Providentia

School in the Philippines Closed Due to "Evil Spirits"

Classes at an integrated school in the Philippines have been suspended after twenty students collapsed in class and began showing symptoms suggesting that they were possessed.    

According to one teacher at the Father Gratian Murray Integrated School in Bacolod City. the first incident occurred earlier this month when a female Grade Eight student collapsed in class and reportedly began speaking in a male voice.    After the student began rambling about a 2016 accident that occurred nearby, she was taken to a medical clinic and then to a chapel until her parents could take her home.   Three other girls began experiencing similar symptoms though classes continued as usual.

On the following day, a group of students who were praying the rosary at a school field also collapsed.  “Their bodies weakened, and they were hysterically shouting,” said head teacher Ariel Sablaon.   Following reports that the symptoms were due to demonic possession, the school principal called in a priest to see the affected children and determine whether an exorcism was needed.   After the priest dismissed possession claims, ten of the children were sent to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Barcolad for observation.

According to hospital psychologist, Dr. Joeanne Marie Jomalesa, the cause of the outbreak has still not been determined though she is not prepared to rule out mass hysteria.  "We have to verify it first because we don’t know if it’s related to a spiritual aspect or a psychiatric case. We need to get into the details first before we evaluate and proceed with the intervention phase wherein we can be able to talk to the students,” she said.  She also pointed out that cases of mass hysteria could often affect a group of persons  coping with unusual excitement or anxiety and trigger  irrational behavior, beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.

Belief in demonic possession is widespread across much of the Philippines.   Similar outbreaks occurred in 2018 involving schools in the province of Cebu.  Apparently triggered by the sighting "black figure" on school grounds, students began collapsing with reports of violence and abdominal pain.  In 2017, Father Ambrosio Nonato Legaspi, chief exorcist of the Philippines, gave a public warning about "cursed rosaries" being distributes by  “Illuminati satanists” to entrap unsuspecting Catholics.   Similar alarms have also been raised about wearing Halloween costumes and other "potentially satanic" activities that could attract possession. 

 

 

The Man Who Had Visions

It's hard to think of the right word to describe Emmanuel Swedenborg.  Complex doesn't even come close.

Born in 1688, Swedenborg's father was a bishop who often claimed to see spirits and made claims of miraculous cures (he also did exorcisms). His religious upbringing didn't prevent Emmanuel Swedenborg from traveling extensively and immersing himself in the natural sciences.  Despite a stuttering problem that made him extremely reluctant to speak in public, he devoted the next two decades of his life to projects in astronomy, physics, and mineralogy including various attempts to reconcile philosophy and the physical sciences (he even proposed early versions of a flying machine and a submarine). After turning down an appointment as professor of mathematics at Uppsala University (his stuttering made the idea of public lectures unthinkable), he turned to the life sciences in 1736.

Traveling to medical centres in France and Italy, he went on to do extensive research in anatomy and physiology. It was Swedenborg who first proposed that the cerebral cortex could be divided into specific regions that controlled different parts of the body. These specialized "cortical territories" were highly interconnected and enable the brain to function as a coherent whole. He also identified the role of cortical region at the back of the frontal lobes in voluntary muscle control, and even suggested that the frontal lobes of the brain were linked to intellectual functions (including imagination, memory, and thought).

Although many of Swedenborg's discoveries were revolutionary, the mainstream medical community in other countries didn't really become aware of them until the late 19th century (his treatises on the brain weren't fully translated for decades). By then, most of his astounding discoveries had been made by other researchers working independently. His lack of an academic post worked against him as well but Swedenborg might still have become one of the pioneers of medical science if he had persisted in his research. Unfortunately, all of his scientific activities had ended by 1743.

Which was when the visions started...

While he had been a religious man all his life,  Swedenborg was fifty-five when first began experiencing a strange spiritual crisis. After taking a leave of absence from his research and traveling to the Netherlands, he was haunted by strange dreams that he faithfully recorded in his journal. In one story that was often retold years later, Swedenborg was eating in a London tavern when "a darkness fell upon his eyes and the room shifted character. Suddenly he saw a person sitting at a corner of the room, telling him: "Do not eat too much!".  Frightened by what happened, he hurried home. Later that night, the same man appeared in his dreams. The man told Swedenborg that He was the Lord, that He had appointed Swedenborg to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and that He would guide Swedenborg in what to write.  He reportedly became so agitated that the physician who was treating him had six men guard him as he slept.

