LONDON – Atheism is becoming a key cause of demonic influence in the world, a British exorcist has warned.
Father Jeremy Davies, exorcist of the Archdiocese of Westminster, which covers most of London, said that the “spirits inspiring atheism” were those who “hate God.”
In a new 56-page book called “Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism in Scripture and Practice,” Father Davies wrote that Satan had blinded secular humanists from seeing the “dehumanizing effects of contraception and abortion and IVF (in vitro fertilization), of homosexual ‘marriages,’ of human cloning and the vivisection of human embryos in scientific research.”
The result, he said, was that Europe was drifting into a dangerous state of apostasy whereby “only (through) a genuine personal decision for Christ and the church can someone separate himself from it.”
In the book published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society, he said that sin was the primary reason why people lost their freedom to the power of the devil.
Father Davies also said atheism was largely to blame for entrapping people in states of “perversion.”
The book raised concerns about “some very unpleasant things” that endanger young people especially, and the priest said, “We must do what we can to protect and warn them.”
He called occult practices such as magic, fortunetelling and contacting the spirits of the dead “direct invitations to the devil which he readily accepts.” He said such practices involve the abandonment of self-control, making them as corrupting an influence as hard drugs, demonic music and pornography.
At the same time, Father Davies said the “thin end of the wedge,” such as soft drugs, yoga for relaxation and horoscopes for fun, were just as dangerous.
“Beware of any claim to mediate beneficial energies (e.g. reiki), any courses that promise the peace … Christ promises (e.g. enneagrams), any alternative therapy with its roots in Eastern religion (e.g. acupuncture),” he added.
“They are not harmless,” said Father Davies, a former medical doctor who was ordained in 1974 and has been an exorcist since 1986. “Sanity depends on our relationship to reality.”
Father Davies also said it was not uncommon for people who later turned away from sinful lifestyles to undergo periods of supernatural oppression as the devil fought them for their souls.
The priest, who is based in the town of Luton, north of London, said that key among the transgressions that have a “special affinity” with Satan was “rebellion against God” – which included the sins of blasphemy, atheism and attacks on Christ and the church – as well as sins against the light, when people resisted God’s grace.
He also warned Catholics to be wary of what he called the “idolatrous demonic side” of Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and the druidism that had its origins in ancient Britain.
The exorcist denounced “new revelations” and criticized Mohammed, founder of Islam; Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. He called them “heretical prophets and false messiahs” who led their followers to a “demonic bondage of conscience.”
Father Davies’ strongest condemnation, however, was reserved for the pride of modern atheistic scientists.
“Pride is the specific trait of Satan,” he said. “There are two kinds of Satanism: ‘occultic,’ in which Satan is worshiped as a person; and what is said to be even more terrible and certainly is even more deceived, ‘rationalist,’ in which Satan is regarded as an impersonal force or symbol and the glory belongs to the Satanists.
“How close to rationalist Satanism, without realizing it, is atheistic scientism – the hubris of science going beyond its proper sphere and moral boundaries – the tree of knowledge presently spreading its branches throughout our Western culture, which is rapidly becoming that of the whole world,” he said.
He also said that “a contagious demonic factor” is among the causes of homosexuality.
“Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits,” he said.
His book also spells out the degrees of demonic influence a person may experience, ranging from temptation and sin to obsession, then possession, with perfect possession being the gravest and rarest form that usually entails a deliberate commitment to evil on the part of the person involved.
The book includes sections on the rites and means of exorcism and deliverance, including those of buildings and places as well as people.
Father Davies told the reader that if a person is in desperate need of help and feels stranded, he or she should go straight to the local bishop.