Are Ouija Boards a Gateway of Evil?

I have a friend, she is south korean. well anywayz, she told me it is better to write everything down like every alphabet letter on it, and then yes or no. before you do it, there is some spell, something like ghosts come to me ... well anywayz why those evil things happen to people is because they don't get rid off the board, you must burned it once you used it. that's why it is better to just write down the letter on the paper, it won't cost as much as burning the actual board. and it only works where there is 2 or more people. anywayz, just remember always to burn it . and bad things won't happen to you and there is always a rule, what questions to ask, never ask questions about your future, because it may interfere with you destiny in a bad wayyyyy.

I used a ouija board for years, ever since I was a kid. My mom had the one she used when she was a kid. I have no horror stories but we did have a lot of fun over the years. Then when I was maybe 12 or 13 I started thinking about how this piece of wood and plastic could communicate with spirits. My mom, brother and I started experimenting, or rather I got them to help me with some experiments.

First, I discovered that even with three people touching the planchette and my hand JUST BARELY connecting with it, I could make it answer anything that I thought strongly in my head. My mom and brother also were able to do this but not as successfully. Now I was convinced that unconscious motion must be moving the planchette. Which led to the second experiment.

This time still entertaining the notion that something paranormal might be going on, I weird my fingers up to the planchette with light fishing wire. As my mom and my brother asked the board non yes/no questions I again tried to influence the letters spelled, and it worked. Note that the wires were not taunt but hanging. I also tried commanding the planchette by having my hands near it but not touching it and seemed to get a little success but not anything like the first two experiments. Then I tried it while just touching the board with zero success.

So, what IS going on here? My hunch is that is has nothing to do with spirits or demons but does have something to do with group psi or something like that.

But, in writing this out I've decided to get a new board and experiment again and I will be doing those experiments inside a magic circle, just in case. Protection is never a bad thing.

Vas

I use to do ouija boards. I met some very gifted psychics about 7 years ago and they told me things about my future. At the time I thought they were just making it up but about 6 months later I moved to another city and alot of the people they mentioned I met in this new city.

I lost touch with them but I wanted to be able to do similar things so I started using the Ouija Board to get in touch with spirits. At this time I was 25 and doing the ouija board by myself. It totaly changed my life. I had some very positive experiences but also some very, very negative experiences.

They're not necesarily a gateway of evil, but if you'r intentions are evil you will get evil 'spirits'. And getting in touch with these demonic forces can generate you a huge amount of bad karma for you.

I had some very horrific experiences from channeling with ouija boards. So bad that my mind blocks alot of it out, similar to post traumatic stress syndrome. But five years on my life is much better and I see that there was a reason for the bad things happening and things I needed to learn.

Remember the board itself is just a tool, a mobile phone to astral plane. What really channels the spirits/intelligences is yourself. And if a spirit tells/advises you to do soemthing remember that it will be you that will face the consequences of your actions, not the spirit.

Also 'demonic' are extremely crafty, cunning and manipulative. They may spend days, even weeks, building up your trust then when they have that trust try and manipulate you to do things against your will.

I don't do ouija boards anymore. I found 'communication' can be achieved much more efficiently and safely through meditation. The downside is meditation can have quite a steep learning curve. You may find yourself sat day-in, day-out for months or a few years before you really see the benefits.

It's also not as glamourous as 'summoning-up' demons to carry out your desires. But I gaurentee you that even if you do manage to summon the powerful demons you won't be able to control them and they will leave your life in ruins.

I am 24 year's old my father did the Ouija board before i was born. Now he asked it about the future if any bad thing's were going to happen.

Im not going to go into any great detail here on a public post but some really bad thing's happend in his life.

One thing he told me from a young age and i remember the first time he told me clear as crystal is don't mess with these thing's.

Now my dad was old style very wise and very serious. And i can honestly say i have come close to doing a Ouija with my cousin however the warning he gave me popped up in my head.

A man with my father's personality would simply not mess around about something so serious and lie about it so that is good enough for me.

And i think it has already been mentioned if you do a Ouija board then i warn you not to ask about your future.

Finally i just added this part when i think or see anything about Ouija board's i get an urge to do one. And guess what ! I have an over powering addictive feeling to ask about my future.

Regard's
Lee




[edit on 16-5-2007 by h3akalee]

But what if math and science is wrong?

First, if you want to try and prove math wrong, be my guest. On the account of science, yes, hypotheses have been wrong and I'm sure they will be wrong in the future. The very nature of science has safeguards against these hypotheses from going very far. If something is false or wrong in any way, say as new evidence is found, data compiled, and new scientists study the thing, science allows for the hypothesis to change. This is one of the basic strengths of science. The paranormal, however, does not have such a safeguard because you are dealing with unfalsifiable, unprovable things. You can argue about the color and size of fairy wings, but the conversation is so absolutely meaningless and backed by nothing in the real world that neither hypothesis can be said to be right or wrong, either now or 2000 years from now. Now if you argue that black matter is old, dense star dust and someone else argues it is some form of light (I don't really know, just examples), one, or both, will eventually be proven wrong, both are falsifiable.