After arranging for a government pension to support him, Swedenborg devoted himself to his strange visions and the religious books that he wrote based on what he experienced (and which he later claimed were dictated to him by an angel). He spent the remaining years of his life traveling between London, Stockholm, and the Netherlands and wrote fourteen books on various spiritual topics. The visions that he described took him from Heaven to Hell and across the solar system (and meeting the inhabitants he found there). Most of his works were published during his lifetime and he quickly developed a reputation as a mystic (or a lunatic depending on who you asked).His books were remarkably consistent and his descriptions of the nature of Heaven, Hell and the universe has had a tremendous influence over the years. Although some of Swedenborg's writings were bizarre (he claimed that the moon was inhabited by a race of creatures who spoke through their stomachs), his sincere manner and reputed psychic ability won over many doubters. Other critics were more skeptical (Immanuel Kant wrote that Swedenborg should be in a madhouse and two of his supporters were tried for heresy in Sweden), but Swedenborg's crusade continued.

The bulk of his spiritual writings focused on God's plan to initiate His kingdom on earth but he denied that anything he wrote was theological (they were based on his personal experiences after all). In later years, Swedenborg became increasingly deranged and lived on a diet of milk and bread. Evil spirits continually harassed him with temptations although he was comforted and protected by good spirits. Although  already a lifelong bachelor, he became so frightened of women that he would never see them alone. By the time of his death in 1772, Swedenborg was one of the most well-known mystical writers of his time and his works have since been translated into numerous languages. His works inspired later writers including William Blake, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Henry James Senior (father of William and Henry James), and Carl Jung.  Swedenborg's supporters founded the New Jerusalem Church in 1778 (a branch in the United States was founded in 1792). Despite the inevitable schisms over interpretations of his writings, he still has a devoted following and the Swedenborg Society (founded in 1810) is actively engaged in disseminating his works.

The question of why an accomplished scientist like Swedenborg made such an abrupt change in his later life from science to mysticism has baffled later writers and researchers. While it's tempting to link Swedenborg's experiences to the mystical visions and religious grandiosity often experienced by schizophrenics and patients with certain neurological conditions, the available evidence doesn't really indicate a clear diagnosis. If there was a neurological basis to these visions, then it would be especially ironic that it would occur in someone who might well have become one of the great pioneers in brain research had his life not take such a strange direction.

Mass Exorcism Planned for Colombian City

As part of a plan to "drive the devil" out of the port town of Buenaventura in Colombia, the local bishop will be conducting a mass exorcism using a military helicopter. 

Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, Bishop of the Diocese of Buenaventura, will be personally dropping holy water on the town in a helicopter provided by Colombia's military.    In explaining his rationale for the exorcism, Monsignor Montoya stated that "We have to drive out the devil out of Buenaventura, to see if we can restore the peace and tranquillity that our city has lost due to so many crimes, acts of corruption and with so much evil and drug trafficking that invades our port. We want to go around Buenaventura from the air and sprinkle holy water and see if we can exorcise, drive out these demons that are destroying the port so that the blessing of God comes and removes all this evil that invades our streets.”  The exorcism will be scheduled for July 13 or 14 around the time of the town's patron saint festivities.  

The exorcism is apparently a response to Buenaventura's soaring crime rate, a legacy of  decades of armed conflict dating back to the 1960s as well as the port town's role as a hub for criminal cartels smuggling drugs into the United States.  While its homicide rate has dropped slightly in recent years, 51 murders have been reported this year alone.    The calls for action have become louder following the torture-murder of ten-year-old Diana Tatiana Rodriguez and the arrest of her uncle for the crime.  

 

Viral Videos Triggers Polio Vaccine Panic in Pakistan

Police have arrested twelve people across Pakistan and charged them with releasing videos that supposedly showed that the polio vaccine being administered across Pakistan was  unsafe.    

Since Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world in which polio is endemic (Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other two), health authorities have launched a nationwide initiative to vaccinate thousands of children..  But widespread mistrust over the vaccine has led to accusations of a government concealing medical problems resulting from vaccine use.    This lingering mistrust spilled into active panic following the release of a number of videos onto social media claiming that children had been poisoned by the new vaccine.  In one of those videos, a Peshawar man, Nazar Muhammad, alleged that the vaccine was causing children to lapse into comas due to the vaccine passing its expiration date.   In another case, children at a private school began complaining of  vomiting which was attributed to the vaccination campaign.

Within hours, local mosques began using loudspeakers to spread the message that the vaccine was unsafe and more than 25,000 children were rushed to hospitals in northern Pakistan alone.  Though none of these children were showing signs of medical problems, anxious parents swamped medical facilities demanding that their children be seen.   At least one health unit was set on fire by angry protesters and the vaccination campaign was temporarily suspended in many districts to ensure the safety of vaccination workers.  Government spokesperson Babar Bin Atta said that action would be taken against the culprits.  “Panic was created to jeopardise the polio vaccination as part of a campaign and to put our children at risk of diseases. It is a criminal act and perpetrators will be held accountable,” Atta said.   

