So whats the 'Scientific'/Atheists explanation for Demonic Posession?

Question

Haunted Houses

Witchcraft

Of course you are going to answer with something attacking religion like 'god isn't real' instead of answering the question..as usual..

but i understand that there are alot of nice atheists who don't waste their time saying bad things about God and actually answer questions and i hope that you one day outnumber the Negative atheists that swarm Yahoo Answers.

Not like I ever say anything bad about you.I'm just asking this question because i really don't know the Scientific explanation for it.

oh and i apologize for any Christian who tries to convert you.

That's not my goal,I'm just wondering what you all believe and i would enjoy a civilized conversation with an atheist for i would love to know your thoughts on everything.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I am what you would call a nice atheist. I dont want to disrespect anyone. I am happy people have their reasons for believing what they believe, I just personally can not believe it.

and as for your question, I live my life in facts, I need strong evidence to believe someone, so I just cant believe that it is real when someone is flailing around. I used to do that to my sister when I was a kid and pretend I was having seizures. she started crying once, mean I know, but hey I was a kid.

And I really wish people would separate atheist and science. I do think we should base more of how we began in science, but I dont know too much about it. I cant believe in something just because someone told me too. It works both ways. I just find it more comforting to know that I am not basing my life on something written forever ago.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

coool a nice ahteist who gives me answers instead of speaks badly of my religion.

you have my respect.

Answer 2

Demonic possession isn't real. We have different tones of voice that can be expressed at the same time. It happens involuntarily. There is scientific evidence of that. As far as the body movements that go on during the above, those are just seizures. There is scientific evidence of that as well. The people who experience "exorcisms" are just, crazy.

Source(s):

The Exorcism Of Emily Rose scared me half to death as they said it was based on a true story. I researched all of this stuff after seeing the movie.

Answer 3

There's a perfectly natural explanation for all of those things, none of which has anything to do with demons or ghosts or anything else supernatural.
So-called "possessions" have been shown time and time and time again to be the result of some sort of mental illness. Usually schitzophrenia.
So-called "haunted houses" have been shown time and time and time again to be the result of anything from problems with plumbing, to hypnagogic hallucinations (wake-dreaming), to complete fabrications altogether.
Witchcraft has been shown most of the time to be a result of the power of suggestion. If someone thinks a 'spell' was put on them, and they believe the 'spell' will work, then they can inadvertantly make it work themselves.
Those are just a *sample* of explanations for those sorts of things. Each individual one can have any one of a *number* of completely natural explanations.

Answer 4

Demonic possession- untreated mental illness, possibly combined with epilepsy.

Haunted houses- probably the wind, dust, overactive imaginations. Our brains have evolved to spot patterns and faces, so it's understandable that sometimes we see them when they're not really there.

Witchcraft- the power of suggestion. If you think someone is cursing you to have bad luck, you'll only notice things that go wrong.

Answer 5

Perhaps it's just the person having a momentary lapse of sanity.

But until there's any evidence to suggest that it actually is a demon, I will continue to believe that those demonic possession deals are simply "placebos" that are drastically exaggerated by "The Haunting" and other ghost "Documentary" shows.

Answer 6

No such thing as haunted houses. People get themselves into a mindset, and they see things or hear things that aren't there. It's quite common.

Witchcraft isn't real either.

As for demonic possession, it is either a seriously deluded individual . . . or a legitimately crazy person. People convince themselves they are gods, that they have powers, that they have been abducted by UFO's, that they've seen bigfoot . . . why is demonic possession any different? It is delusion or a mental disorder.

Answer 7

Demonic Possession does not exist.

People who are believed to suffer from such a thing may be faking. They my be suffering from a medical condition or mental illness. They may be suffering from nothing at all. I've seen claims of demon possession because a 1 year old isn't potty trained - that isn't demon possession, that's normal.

Answer 8

Demonic possession: Not real. Either staged by someone people look up to, drug related or a mental illness which is not being treated properly.

Haunted houses: Not real. They're probably caused by paranoia among the people who live there, or the stories about them are total lies.

Witchcraft: Not real. Nothing more to it, just not real.

Answer 9

Lulz, that's what.
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Okay, on a serious note-- in the case of Annalise Michael, she seemed to suffer from schizophrenia and seizure disorder, but never once was she give antipsychotics and anti-convulsants at the same time.