The very fact that the scientists are educated by a system that exists because of its keystone discipline foundations could make them ill qualified to look "outside the box."

You want me to believe that the discipline that gave us a round Earth, a sun-centered solar system, antibiotics, nuclear weapons, an explanation for the evolution of complex life, a theory of physics that defies, for now, all previous logic, a "big bang" that began as the size of a pinhead and has expanded to a near-infinite universe, and many other things, is a discipline that has trouble thinking outside the box? The paranormal has barely changed throughout all of history, since the first gods were conceived, but science has done all of these things in the past few hundred years.

The use of the word paranormal as I understand it is something like, that which cannot be explained by science?

In principle, much of the "paranormal" would be explainable by science. Ghosts and gods interacting with humans would not be something outside the realm of science if it existed. Since it doesn't exist, people have to make up unfalsifiable things like extra planes of existence or just outright saying "this is beyond the reach of science" as if that would make it true. The use of "paranormal" basically means "any phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible according to current scientific assumptions." Dark matter doesn't apply to that definition, clearly, but basically all psychic phenomena does, along with ghosts, gods, devils, angels, unicorns, fairies, santa claus, amaterasu, cthulu, and so on.

I think you would have difficulty explaining there is no god to the fast expanding Islamic population

I only speak English and a bit of Japanese, so yeah, that would be difficult. Assuming they could understand me though, it would actually be quite easy since the case for god is rather flimsy. It's the ensuing beheading that I would find slightly inconvenient.

So perhaps science will prove that the paranormal has more to it or perhaps prove all the believers are all mad

And in one fell swoop you seem to admit the power of science, so we can most certainly agree on this statement, except that perhaps I would say that science and time itself has pretty much proven most paranormal to be bunk already and that the population of the Western world can move on to more important things.

So I'm guessing that they're not a Gateway, but the Person themself is the gateway?

The Evil summoned from the board is within yourself? Hmm...kinda makes sense. But at the same time, the Ouija boards coming back after you try to throw them away are unexplainable.

Now I've heard the story of the Middle Eastern 'Jinns' or 'Genie' in the Western Culture. I hear that everyone is born with one and it is He/She that tempts you into doing things. An Egyptian friend just told me that it's the Jinn that communicates with you. They know everything about your family (alive and deceased) can take any form, any voice and deceive you. At the same time, if you're a good spirit and resist temptation, the Jinn also becomes good and aids you in life, such as the 'urge' you have to refrain from saying or doing something bad.

It is also beleived that once a soul cross over, they can never return, but its the Jinn tat takes the form of a loved one and appear as aparitions. Could it be that our 'Jinns' are the ones you communicate with on the Ouija?

Judaz's above post is a great example of unfalsifiability and other problems within the believer's thought process.

The premise still assumes that something paranormal is happening:

So I'm guessing that they're not a Gateway, but the Person themself is the gateway?

Next, something that is easily explainable is taken at face value based on nothing but second-hand stories and urban legends:

But at the same time, the Ouija boards coming back after you try to throw them away are unexplainable.

Of course the stories are as explainable as stories about mermaids, dragons, and giants: they are all urban legends and myths, based on secondary evidence. The stories can never be proven or disproven per se, and because of that they are taken as truth because "why would the person telling the story want to lie?" or some other such reasoning. It's not a matter of honesty anyway, it's a matter of evidence and critical thinking.

Next he searches for some explanation for the faulty premesis that he wants to explain:

Now I've heard the story of the Middle Eastern 'Jinns' or 'Genie' in the Western Culture.

Again, the very existence of the "Jinns" is unfalsifiable, exactly as replaceable with "flying spaghetti monster" and "magical teapot".

Then we have an explanation for some everyday occurance which does not need a supernatural explanation at all to try and help justify the belief:

the Jinn also becomes good and aids you in life, such as the 'urge' you have to refrain from saying or doing something bad.

That "urge" is quite elementary in the world of psychology, sociology, and to an extent, evolutionary biology. Do I even need to explain the social basis for this "urge"?

And finally, some more unfalsifiable claptrap:

It is also beleived that once a soul cross over, they can never return, but its the Jinn tat takes the form of a loved one and appear as aparitions. Could it be that our 'Jinns' are the ones you communicate with on the Ouija?

It is believed, but not proven. Yet the final line seems to take the existence of the "Jinn" as now proven which then leads to a possible explanation for how the Ouija board works, which is also (fallaciously) assumed to have connections to the paranormal.

This is what some believers think is "thinking outside the box"? Is this of equal value to the study of science? Is evidence completely irrelevant to ones own beliefs? To me, the conclusions draw themselves, especially after such a textbook example of "believer reasoning."

Densha your word's make a lot of sense so i will ask you.

What are your personal ideas on this subject ?

Maybe then those that are maybe confused by what you say can actually make sense of why you take apart a single person's post and analyze it to a very high level.