Still, despite the arrests of suspected agitators, including Nazar Muhammad, polio workers say that the panic has been a major setback in convincing people the vaccine was safe.  “More than 100 houses that I visited today refused to vaccinate their children against polio as they are gripped by the fear and panic created by the fake videos” Zia ul Islam, a young polio worker from the Mamund area of tribal district of Bajaur, told local media recently. “The videos have ruined years of dedicated efforts by polio workers.”

With more than 39 million children at risk for polio, and with eight new cases being reported so far this year, government agencies have been especially vigilant in promoting the safety of the new vaccines.   Most polio cases reported in Pakistan are from tribal areas of KP and Balochistan where health workers have to battle numerous misconceptions about oral vaccines.   Many parents are refusing the vaccine for their children due to health risk fears or the belief that it is un-Islamic.    However, recent efforts to involve tribal leaders, religious leaders, schools teachers and community workers have had a positive result to date.

The newest inoculation campaign is expected to continue with 260,000 front-line workers going door-to-door across the country.   Though providing oral drops to nearly 40 million children is a daunting challenge, health care statistics are reporting positive results.   Only twelve polio cases were reported in Pakistan last year, a sharp drop from the 306 cases reported in 2014.   

For more information

 

Hunting the Werewolf

It was in the autumn of 1572, following a rash of animal attacks in the woods near Dole, France, that the local peasants were authorized to seek out the werewolf assumed to be responsible. There were few actual sightings of the animal but the "loup garou" had carried off several small children and attacked horsemen who had driven it away " only with great difficulty and danger to their persons". The peasants were instructed "to assemble with pikes, halberts, arquebuses, and sticks, to chase and to pursue the said were-wolf in every place where they may find or seize him; to tie and to kill, without incurring any pains or penalties". Despite their search, it was only on November 8 of that year that peasants came upon a "monstrous creature" attacking a young girl. The creature was driven off although the girl later died of her injuries. Even in the darkness, some of the peasants thought they recognized the creature as a local hermit named Gilles Garnier.

Garnier was not popular in the region and was arrested after fifty witnesses filed depositions against him. Whatever protests of innocence he had were quickly ended by a session on the rack which "persuaded" him to confess to the charges. Garnier was sentenced to be burned alive at the stake and "that his ashes be then scattered to the winds". He was also ordered to bear all court costs and the sentence was carried out on January 18, 1573.

A similar case was brought to trial in 1603 involving a mentally disturbed (and possibly intellectually challenged) boy named Jean Grenier. Following reports of animal attacks on children in Gascony, France, Grenier confessed to all of the attacks and claimed to have eaten some of the children involved. He also stated that he was part of a werewolf "coven" and transformed himself using a "wolf's skin" given to him by a mysterious stranger. Survivors of the attacks confirmed Grenier's testimony and he was found guilty. In a remarkable move for the time, the court concluded that Grenier was mentally ill (but possessed) and he was sentenced to a Franciscan monastery for the rest of his life. When visited in the monastery years later, he was reported to be "diminutive in stature, very shy, and unwilling to look anyone in the face. His eyes were deep set and restless; his teeth long and protruding; his nails black, and in places worn away; his mind was completely barren; he seemed unable to comprehend the smallest things". Jean Grenier died at the age of 20.

There were an estimated 30,000 cases of lycanthropy reported in Europe between 1520 and 1630 alone. The epidemic of werewolf hysteria that plagued Europe seemed to be linked to the witchcraft mania occurring during the same period. Witches were frequently accused of changing themselves into cats or rabbits and attending demonic Sabbaths to meet Satan. Werewolves, in turn, were accused of transforming themselves with the Devil's aid. Convicted werewolves and witches were often condemned to be burned alive (except in England where they were merely hanged).

The werewolf hysteria seemed to be largely fuelled by lurid stories of wolf attacks (which were more likely to be due to wild dogs) and only subsided when wolves were hunted to virtual extinction across Europe. The growing recognition that testimony obtained through torture was basically unreliable probably played a role as well (waterboarding advocates take note). The last major werewolf panic was in Gevaudan, France following a series of killings by a "wolflike creature" between 1763 and 1767. The killings were never solved.

While clinical lycanthropy (the delusion of changing into an animal) remains a recognized psychiatric condition, actual cases tend to be rare (I've never encountered a case myself, alas, although I remain hopeful). Reports in the forensic literature of clinical lycanthropy patients committing violent acts are even rarer (but they have happened). Modern cases of lycanthropy tend to be part of broader psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia. Along with the classic werewolf delusion, there have also been reported cases of patients believing that they have been changed into other types of animals including dogs, frogs, and bees. While werefrogs do not evoke the same superstitious terror associated with werewolves, the unusual nature of the psychopathology makes for fascinating case histories in the clinical literature.

