Teenage Exorcism On YouTube

International News, By Christian Taylor, 30th June, 2009

Believe it or not, but some churches are still practicing exorcisms. One such group, Manifested Glory Ministries in Bridgeport, Connecticut USA, has been criticised for filming the exorcism of a 16 year old boy and uploading the footage to YouTube.

Truth Wins Out, a group that advocates against the ex-gay movement, condemned the Ministry for using child abuse to rid the teenager of “gay demons”.

“This video reveals the underbelly of the ex-gay ministries and shows the medieval mindset of such organisations,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out .

“We call on all such ministries to immediately stop the child abuse, which is harm in the guise of healing. As an organisation that helps victims of such barbaric practices, we can attest to the psychological trauma that can result.”

The video shows the teenager contorting on the floor as adults yell at him for some 20 minutes. “Right now in the name of Jesus, I call the homosexuality, right now in the name of Jesus,” says one. “Rip it from his throat! Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!” says another. At one point the boy vomits into a bag.

A church official told The Associated Press that the teenager was not injured or abused, and that the church isn’t homophobic.

“We believe a man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man,” the Rev. Patricia McKinney told The Associated Press. “We have nothing against homosexuals. I just don’t agree with their lifestyle.”

McKinney added that it wasn’t an exorcism, more of a casting out of spirits. She said that the teenager approached them for help and the church took him in, giving him clothes and care.

“This young man came to us. We didn’t go to him,” said McKinney. “He was dressing like a woman and everything. And he didn’t want to be like that.”

The church has since removed the clip from YouTube, however some of the footage can be viewed here.

While most churches consider exorcisms to be a thing of the past, Kamora Herrington, a spokesperson for youth organisation True Colors, told Associated Press that she believed that this happens more often than one would imagine.

“This happens all the time,” she said. “This is not isolated.”

Robin McHaelin, another spokesperson for True Colors, said that the practice is horrifying. “What saddens me is the people that are doing this think they are doing something in the kid’s best interests, when in fact they’re murdering his spirit… They have this kid in a full nelson. That just seems abusive to me.”

The boy in the video has been told by his pastor not to speak to the press.

Anthony Venn-Brown has experienced the trauma of an exorcism first hand. Once a happily married father of two and an evangelist preacher for the Assemblies of God Church, Anthony is now, amongst other things, the driving force behind Freedom2 b[e], a group that provides assistance for gay people torn between their sexuality and their faith.

While studying at a Bible College in New Zealand he told his principal that he’d been having ‘homosexual thoughts’.

“Like the diagnosis of a terminal disease you don’t want to hear from a doctor, the principal suggested that maybe I had demons in my life and that exorcism was the only way to be released from their power,” writes Anthony in his book A Life Of Unlearning. In an interview with Same Same last year he said that exorcisms are extremely complex.

“What makes them complex is that you’ve got to be in a mental state to believe that an evil power has actually possessed you,” said Anthony. “If you’re ready to believe that, you’re not in a good place. If you’re desperately looking for a solution to a problem, whether it’s an addiction or an obsession that causes you great stress, you’ll give control. You’ll be open to suggestion.

“Exorcisms can be very dramatic,” said Anthony. “There can be physical manifestations – hands contorting, face tightening, screaming. You can feel physical sensations in your body too. It feels involuntary. You’re also asked to do a lot of breathing to expel the demon, and because you’re vulnerable you attribute a lot of these feelings to demonic forces, when they’re actually symptoms of hyperventilation.”

Anthony said that the more they yelled at him, the stronger the sensations became, until his hands, fingers and face became contorted and tight and he fell off the seat onto the floor. “In some cases, some people have such a low sense of self, that they’ll perform for the attention, even if they don’t realise it consciously. All of a sudden everyone’s interested in them.”

There are scientific explanations for many aspects of exorcisms. Sometimes the symptoms are associated with mental illnesses, like hysteria, mania, psychosis, Tourette’s syndrome, epilepsy, schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder.