Children and demon possesion

"There is a belief ... that children can be possessed, and those beliefs have no place in the 21st Century." This quote (from memory) was in respect of deaths of children because they were believed to be demon possessed.

The problem is, I don't agree with the quote. Now, just for clarification, I DO NOT agree with killing children, under any circumstances. However I do believe in demon possession, although I need to explain that, and I will later. The deaths of these children through the misguided actions and beliefs of their parents or carers is a tragedy, and one that should be avoided. The beliefs and mindsets that lead to these actions are, in my view, very misguided and clearly dangerous. Any belief system that teaches that killing children is better than them being "possessed" need to take a good look at itself. And change.

Now I did say that I do believe in demon possession, and I need to clarify what I mean. I think that there are enough examples and enough evidence that something that is covered by what we might call "possession" has and does occur. There is, I believe, something that goes on with certain people, in some cases, which changes the way that they behave and think. I also believe that the "demonic" is real, in that there is a spiritual force for evil, and that this force has a personal nature.

But the truth is that I - and no-one else - do not know or understand the true nature of the spiritual. In fact, in the West, we have a very Greek perception which separates the "body" and the "soul" and the "spirit". The Hebrew perspective does not separate these, but sees a person as a holistic one, not distinct. The problem is that in this perspective, the traditional concept of "demon possession" does not work.

The reason I have a problem with the quote at the start is that I think those beliefs are perfectly reasonable in the 21st Century. I believe that the concepts of demon possession, that people, including children, can be possessed, are valid. I don't know what it means, and I do know that killing a person is not the answer. Rejecting a belief and an idea that does appear to have some lasting validity, just because some misguided people misuse this belief is wrong and also dangerous.

So, in conclusion, killing children because they are believed to be demon possessed is unacceptable today. Killing, hurting, abusing children is unacceptable today, that is the the core problem. The fact that people use a belief to justify it is no reason to totally reject the belief, just to accept that certain people will misuse any belief to hurt others.