Treatment seems to be straightforward as lycanthropic delusions respond well to medication (no burning necessary). Despite the popularity of werewolf movies in the past few years, there has been no evidence of any upsurge of cases and the condition remains rare. Although werewolves live on as a cultural phenomenon, the hysteria that condemned Gilles Garnier to death has mercifully subsided (I hope).

Click here for a recent case history.

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Ushering in the Kingdom of God

Whatever else you can say about the Reverend Homer Aubrey Tomlinson, he was definitely a showman.   As for his other achievements, real and self-proclaimed, you will have to decide that for yourself...

Born in 1892 in Westfield, Indiana, he was the oldest son and presumed heir of Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson, the founder of the Church of God of Prophecy, one of the earliest Pentecostal denominations.     Despite an early career in an advertising agency, Homer joined his father's ministry in 1922, reportedly after a life-changing experience when he was "almost struck by lightning."    Along with establishing a congregation in Jamaica, New York and evangelizing across the Northeast, Homer Tomlinson also became well-known for grandiose stunts.   This included conducting the world's first parachute wedding at the New York World's Fair.   Along with Tomlinson, the bride and groom, best man, maid of honour, and four musicians all took part in the ceremony after they jumped out of a plane together.  

Possibly due to his controversial antics, Homer Tomlinson was passed over as his father's successor following Ambrose's death in 1943.   The church elders claimed to have received a message in tongues to "bring forth the younger son" and Homer was left out in the cold when his legal battle to control the church failed.   Bouncing back from this disappointment,  Homer Tomlinson went on to found his own denomination, the Church of God based in New York city.  

With his usual flair for self-publicity (did I mention he was a former ad-man?),  Homer announced that his mission was to usher in the Kingdom of God by getting church members elected to public office.   With little hope of securing a Democratic or Republican nomination as a presidential candidate,  he decided to found his own political party instead.    The platform for the Theocratic party he founded in 1952 was straightforward enough:   unification of church and state, abolishing taxation in favour of tithing, and creating two new cabinet posts, a secretary of righteousness and a secretary of the Holy Bible.   Despite running for president in 1952, 1960, 1964, and 1968, his support was never particularly strong.  Best estimates suggest that he only got 20 votes in 1964 alone. 

Despite the failure of his presidential ambitions, Homer Tomlinson moved on to more grandiose goals.   After a 1954 convention of his Church of God reportedly acclaimed him a "almost a new Messiah", he declared himself to be King of the World.    Traveling to more than 100 countries, he staged numerous coronation ceremonies to proclaim his royal status.  With his gold-plated crown, his blue silk robes, an inflatable globe that he held in his hands,  a 15-inch flag featuring the "scepter of righteousness", and a cheap folding chair which served as his surrogate "Throne of David",  Tomlinson's coronation ceremonies were certainly picturesque, if nothing else.  

Though most of these ceremonies took place at local airports, one of them was held in Moscow's Red Square to the bemusement of the Soviet government (Pravda referred to it as a publicity stunt by "an American actor").    He later claimed that his 1958 Red Square coronation "melted the Iron Curtain" and fostered peace (not that anyone else noted an easing of Cold War tensions afterward).   In the years following his first coronations as King of All The Nations of Men, he stated: "I crowned myself in every state, and at 67 colleges, and I visited 101 nations and crowned myself King in every one, including Russia in Red Square, in Moscow on July 12, 1958.  Crowds greeted me everywhere."    Homer insisted that his traveling to different countries helped usher in the Kingdom of God by preventing revolutions, encouraging world peace, and ending droughts.

As part of his grandiose plan to reshape the world, Homer planned to move the seat of the United Nations to Jerusalem where its ambassadors would be replaced by preachers.   Not only would Jerusalem become the world's centre of finance and culture, any nation that waged a war would be struck by drought and plague.   The Ten Commandments would be formally enacted into law everywhere and taxation would be replaced by tithing.   All laws everywhere would be replaced by his own "48 laws" which, among other things, banned liquor and tobacco, provided equality for all, offered forgiveness for repentant criminals, and promoted love. 

The actual size of Homer Tomlinson's congregation, all of whom he dubbed "saints", was always hard to calculate but he confidently placed it at 75,000 with 600 ministers under his control.    At other times, he assumed that all the world's Pentecostalists were under his dominion (though they likely didn't share this opinion).   As for his actual congregation, many of his followers were apparently dissatisfied with his leadership and one of them, Grady R. Kent, formed a separate denomination, Church of All Nations in 1957.  