Ultimately, I think what causes a "demonic possession" is not just mental illness, but neglect of that mental illness-- and generally, already being devout (and fearfully so) will make your psychosis manifest that way, since that was already a mental preoccupation. In the same way, war veterans who suffer from schizophrenia tend to have their paranoid symptoms manifest as "they," "the enemy" or even "the government" (rather than demons) coming after them, etc.

Answer 10

possession = psyhcological issues, psychosis or schizophrenia.

Haunted houses, could be psychological, psychosomatic, or in some cases multidimentional things. Labs have shown that atoms travel in this "dimension" and out of it in controled tests... If string, or membrane theory is correct, then ghosts, hauntings, and psychic phenomenon can be particles traveling between their real dimension and ours... and we can either see them, or be affected by them in some way..

Witchcraft? Examples? If your talking harry potter stuff, thats not real.

Answer 11

I've lived 80 years and I have spent the night in places that I was told were haunted. I never saw anything that didn't have an explanation and I've never seen a "Possession" of anyone that wasn't a fundamentalist Christian (I was a Pentecostal until 1959) and those were drama queens that needed mental health care.

Answer 12

Epilepsy. Tourette's. Bipolar disorders. Schizophrenia.

You name it. If it's a medical condition, demons have been blamed for it. "Demon possession" is just another word for "We don't know what's happening."

As for haunted houses and witchcraft, it's all the same: to the extent that supernatural claims are made, I think they're nonsense. But to the extent that the claims can be tested, I'm curious. (BTW, "Ghost Hunters" does not count as evidence.)

Answer 13

Religious hysteria, brought on by people working themselves up into a frenzy of hysterical attention seeking, or genuinely serious bouts of mental illness brought on by other people bombarding them from childhood with tales of hellfire and vengeance, and convincing them that almost every type of thought which is natural to human beings, is a sin*

There are lots of possibilties to do with "hauntings" It depends what exactly is supposed to have happened, where it happened, and who saw it, what state of mind they were in, and what is going on with the building.

Withcraft is just herbalism and wishful thinking:)*

Answer 14

Do you drill a hole in their skull to release demons, demons causing headaches? That is what our ancestors used to believe. Of course, this is ridiculous because it isn't written in the Bible, but if it had, no doubt there would have been Christians following it.

Answer 15

mental illness and mass hysteria. Pretty much the same things I blame religion on. I have read a few books on both subjects just in passin but never a case that could not be explained ion some way once you took a good look at it without the supernatural goal in mind.

Answer 16

Demonic possessions, witchcraft, and haunted houses aren't real in my humble opinion.

If witchcraft worked there'd certainly be greedy men making LOADS of money off it. That'd be a multi-billion dollar industry, not some pass time for weirdos.

Answer 17

possessions are a. manifestations of mental illness, and/ or b. a means of attracting attention to oneself.

Source(s):

jever notice how folks arent getting possessed as often as they used to?

Answer 18

What demonic possession? What haunted houses? What witchcraft? People believe in all manner of odd things, but there is no proof of any of those things. Perhaps an example would help us give you a more "scientific" explanation.

Answer 19

Mental illnesses, wild imaginations, misperceptions, optical illusions, hallucinations, and/or outright lies. Take your pick.

Answer 20

The most frequent psychiatric symptoms attributed to demonic possession include hallucinations, mental disorders with strange and antisocial behavior.

Answer 21

Mental disease.

A person who is screaming and flailing around because there "possessed by satan" is probably suffering from some sort of personality disorder that can be treated with medication.

Answer 22

Mental illness and/or epilepsy. In some cases it's a desperate need for attention which the exorcists are only to happy to provide.

Answer 23

My opinion, is that they're faking, or maybe they're a schizophrenic or have some other mental problem.

Answer 24

The person is either mentally ill, just looking for attention or hysteric. They may be thinking that they could be possessed, and act like they are.

Answer 25

Why explain something that isn't even there. No demons, no haunted houses, no n o t h i n g.

Answer 26

About 90% of the time it is a cerebral chemical imbalance.

Answer 27

Bullshit for the thinking-impaired...

Answer 28

Psychosis

Answer 29

all religions fit the varied number of mental diseases of abnormal psychology

Answer 30

...

Answer 31

read "A Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan" . that book will answer it better than i can.