[WikiEN-l] Catholic Encyclopedia

Mon Jan 26 18:57:28 UTC 2004

Poor, Edmund W wrote:

>Both Catholics and Unificationists believe in the devil and other evil
>spirits as Real Beings (see [[Exorcism]]).
>
>Of course, this is in the context of a whole bunch of other
>non-atheistic beliefs; it's not as nutty as it sounds.
>
>(Did I just say "non-atheistic"? I meant, "religious" ;-)
>
The concept of a religious atheist is perfectly sensible.

Subject to semantic variations about atheism, agnosticism, etc., I would 
consider myself somewhere in this camp.  I nevertheless accept that when 
you remove the 99% (or perhaps more) who are delusional there remains 1% 
that deserves closer consideration.  Unfortunately the 1% is very 
difficult to identify.  Demonic possession represents only one attempt 
at explanation, but the persistence of that explanation and its former 
official supports may do no more than cloud the issue.

Ec