When he wasn't travelling, Homer ran his world-wide empire from the two-story frame house in Queen's Village in New York City where he had lived since 1920.   Homer Tomlinson's "mission" continued right up to his death in 1968.  According to an obituary in the New York Times,  he died quietly in a Manhattan hospital after a long illness.   Described as the "portly, pink-faced, cheery leader of the Church of God",  he was survived by his wife Marie whom he had met in an Aimee Temple McPherson tent in 1919.   Along with their two sons, he was also survived by their six grandchildren.   He is buried in Long Island cemetery. 

Though the Church of God still exists, the church website rather downplays the eccentric life of Bishop Tomlinson.   After his death, he was succeeded by Voy M. Bullen who then moved the church to Huntsville, Alabama to be closer to the centre of the movement.    While Tomlinson's church has undergone various moves and schisms since his death, the Church of God is reported to have over 70,000 followers at present but this figure is considered to be likely inflated.  

So, was Homer Tomlinson prone to grandiose delusions or was his "King of the World" campaign nothing more than an elaborate publicity stunt?   While his various "coronations" had no actual validity, they certainly kept him in the public eye.   Stirring up controversy ensured that Homer A. Tomlinson had greater name recognition than the other competing denominations, even if he picked up a reputation for being a crackpot along the way. 

And, perhaps that was enough for him.

The Life and Times of William Whiston

By the dawn of the 18^th century, the rise of science meant that purely religious doomsday predictions no longer had the widespread support they once did.    Though apocalyptic preachers could still attract followers,  skepticism about religious predictions of doom was becoming more popular.  Still, the dividing line between science and religion was often razor thin with even icons of science weighing in on thorny religious questions such as when the world would end.   While Isaac Newton was careful not to have his own odd speculations about the date of the Second Coming published during his lifetime, his successor, William Whiston, was not as cautious.

Along with most natural philosophers of his time, Whiston was very much a creationist since he considered “the Matter of the Universe” as having been “created out of nothing” by “the Almighty Power of God.”     There was nothing remarkable about this at the time since this was the dominant scientific view then (though there were already freethinkers questioning the link between science and religion).     Whiston didn’t hesitate to regard God and Nature being part of a single system with God controlling the physical world with His “immechanical” powers.   Without God controlling nature, “this beautiful System would fall to Pieces and dissolve into Atoms. On which Occasion, the Apostolical Constitution speak as agreeably to Philosophy as to Religion, when they say, The Whole World is held together by the Hand of God.”   He also regarded the Bible as an unerring guide to understanding Nature and insisted that the chronology laid down in the Old and New Testaments needed to be followed to understand “the true System of the World.”

Whiston at Cambridge

Replacing Isaac Newton as Lucasian Professor at Cambridge University in 1702, nobody questioned Whiston’s brilliance as a mathematician and as a researcher.   It was his preoccupation with religion, including attempts at reconciling science with a literal interpretation of Scripture that upset his colleagues, however.   His 1696 book, A New History of the Earth From Its Original to the Consummation of all Things, represented a bold attempt at linking terrestrial disasters to astronomical causes.   That included his suggestion that Noah’s Flood had been caused by a comet and that comets had formed the Solar System.  

Though he agreed with Edmund Halley about comets returning periodically (and helped calculate the return of Halley’s Comet), he also clashed with Isaac Newton and many of his colleagues over various scientific misconceptions that Whiston endorsed.   That included his belief that the Earth only began rotating after Adam and Eve ate the apple and were expelled from Eden.   Whiston also calculated the comet that caused the Flood passed by the Earth on November 28^th, 2349 BC “to show God’s displeasure with the wicked world”.   It was the comet that caused worldwide rainfall for 40 days and nights and  flooded the world.  Also, because of the inertia from the excess water along with magnetic force from the comet,  the Earth’s year was lengthened to 365 days and shifted to an elliptical orbit around the sun (he maintained that the year had been only 360 days previously and the Earth’s orbit had been perfectly circular). 

Whiston backed up these unorthodox teachings with mathematical proofs and religious quotations taken directly from Scripture.    Ironically, despite his clashes over his scientific ideas, it was religion that eventually got him fired from Cambridge.   Under university statute, Whiston was required to adhere to Anglican doctrine and his anti-Trinity ideas were too much for the university’s administrators to tolerate (this despite Isaac Newton sharing many of those same ideas).   He compounded his heresy by publishing in English rather than Latin which ensured the widest possible readership for his works.    By 1710, Whiston was stripped of his professorship and banned from teaching at Cambridge despite strong support from inside Cambridge and even the Church.  

