…and this is a 
It's demons. The whole state is infested with 'em.
There was a big conference on exorcism offered by the Catholic church in Texas; it was apparently well-attended by an enthusiastic crowd who were anxious to learn how to purge the state of evil invisible magic beings. Bishop Pfeifer had this to say:
Pfeifer said he believes there is demonic influence in West Texas manifested through cults…
Oh, sure, he went on to say the demons were secular and on the internet, but I think he would have been better served looking at the wackaloons babbling at his conference.
Comments
Posted by: Geds
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June 24, 2011 11:55 AM
Pfeifer said he believes there is demonic influence in West Texas manifested through cults…
Did he present as evidence the fact that all there are in Texas are steers and queers, so if you ain't one, you've got to be the other?
Posted by: LarianLeQuella
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June 24, 2011 11:58 AM
I'd contend that just being a "Texan" qualifies you as a cult member...
Posted by: Red McWilliams
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June 24, 2011 12:03 PM
There's very little secularism in west Texas. What little we have is concentrated near Dallas, Austin and Houston. It'd be cool to see an Odessa Atheists Meetup group but I'm not holding my breath.
PZ, after the Freethought Convention in October, could you stick around for a month or 12?
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/_KOE.mp8xJjyYf2Cl16LBc5hgGJpVmE-#68a30
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June 24, 2011 12:04 PM
There are definitely a lot of daemons on the Internet.
Posted by: peicurmudgeon
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June 24, 2011 12:07 PM
I'm on the internet and very secular, does that make me a demon even if I'm not from Texas? Will he travel all the way to PEI (Canada) to exorcise my demons? That's almost as far away from Texas as you can get and still be in North America.
Posted by: elnauhual
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June 24, 2011 12:08 PM
Each year in Mexico is held the "Congreso Nacional de Exorcistas y Auxiliares de Liberación"
(international congress for exorcist and auxiliary for liberation)
Rivera opens congress of exorcists
In the event that takes place behind closed doors, said many people become so skeptical that deny the existence of the Devil as being perverted and perverting, and all phenomena merely reduced to psychological, cultural or paranorma"
So seems this nonsense is contagious...
Of course it´s not surprise Archbisho Rivera is involved in scandals for protecting Pedrast priest..
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb064/is_2_29/ai_n31058440/
so, probably church need to exorcise themselves... or turn to the other side...
At least the commandments in the "Satanic Bible" states "Do not harm small children"..
Posted by: raven
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June 24, 2011 12:11 PM
Of course there are cults in West Texas. And north, south, and west Texas.
We call them the fundies. They are evil.
But you don't have to give them credit for being infected with supernatural demons. We humans are easily capable of creating our own.
Posted by: MetaEd
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June 24, 2011 12:13 PM
When they're talking about West Texas cults they probably don't have atheists in mind so much as groups like House Of Yahweh.
Posted by: Birger Johansson
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June 24, 2011 12:25 PM
West Texas is where the second-rate demons go. The rest of us sample the entire world :-)
I think west Texas is the driest part of the state. Is this related to why non-fundie cults find members there? An extra miserable existence inspiring a need for diversions?
Exorcism indeed... This is something they could use to attract tourists. "If you look at the left side of the bus you can see a fundie church protruding from the slums. And at the right is the place where they go to perform their exorcisms".
Posted by: Ye Olde Blacksmith
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June 24, 2011 12:25 PM
Geds@1: har har never heard that one before. *sigh*
Yes, this conference took place in Texas, which is full of dumbfuckery. However, before too many pile onto the" point and laugh at Texans" train, remember that it was an RCC sponsored conference. The RCC is friggin' everywhere so it ain't just us this time.
Posted by: UpAgainstTheRopes
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June 24, 2011 12:41 PM
it be laughable if it weren't so sinister.
Posted by: MadScientist
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June 24, 2011 12:47 PM
West Texas, Eastern Texas - the whole state is full o' 'em danged Jesus cults. Oh ... wasn't the bishop counting the Jesus cults?
Posted by: scottportman
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June 24, 2011 1:12 PM
I find this whole exorcism thing both interesting and entertaining. Demons and "jinn" in Arabic come out of the Greek and Latin words for deities associated with localities (daemon, genius). This is a distant echo of the Church's need to extinguish the polytheistic and local religions that came before... it's an echo of 4th century social control. To make it more entertaining and strange, it's happening in West Texas, mixed in with all sorts of echoes of pre-Colombian Mesoamerican beliefs still alive in the primarily Latino communities who are the chief beneficiaries(?) of formal Catholic exorcisms.
Of course it IS batsh!t crazy; that goes without saying. Count me as someone who finds this more interesting than threatening. I'm a frequent reader and a rare commenter here - sometimes I think the only way to survive as an atheist in America is to embrace the strangeness and reserve the anger or disgust or political action for when religion starts crossing over into governance and public policy. But hell yes, I'd go to a West Texas exorcism and keep my mouth shut and enjoy it for what it is.
