[Grovenet] Not only magic thinking...

[Walt Wentz]

Bobby Jindal, the Exorcist

By Charles M. Blow
A day after Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s widely ripped Howdy  
Doody-meets-Mister Rogers response to President Obama’s address, Max  
Blumenthal piled it on with an interesting article on The Daily Beast  
reiterating some things not widely known about the “Bayou’s boy wonder.”

One of the most interesting facts in the piece, titled “Bobby  
Jindal’s Secret Past,” was that Jindal said he witnessed, and then  
haltingly participated in, the exorcism of his very close friend (a  
woman named Susan) when he was in college.

(It should be noted that other bloggers have been making hay of this  
fact for a while.)

In 1994 Jindal penned a piece for the New Oxford Review, under the  
title “Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare,” in  
which he recounted what happened.

The account is straight out of the movies.

According to Jindal, Susan was a “charismatic Christian.” She had  
recently been diagnosed with cancer. Weeks before the diagnosis, one  
of her “closest friends from home” had committed suicide. She was  
hysterical and erratic (I wonder why), and started having “visions”  
and smelling like sulfur “which supposedly accompanies the devil.”

Everything came to a head at a prayer meeting organized for Susan.  
Here are some excerpts from Jindal’s article:

“Suddenly, Susan emitted some strange guttural sounds and fell to the  
floor. She started thrashing about, as if in some sort of seizure.  
Susan’s sister must have recognized what was happening, for she  
ordered us to gather around and place our hands on Susan’s prostrate  
body.”

“I tentatively ap proached the group and placed the edge of my finger  
tip on her shoulder … In a voice I had never heard before or since,  
Su san accused me: “Bobby, you cannot even love Susan.”

“The students, led by Susan’s sister and Louise, a member of a  
charismatic church, engaged in loud and desperate prayers while  
holding Susan with one hand. Kneeling on the ground, my friends were  
chanting, ‘Satan, I command you to leave this woman.’ Others exhorted  
all ‘demons to leave in the name of Christ.’”

“Whenever I concentrated long enough to begin prayer, I felt some  
type of physical force distracting me. It was as if something was  
pushing down on my chest, making it very hard for me to breathe.  
Being a biology major at the time, I greeted this feeling with  
skepticism and rational explanations. I checked my pulse for signs of  
nervousness and wondered what could cause such a sensation. Shortness  
of breath is a common symptom that can mean very little or may signal  
the onslaught of a fatal stroke. Though I could find no cause for my  
chest pains, I was very scared of what was happening to me and Susan.  
I began to think that the demon would only attack me if I tried to  
pray or fight back; thus, I resigned myself to leav ing it alone in  
an attempt to find peace for myself.”

“… the students dared Susan to read biblical passages. She choked on  
certain passages and could not finish the sentence ‘Jesus is Lord.’  
Over and over, she repeated ‘Jesus is L..L..LL,’ often ending in  
profanities.”

“Just as suddenly as she went into the trance, Susan suddenly  
reappeared and claimed ‘Jesus is Lord.’ With an almost comical smile,  
Susan then looked up as if awakening from a deep sleep and asked,  
‘Has something happened?’”

Wow. That’s incredible. But is it politically problematic?

This came up to some degree in his race for governor, but it didn’t  
appear to raise many eyebrows. Then again, the election was in  
Louisiana, a state steeped in voodoo and hoodoo customs and full of  
charismatic Christians and religious hysterics. (Case in point,  
months before Jindal’s article was published, two sisters from  
Arcadia, La., went on trial for gouging out the eyes of a third  
sister in an apparent attempt to rid her of a demon.) The state also  
has a sizable Catholic population, and the church openly embraces the  
idea of exorcisms.

But how well would Jindal’s exorcism experience be received elsewhere  
should he consider a national bid? Probably not as badly as some  
might suspect.

Judging by the number of Americans who believe in the devil and  
demonic possession, it might turn out to be a positive in heavily  
religious areas, helping Jindal become more relatable to like-minded  
voters.

According to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s 2008 U.S.  
Religious Landscape Survey, nearly 70 percent of Americans believe  
that “Angels and demons are active in the world,” and nearly 80  
percent believe that “miracles still occur today as in ancient times.”