After he appealed the decision, Whiston’s case became a major political issue with the ruling Tories determined to silence him and his views on “Primitive Christianity” at all costs.  Relevant documents in the case were “misplaced” and the question of Whiston’s reinstatement was quietly shelved after Queen Anne’s death in 1714.   Even after being forced out of Cambridge, Whiston continuing giving lectures to the Royal Society (though he was never invited to join it, another legacy of his feud with Isaac Newton). 

Rebelling against Authority

Becoming increasingly more disenchanted with the Church of England, Whiston founded a Society for Promoting Primitive Christianity in 1717.   Despite proposing a “purer” form of Christianity purged of the later embellishments by the Catholic Church and High Protestant churches, Whiston’s bold attempt at religious reform failed badly.   Even with holding Society meetings at this own house in London, Whiston’s society only lasted two years.   Still, he would continue writing about Primitive Christianity for the rest of his life.    

According to his book, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. William Whiston (published after his death), he even had a scale model of Moses’ Tabernacle constructed in his house.  Used during Society meetings, Whiston also regarded it as a model for the rebuilding of Solomon’s Temple  once the Jews reclaimed their homeland (which he regarded as  sign of the Last Days).   He began giving public lectures across the country in which he announced the imminent return of the Messiah in 1766. 

Though many of his scientific ideas were sound enough, they also became increasingly bizarre as he grew older.   While determined to reconcile science and religion, it was religion that was foremost in his opinion.   Not only was he convinced that comets had brought destruction to the world in the past, he also maintained that a comet would result in the end of the world. But he also argued that God would send signs to warn the faithful that the end of the world was at hand.   Drawing on selected Biblical text focusing on apocalyptic visions, Whiston declared that one particular passage from the Second Book of Esdras referring to women “giving birth to monsters” would signal the Second Coming.   For Whiston, this applied to any account of women giving birth to abnormally formed children.    Unfortunately for Whiston, his credibility led him to be taken in by one of the great medical hoaxes of the 18^th century.

Defending the Rabbit Woman

The story of the “Rabbit Woman of Godalming” began with an illiterate woman named Mary Toft who lived with her husband in the English town of Godalming.   By all accounts, the Tofts lived in extreme poverty with only her husband’s meager income as a cloth-worker to support them.    For reasons that would only become clear afterward, Mary Toft would claim to have given birth to various pieces of a rabbit in 1726.   According to her story, she had seen a rabbit running in the field and her longing for it led to a maternal impression that led to her giving birth to rabbits.   

A local surgeon and  midwife, John Howard, testified that he had witnessed Toft giving “a creature resembling a Rabbit but whose Heart and Lungs grew without [outside] its Belly, about 14 Days since she was delivered by the same Person, of a perfect Rabbit: and in a few Days after of 4 more; and on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the 4th, 5th, and 6th instant, of one in each day: in all nine, they died all in bringing into the World.”    It was Howard who publicized “the Rabbit Woman” and even managed to find her an even more powerful supporter, Nathaniel St. Andre.   As the official surgeon of the Royal Family as well as chief surgeon of the Westminster infirmary,  St. Andre seemed unlikely to be taken in by such a crude fraud. Still,  when he traveled to Godalming to assist in the birth of, yet another, rabbit, he became one of Mary Toft’s chief supporters.

The news of Mary Toft’s miraculous births led to widespread panic (and a nationwide boycott of rabbit meat).   For William Whiston, what was happening in Godalming seemed like ironclad proof that the end of the world was at hand.   The commotion over Mary Toft was enough for King George I to dispatch a more skeptical medical doctor to investigate and to arrange Mary Toft’s move to London where she could be more closely watched.   The two new doctors assigned to watch the Rabbit woman at work, Cyriacus Ahlers and Sir Richard Manningham, had difficulty testing Toft’s claims since she was suddenly unable to given birth to any more rabbits.    Being under continuous watch meant that she was no longer able to arrange for rabbits to by smuggled in to her by her husband.   After an investigation showed that her husband had been seen collecting rabbits around Godalming and one witness reported that Mary had attempted to have a rabbit smuggled into her room, the Royal court decided they had enough.   Following a grueling interrogation (and Richard Manningham threatening to carry out invasive surgery to decide her case once and for all), Mary Toft finally confessed to the fraud.   She had been sneaking in rabbit parts which she inserted into her vagina to “miraculously” give birth to them.  