Posted by: Glen Davidson
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June 24, 2011 1:20 PM
Dembski and other IDiots have been in Texas, perhaps still are.
Is this supposed to explain Dembski? Or the ICR?
Glen Davidson
Posted by: Ye Olde Blacksmith
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June 24, 2011 1:36 PM
Scott@13:
Would you still keep quiet and enjoy it if the recipient was not a willing participant? Or the ceremony begins to get abusive or dangerous? IIRC there are many cases where exorcisms have included kidnapping, trauma, and deaths. These are not quaint little rituals with mumbling and insense. They are nasty and dangerous.
Posted by: DavidCT
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June 24, 2011 1:55 PM
Why not watch us demons live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-atheist-experience
4:30 CT most Sundays.
Sorry PZ I could not resist. Hope to see you at TAM9 in a few weeks.
David the Heathen (AETV) crew
Posted by: truthspeaker
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June 24, 2011 2:20 PM
But remember, Catholics are nothing like those extreme fundamentalists.
Posted by: scottportman
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June 24, 2011 2:26 PM
Blacksmith@15 - If the recipient is unwilling, of course I would be against it. This is something to be dealt with as a public health and law enforcement issue. The mentally ill in many countries are subjected to all sorts of exorcism nonsense, including beatings and such, and this can also happen in the US. The context is one thing; the abuse is another. It's a really interesting and nuanced area. For some persons with mental illness who are religious (I know, I know... most people here think religion itself is a form of mental illness), religious rituals and actions can be useful. Beatings are obviously unhelpful as is coercion. But here's an example. In Kurdistan, women who are childless gather for sessions at Sufi shrines and this gives them some comfort. Physicians are instructed to let them pray and not berate them for superstition, but instead give them a good clinical workup, and check in case their infertility places them at risk of abandonment or domestic violence. Same should be the case in Texas. If an exorcism involves coercing a person, especially one with diminished freedom (child, person with mental illness) and/or if it is violent, then call the cops. Otherwise, let people do their thing. My problem with Texas is not that people go to exorcisms, but that nobody seems to want to fund public mental health programs adequately.
Posted by: Beatrice, anormalement indécente
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June 24, 2011 2:27 PM
It's all fun and games until someone dies of starvation and dehydration while a priest exorcises their life.Posted by: greame
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June 24, 2011 2:28 PM
That's quite an assumption. The Atheist Experience broadcasts out of Texas.
Are you in PEI?? I was just there a few weeks ago! Beautiful place. Lobster right out of the ocean, can't beat that!
Posted by: jfbode1029
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June 24, 2011 2:36 PM
Is he talking about
Roman GrantWarren Jeffs and the FLDS compounds?Posted by: Dude... Real Men Watch Ponies!
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June 24, 2011 2:37 PM
@greame
#20
So... The Atheist Experience is a cult?
Posted by: greame
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June 24, 2011 2:39 PM
I was pointing out that blaketing everyone in Texas as a cult is an unfounded assumption.
Posted by: Dude... Real Men Watch Ponies!
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June 24, 2011 2:44 PM
@greame
#23
I was supporting your view by making an outrageous statement based on...
Posted by: scornucopia
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June 24, 2011 2:57 PM
Large children, on the other hand, you can go ahead and eat.
Posted by: greame
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June 24, 2011 3:22 PM
Ah! Good, good, then. My brain is only working at half capacity at the moment.
Posted by: djfav
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June 24, 2011 3:46 PM
"...but more so through secular things in the world that can be used for good, such as the Internet."
Don't look now, but I think the Bishop is onto us.
Posted by: feralboy12, der Ken-Puppe Sie außerhalb in 1983 verlassen
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June 24, 2011 3:58 PM
I'm not sure it's about diversions, necessarily. I recently ran across an old science magazine from the 90's with an article about cultures from arid climates vs. cultures from wetter climes. The arid climates correlate pretty strongly with patriarchal, monotheistic cultures, while societies in wetter regions tend to be more egalitarian and animistic.
I wonder where I put that magazine...
Posted by: Tualha
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June 24, 2011 4:10 PM
Obligatory Texas daemon story: http://rmitz.org/freebsd.daemon.html
Posted by: Vicki, Chief Assistant to the Assistant Chief
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June 24, 2011 4:31 PM
Scottportman: [citation needed] on that etymological claim. Arabic is a non-Indo-European language, and Wikipedia offers a completely different etymology, from an Arabic verb meaning "hide" or "be hidden."
Yes, words do get borrowed across all sorts of linguistic gaps, but it's too easy to assume that words that sound similar must be from the same root. (It seems plausible that the English form "genie" was influenced by "genius," but that doesn't say anything about the Arabic root.)
Posted by: CosmoVanPelt
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June 24, 2011 5:07 PM
@Tualha #29 : I have two of those Daemon shirts, wore one last month. None of the techies around Dallas or Austin has ever asked me if I was a Satanist. On the other hand, I was wondering in what cosmogony a demon was secular, and now I know.
