on the slightest breach of familiarity. 'It's impossible to live with those people.' or 'We can not let that happen again.' are expressions of intolerance and do not say anything about the morals 'those people' live by, which could be equally outstanding or even maybe more so, but how could they know? They believed to be right in the first place (most have A book), so did not need to listen to one word anyway.

I do not believe in some great evil that temps us or a good shepherd in the sky that leads us, or anything like that. I think that's just brushing of your responsibility as a human being. If you have no education at all, if you steal from an elderly, you know you're wrong. Even chimp-babies and puppies know that. They did not need a god or a moral education and neither do we. If we tend to do the wrong thing, this is mostly initiated by peer pressure or fear (as it is common in most religious societies).

“The demon can speak through anybody”

“‘The evil spirits are telling you what’s wrong is right,” he says. “ A demon could take hold at any point in life. ‘There are some who speak but we know this is the demon. The demon can speak through anybody.”

This is the view of the Rev John Ogbe-Ogbeide, a pentecostal preacher in London, and one of many who perform exorcisms on lesbian and gay people to drive the “demon” of homosexuality out of them.

Rev Sharon Ferguson of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement says their group is “frequently contacted by people left traumatised by the experience.”

Pepper Harow, Local Campaigns Officer, for the British Humanist Association says:

“The reports about these ‘exorcisms’ are deeply concerning, especially if children and vulnerable adults are involved or being coerced to take part in such activities. Any allegations of coercion, exploitation or harm caused by such activities should be investigated. In addition, it is highly insulting to lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals to suggest that homosexuality is a problem in need of a ‘cure’ in the first place. There is no place for such activity in 21st century Britain.”

An American church which performs similar rituals recently posted a video on YouTube. Often the victims suffer convulsions. Here you can see for yourself what happens during the 20 minute ordeal of screaming and hysteria.

This is nothing short of child abuse.

I am not in favour of banning homophobic religious people from expressing their views on homosexuality, no matter how personally distressing I might find them. I am in favour of free speech as long as it does not cross the line into incitement to violence. I do not call on the law to act against fire and brimstone preachers. But I am stunned that the law has not acted against people like Rev John Ogbe-Ogbeide. The charges against the practitioners of this medieval ritual must surely include assault, battery and even kidnapping.

If a parent were seen treating their child in this manner, it would not surprise me if the neighbours called social services. In fact, if the police were filmed interrogating a suspect in a similar fashion, we can be sure demands for a public enquiry would follow. It would be a scandal. Yet just one church - one of hundreds of fundamentalist churches in Britain - admits to doing about five of these ‘gay’ exorcisms a year.

from Harry's Place by Brett