Mary Toft’s widely publicized confession led to her arrest and conviction for fraud.   It also meant that Nathaniel St.  Andre and the other doctors who had endorsed her claim were completely disgraced.   Not that any of this deterred William Whiston from continuing his own public support of Mary Toft’s claims.    Dismissing Toft’s confession as being the result of intimidation, he decided that John Howard’s original description of Toft’s delivery should be accepted as absolute proof.  Since he view John Howard as “a Person of very great Honesty, Skill, Reputation in his Profession”,  Whiston regarded Mary Toft’s pregnancies as another sign that the end of the world was at hand.

The Comet Craze

Having founded his own religious society, Whiston proclaimed the message of impending doom in his autobiography and assorted books.  He also gave lectures across the United Kingdom, complete with a scale model of the Tabernacle of Israel as a visual aid while he lectured on Christ's imminent return in 1766.   Since the notion of comets caused universal devastation was in vogue at the time (even Edmund Halley suggested that The Great Flood had been caused by a comet),  Whiston's pronouncement that a comet would eventually shatter the Earth seemed less strange than it would today.

And so it was in 1736 that Whiston, who was still widely regarded as an eminent scientist despite being dismissed from Cambridge, publicly predicted that a comet would appear on Wednesday, October 14 which would result in the end of the world.  Basing his prediction of the comet’s appearance on his calculations,  Whiston stated that the comet would trigger a universal fire just as an earlier one had caused the Flood.   When the comet appeared on schedule, there was widespread panic as people tried to avoid the doom he had predicted.   A number of people in London climbed into boats and barges and set themselves afloat on the Thames hoping to avoid burning to death.    One captain of a Dutch ship carrying gunpowder threw all his cargo overboard for fear it would be ignited.   Perhaps more alarmingly as far as the government was concerned, stock in South Sea and Indian businesses fell sharply and a run on the Bank of England forced the Bank’s director to issue a fire watch to protect their property.    

As the comet panic was at its peak, a group of clergymen formally asked the Archbishop of Canterbury William Wake, to prepare prayers to mark the end of the world (none of the traditional prayers in the Anglican canon applied).    Wake had to issue a public denial to calm the panic fears.    As the comet came and went without the promised catastrophe, the panic subsided and Whiston found his reputation as a scientist suffering badly as a result. 

Perhaps a final nail in the coffin of Whiston’s credibility came when Jonathan Swift published A True and Faithful Narrative of What Passed in London During the General Consternation of All Ranks And Degrees of Mankind shortly after the comet hysteria had peaked.   Meant as a tongue-in-cheek look at Whiston and his apocalyptic movement, Swift’s book (which he attributed to “Mr. Pope and Mr. Gay”) described the 1736 hysteria from his own perspective.    The cynical way in which the comet hysteria is described, including recording that "So great was the Faith and Fear of two of them, that they dropt Dead on the Spot; but I will not record their Names, lest I should be thought invidiously to lay an Odium on their Families and Posterity."

By the time of his death in 1752, William Whiston was a virtual pariah because of his extremist religious views and his doomsday predictions.  Perhaps because of the example he provided, later scientists would be more cautious about making sensational claims about universal destruction.  

Or at least claims that were so easily disproven...

How Can We Help Victims of Clergy Abuse?

When John J. Geoghan was sentenced in January, 2002 on multiple charges relating to his long history of serial child abuse, he represented just the latest in a long line of cases involving sexual abuse in the clergy.     Evidence at Geoghan's trial showed that he was repeatedly transferred to different Catholic dioceses following allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour involving young boys.   During the 1960s and 1970s, he continued to be transferred to positions where he would have regular contact with children even after the Church arranged for him to be treated for pedophilia.   Even after he formally retired from his active clergy work in 1993, the allegations continued.    By the time he was finally sentenced (after first  being removed  from the priesthood) in 2002, his career of abuse was believed to stretch back decades and involved more than 130 boys.    

In the aftermath of Geoghan's sentencing (and his murder in prison less than a year later), the resulting scandal led to the resignation of Boston's archbishop and numerous investigations concerning how the Church dealt with Geoghan and many of the other priests who also faced allegations.    It also highlighted the treatment of whistleblowers by the Church, many of whom faced serious penalties for attempting to expose what was happening all too often.    Still, while most of the investigations into sexual abuse by religious authorities (SARA) have focused on the Catholic Church, cases of equivalent abuse can be found in most other religions around the world.

Despite countless new stories about abuse by clergy  not to mention the various movie and television dramatizations of different scandals that have come to light, actual research into the impact of this kind of abuse on victims has been surprisingly scarce up to now.   But a new review article published in the journal Traumatology provides a comprehensive look at the psychological impact of clergy abuse on victims and how it differs from other types of sexual abuse.  Written by Danielle M. McGraw and a team of fellow researchers at Alliant International University in Los Angeles, CA, the article examined hundreds of peer-reviewed studies looking at clergy abuse though only a small minority contained actual empirical data on SARA victims.    To supplement the available information, McGraw and her co-researchers also included victim data from several recent books on victims of clergy abuse as well as dissertation data.    