Posted by: Algernon, elle sans chapeau
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June 24, 2011 5:07 PM
I always thought that crazy cult leaders just tend to run out into the desert because there are usually fewer people there and they can set up things *their* way more easily.
They also run off to jungles and stuff. I think the important thing is isolating your victims.
Posted by: scottportman
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June 24, 2011 5:11 PM
Vicki:
Interesting. I don't have a citation, but this reminds me of another Arabic word for which the origin can be disputed and may or may not be an import: "Sufi" can come from the Arabic word "safa" (pure), or the Greek word "sofia" (knowledge). Given the continuity between eastern ascetic Christianity and Sufism, I'm going to argue for a Greek origin to "Sufi". In terms of "jinn", I'd be curious as to whether this was an Arabic word in pre-Roman times, or whether it came into usage after Arabia was connected by trade (and in Petra, conquest) with Rome. Maybe now that the U of C has finally finished the Assyrian dictionary someone can check to see if this root is in Assyrian too. That would solve the controversy on the side of an indigenous Arabic/Semetic root. According to Wikipedia, "Majnoon" or "crazy" comes from the root (jnn) which means "hidden". However, "Majnoon" actually carries a strong connotation of "possessed" much more than having one's mind hidden or occluded - which would argue for it deriving from "genius" or "spirit". I don't have a source, but it would not totally shock me if the Arabic root "jnn" actually was an import. Or maybe not...
Posted by: Algernon, elle sans chapeau
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June 24, 2011 5:40 PM
By the way, if no one has posted it yet:
http://www.americaschoice2012.org/
Is Perry your choice for president? Yes or No. I'm sure this poll will be jacked with.
For extra fun... try a Texas zipcode like 75231, 75050, 75230, 78704, or 75062.
Posted by: Harbo
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June 24, 2011 5:48 PM
Pot
Kettle
Black
Posted by: Harbo
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June 24, 2011 5:54 PM
PS
love the "Yank Tank" at West Texas Autos..
Posted by: The Archive, Repository of Random Information
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June 24, 2011 5:58 PM
It's almost as if the RCC is in super-fast historical rewind. By the time The Rat is finished, it will be selling indulgences, torturing heretics, and excommunicating little girls who get raped by their stepfathers. Oh, wait....
Posted by: djfav
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June 24, 2011 6:04 PM
@Algernon,
"Is Perry your choice for president? Yes or No. I'm sure this poll will be jacked with."
Challenge accepted.
Posted by: djfav
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June 24, 2011 6:07 PM
Actually, I'm not sure that poll can be jacked with. At least not the way I'd normally do it.
Posted by: drumprof
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June 24, 2011 7:09 PM
He's right...they are manifested through cults. Primarily through the biggest and most successful cult in history...The Roman Catholic church....the one with all the trappings of a cult...the worship of a human sacrifice by crucifixion and ritualized human cannibalism using crackers....
Posted by: marykincade
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June 25, 2011 1:47 AM
There's actually a small pocket of secularism around Odessa. I'm secretary of the UTPB chapter of the Secular Student Alliance, which brings in a few lecture events on the campus. But more along the lines of what you're looking for, there's the Freethinker's Society of the Permian Basin which is centered around Midland and holds social events, though it's not extremely active.
Posted by: eumenidis
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June 25, 2011 5:42 AM
YeOldeBlacksmith@#10
Thank you for pointing out that Texas doesn't have a monopoly on superstitious, bigoted lunacy.
Posted by: Crazy Cat Lady
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June 25, 2011 7:43 AM
Secular demons are the worst king of demons.
Posted by: Old Yippie
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June 25, 2011 2:29 PM
This should not surprise anyone who has actually been to West Texas.
Posted by: Quotidian Torture
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June 25, 2011 3:50 PM
I've spent the last four years of my life out in West Texas, and I can only wish there were demonic cults out here.
At least then I'd have something to do on the weekends.
Posted by: GravityIsJustATheory
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June 25, 2011 6:55 PM
Regarding jinn, genies and geniuses:
According to my dictionary (Oxford Dictionary of English), jinn is Arabic, and there is no mention of it being derived from or related to Latin. (It gives jinn as singular in English, and jinn or jinns as the plural, bur in the original Arabic, jinni is the singular and jinn).
Genius is Latin in origin, and originally meant a spirit associated with a person or place (later coming to mean a person's characteristic disposition, then "a person's natural ability", and finally the modern sense of "a person of exceptional ability").
Genie originally (17th C) meant a guardian spirit (from French, and ultimately from genius). When the Arabian Nights was translated from Arabic to French in the 18th C, it was used as the translation of Jinn, because of the similarity of form and sense to Jinni.
Posted by: A Bad Idea (♀)
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June 26, 2011 4:34 PM
It looks like you could make an argument for English "genie" being simultaneously derived from *both* Latin "genius" and Arabic "jinn." Genius <-> Jinn is, apparently, an interesting coincidence rather than an actual relation.
(The way I'd always heard it was jinn -> genius.)