Can exorcist Bobby Jindal cure melanoma?

Bobby Jindal, the 36-year-old governor of Louisiana, is rumored to be on John McCain's VP shortlist.

Eric Kleefeld and Kate Klonick of TPM broke the story that Jindal's extensive CV includes one highly unusual qualification: exorcist.

Jindal's 1994 essay, "Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare," appeared in the New Oxford Review, an orthodox Catholic magazine published by a California non-profit. The full article is behind a subscription wall, but Kleefeld and Klonick obtained the full text. Here's a sample passage:

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." It is no exaggeration to note the tears and sweat among those assembled. Susan lashed out at the assembled students with verbal assaults...

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. . . 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 leaving it alone in an attempt to find peace for myself.

Jindal claims that the rite freed his friend Susan of the demon and may even have cured her skin cancer.

Conventional wisdom has it that the young, "diverse" (sic) Jindal would round out the Republican ticket by allaying voter's misgivings about electing an ancient white guy like John McCain.

Now we learn that this obscure Southern governor can also cure skin cancer. Surely, this is a sign. Jindal should be a shoo in.

Comments

[Dabodius]

McCain wouldn't pick him as running mate anyway because, at 36, he would undercut McCain's charge that Obama is "inexperienced." Jindall also avowed an anti-Protestant bigotry in the period, though he mentions Pentecostals taking part in the exorcism -- the ecumenical spirit at work.

[Ted]

This is not rocket science.
Palin as McCain's Veep.

[Mary]

re "ancient white guy"

No harm in living a long life. Even for those *shudder* white guys.

Not everybody can do it -- some kill themselves slowly with the cigarettes and drink and leave their families early, but let's not go there throwing cheap punches in hopes of landing a shot, eh Lindsey? Better to stick with the straight up honest stuff and not dimish it with the snarkies. If you have confidence in what you've got, that is.

[Mold]

I would like to interrogate Susan, if she actually exists, to find her version of this experience.

[The Phantom]

Jindal is one of the few good things to come out of the criminal swamps of Louisiana politics over the last fifty years. Louisiana desperately needs him. His work has only begun , and there's a lot that needs doing.

Besides he's way way way too young and inexperienced for the job of VP of the US. Start thinking about him there years from now, depending on what happens this November.

[shrimplate]

It's important to recall this when the subject of McCain's age comes up: he's not just old. He's kinda stupid, too.

I've had it with dumb presidents.

[Ole Blue]

The GOP is the party of myth. That is why they are the Gullible Old party. Bobby will fit right in.

[hysperia]

But John McCain IS an old white guy.

[mark lajoie]

THE DEVIL, YOU SAY!

Bobby Jindal has been criticized recently because he participated in an “Exorcism”. Given the religious ignorance and bias of most liberal bloggers and media, I looked for the story behind the story. When they casually mentioned that this took place during a Catholic charismatic meeting, then everything became quite clear. I have experienced many Catholic charismatic prayer meetings; they often have a 'deliverance' prayer associated with prayers for healing. It's not an Exorcism! Only a priest does Exorcisms in the Catholic faith. You may rebuke evil and even use similar language but it doesn’t claim to be an Exorcism. It’s a simple prayer for a person or situation who feels like they are fighting temptation or spiritual oppression.

I then looked at the incident in question. Jindal was an observer of a deliverance prayer for a woman with cancer. One site casually quotes Jindal as saying, "When the operation occurred, the surgeons found no traces of [cancer]. Susan claimed she had felt healed after the group prayer and can remember the sensation of being 'purified.'" There is no comment at all on the fact that the cancer of the woman in question disappeared! Doesn’t that sound like a miraculous healing!? I've seen this myself in my life. If I were Jindal, I would have been affected and impressed, too!

Further, such experiences of prayer are not going to be seen as ‘scandalous’ by a whole lot of Americans. These bloggers just seem to assume that a miraculous healing couldn’t really have happened so all these people must be nuts! To these anti-religious bloggers, it might as well be a story about aliens. They think everyone is going to react like they do. Well, there are a lot of us who have directly experienced or witnessed such healing. There are centuries of such experiences in many faiths but especially the Catholic faith.

Anyone who says the Our Father is doing the same thing when they pray "Our Father....deliver us from evil." To the critics of Jindal I would answer by saying, 'Is someone a kook if they pray the Our Father?' (I suspect that for many of these people it’s the very idea of prayer and organized faith itself that is kooky!)

At the very least I would ask, 'Don't you believe Evil exists at all that I should pray about it?’ A clear majority of us do believe Evil exists! In fact, it’s reassuring to me if Jindal does believe it and pray about it. He joins pretty august company in Washington and Churchill among others.

All these commentators were more interested in making something look a certain way than in getting at the truth of it. Their prejudice limits them. They want to use Rhetoric as a weapon. We should use honest discourse for gaining knowledge and forming Virtue and Character.