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

Greek Orthodox Bishop Convicted of Inciting Anti-LGBTQ+ Hatred in Landmark Court Ruling

In what is being hailed as a landmark decision, Metropolitan bishop Amvrosios of Kalavryta and Egion has been convicted by a three-judge panel on charges including hate speech, incitement to violence, and abuse of religious office for an online post addressed to his followers.    The post, which was originally published on December 4, 2015, focused on the ongoing debate over legitimizing same-sex unions in Greece.     Not only did he describe homosexuals as "monstrosities of nature" but also urged all of the faithful to spit on them.   "Do not go near them! Do not listen to them! Do not trust them!," he added.  "They are the damned members of society!”

Arguing that the bishop's statements violated Greece's Anti-Racist law, nine LGBT activists filed a complaint on January 16, 2016.    While a first-instance court acquitted Amvrosius, public outrage over the decision as well as further inflammatory remarks (he told the court that "if I had a gun and the law would allow me, I would use it against them") led to a second hearing. 

During his hearing, Amvrosius maintained that “the court does not have the competency to judge me as a bishop, and I cannot understand why today I am being charged for my love of Christ,”   His diocese also published a lengthy statement on the decision stating that "groups of homosexuals will now be uncontrollably and brazenly able to provocatively impose their way of life, which is incompatible with the ontology of human nature and the law of God."    But Amvrosius has a lengthy history of reactionary and inflammatory remarks, including outspoken support for the Colonels' Junta that imposed fascist rule on Greece back in 1967 as well as the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, including open approval of actions such as the assassination of anti-fascist musician Pavlo Fyssas in 2013.    He has also exploited the recent wildfires in 2018 which he maintained had been due to divine wrath aimed at atheist President Alexis Tsipras.

While the bishop's lawyers are currently appealing the decision, public reactions to the conviction, both in the Greek media and on social media platforms, reflects the approval with with Amvrosius' conviction has been greeted by most Greeks.  While the sentence has been suspended for three years based on the bishop's lack of a criminal history, human rights observers are hoping that the decision will set a precedent for future cases.

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Gender-based Temple Controversy Divides India

Months after a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision hailed by female activists,  a political firestorm continues to brew over the right of women to pray at an iconic temple in India's Kerala state.  

Dedicated to the celibate Hindu deity Lord Ayyappan, the Sabarimala Sree Dharmasastha Temple in Kerala draws millions of devotees each year.  But, due to the religious traditions maintained by the temple,  women of childbearing age are banned due to the "impurity" of their menstruation.   As a result, all women aged 10 to 50 have been refused entrance for centuries.  Despite objections by female devotees, the Kerala High Court upheld the ban in 1991 stating that the restriction was reasonable given that it had been in place since "time immemorial."   It was only after the Indian Supreme Court struck down the ban last September that two women, Kanaka Durga and Bindu Ammini, became the first in centuries to enter the temple on January 2 because of this (they had attempted to enter before on numerous occasions but had always been stopped).  Videos of the two women entering the temple have since gone viral,

Since then, however, politically-aligned groups and religious zealots have been actively protesting against women entering the religious premises.  Mobs of Brahmin men and women have clashed with police and actively prevented women from entering the temple.   More disturbingly, Durga and Ammini have been forced to go into hiding due to death threats by hardline Hindu groups.   Durga was even assaulted by her own mother-in-law, outraged over what she viewed as heresy.  Though the two women plan to return home soon, following reassurances from police, sporadic violence continues to break out as more women brave the protests to take advantage of the new freedom.  

The controversy has also sparked a Twitter war with Bollywood movie celebrities weighing in with posts featuring hashtages such as #FakeFeminists and #StupidMedia to uphold the "sanctity of the temple".  But the new Supreme Court decision has its defenders as well.  In one post, historian Hindol Sengupta wrote, "As a writer of history, I have been wondering whether it is possible at all to make an objective, non-partisan assessment of what has (and is) taking place at #Sabarimala, one of Hinduism's most sacred shrines? Let us try. To begin with, let us accept that in a world where, after many centuries, the voices of women are being heard, a shrine that bars women of menstruating age, seems dysfunctional to all of us. The question arises, how can this even be an issue today - after all these years of battling for liberty? This is a vital and important question."

As well as being a battle over women's rights, the controversy is also exposing regional conflicts as well as the ingrained Indian patriarchy.  How it unfolds  remains to be seen.

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