Come for the story;  stay for commentary….

—– Georgia Mother Accused Of Attempted Exorcism On Son (Perry Bulwer/Bright On The Edge/June 18; Marcita Thomas/NBC 11Alive/June 17)

LILBURN, Georgia: Police have charged a Gwinnett County woman for trying to perform an exorcism on her son.

Investigators say 46-year-old Sandra Alfred used handcuffs to restrain her son and withheld food from him for three days while she attempted the exorcism.

The officer who arrested Alfred said she may suffer from schizophrenia and delusions.

Alfred is behind bars with no bond, charged with false imprisonment and cruelty to children.

Her next court appearance is June 26.

This article was found at: http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=131511&catid=3

Update on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 11:34AM by Registered Commenter Perry Bulwer:

This is a breaking story so we still don’t know the religious affiliation, if any, of the mother. However, most exorcisms we hear about are perpetrated by religious believers. This mother may very well suffer from schizophrenia and delusions, but the same can be said for most believers, especially those who perform exorcisms. The distinction between religious extremism like that, and mental illness is so fine as to almost not exist. The similarities are inescapable. For example: hearing God/hearing voices; believing that supernatural beings such as the “holy spirit” or “demons” exist and can enter human bodies; etc. Most religious beliefs are so preposterous that outside the realm of religion, subscribing to such beliefs would certainly lead to the label “mental illness”. But dress up those beliefs in religious garbs (garbage) and the stigma of mental illness is removed, though the behaviour is the same.

Perry Bulwer’s comments reminded me of this note that was posted in response to my Sept 28 entry about murderous mom Katrina Spriggs:

“It seems to me it would be easier to tell who was psychotic if religions didn’t go around promoting psychotic behavior as normal and desirable. “I’m thinking of behaviors like speaking in tongues, listening to imaginary voices, telling and believing in contradictory, impossible stories.

“If people act that way but don’t mention religion, they get referred for help right away. If they include ‘god’ or ‘jesus’ in their insane babbling, people support them with, ‘go sister!’ and ‘amen!’” - Deve (9/28/2008 12:38:12 PM)

For more on the dangers and popularity of exorcism (which the Bible tells us Jesus himself practiced and encouraged), see the entries I posted on Feb 27, 2008 and May 21, 2009.

For a better understanding of how the torture and murder of children is merely the extreme end point on a continuum of abuse that has its roots deeply embedded in Christianity and the Bible, see the two-part entry I posted on Feb 19, 2004.