Regard's
Lee

LOL, Flying Spaghetti Monster? Yeah I saw that episode of South Park and remember Densha, thats a cartoon made for comedy. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are Athiests, so they pick on religion for laughs, but its all good fun.

The proof of spirits lie within Demonic Possessions and the Holy Spirit. People want visual and physical proof of everything to know it exists but the world aint so. Have I seen a Demonic Possessed person? Yes. Have I seen people filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes. Both things I have witnessed with my own eyes, but I couldnt see the spirits or touch them myself. What we call apparitions here, could be called a Jinn to the Middle Easterners.

But boards returning after you throw them out, I have never witnessed because I've never owned a Ouija. So yeah...I can say thats a little far fetched, The question is, are the Ouija's a gateway to invite spirits into our realm of the living? I'm seeming to get a lot of 'Yes' for that question.

Another thing to ask my friends reading this, wasnt 'The Exorcist' based on a true account of a boy who played with the Ouija?





[edit on 16-5-2007 by Judaz_Escariot]

I have never used a Ouija board as such but I have used the alphabet and a wine glass. I used to do this back in primary school (= to grade school in US) and for several years until my late teens. The last time I did this was about 22 years ago and the message I received that final time never seemed clear until many years later.

You see I used to walk my eldest son to preschool with my second son in the stroller, I was also pregnant with my third son at the time. The route I took was over a highway and onto a track that was surrounded by lush green grass that used to be pastureland. This was in the middle of a new housing estate called Eagle Vale. Lots of people used this as shortcut to get to the shoips and the Community Centre.

The message I received on that day mentioned grass and the dirt track, it mentioned rapes and murders and that I would read all about it in the papers. My frined and I thought nothing of this at the time.

Many years later a police investigatioin began into the infamous Backpacker Murders that occurred in the Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney. Ivan Milat was charged with these murders and is suspected to be guilty of many other unsolved disappearances all up and down the NSW coast as he was working for the Road and Traffic Authority as a maintenance guy and assisting with new roads.

Here is the irony...he happened to live in a house on a street that was eventually built on that land I worked through all those years ago. As soon as the news of his address was made public (the police were searching in the walls etc) the seance/Ouija session flooded back to my mind and the message was loud and clear.

Also, whilst I was at university, his daughter was in my class. Nobody knew she was Ivan's offspring (she had a different name) until a national gossip mag did a story on her.

Coincidental...I do not think so.

I do know this though, the house I grew up in was full of spirits that I allowed to enter through my toying with the paranormal. I refrain from doing this now...I would advise that people not engage in these practices becasue there is something in it.

Just my 10 cents worth

res

actually Densha, JINS do exist, and I've come across them in Morocco, the country of the really powerful magic, there is a way to communicate with them, some old wizards can summon them for you, but it is reaaaally dangerous, there is like a shadow appears on the wall and the Jin will speak to in a wind breeze, and whoever speaks french, german, chinese , arabic they will all hear the breeze speaking to them in their own language, there is evil Jins and kind ones, and they can grant you a wish- always only 1 wish! but in return they will take something from you, it could be anything!!!! that is why it is so dangerous, and some Jin's won't take anything from you, and give you whatever you wished for. anywayz, they do exist

The potential for abuse is high as you open yourself up to whatever discarnate entities that are nearby.

It may be a friendly spirit or a darker one, but you will not be able to know during the game. Afterwards however, if it does not wish to leave it will make its presence known.

This is when the trouble begins. If you are not forceful enough, the spirit may want to stick around and feed off your energy.

You must fight back and ask for God's protection.

True love and true light is a helpful mandala that I like to chant for protection. God answers.

LOL, Flying Spaghetti Monster? Yeah I saw that episode of South Park and remember Densha, thats a cartoon made for comedy. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are Athiests, so they pick on religion for laughs, but its all good fun.

The flying spaghetti monster has very little to do with South Park, actually:

en.wikipedia.org...

The proof of spirits lie within Demonic Possessions and the Holy Spirit. People want visual and physical proof of everything to know it exists but the world aint so.

I have also seen so-called demonic possessions, and they are nothing but a farce. The only thing demonic going on is the priests/community/culture that makes people believe that they are possessed by demons in the first place. Throughout history, demonic possession has been synonymous with "mental illness". I'm sure that still happens to this day, but it's probably a lot more social and psychological these days. Why do atheists never become possessed? Why is it always religious folk? Simple! Because it's all in the mind, religious people tend to be more susceptible, by their very nature, to such ideas. For all their praise and faith to God, he still allows a demon to come into them, whereas for all the blaspheming and disrespect by atheists, we never, ever become possessed. And how are exorcisms carried out? By reading the bible and throwing water and oil on the sufferer. Yeah, those are some weak demons Satan has there...

The question is, are the Ouija's a gateway to invite spirits into our realm of the living? I'm seeming to get a lot of 'Yes' for that question.

Of course you are, look where you're posting this! Let's head on over to a mostly atheist board and you can post the same things you are here and you'll obviously get the majority of responses (if you get any, that is) telling you the absurdity of it. Anyway, you can't "vote" for truth, you have to look at evidence and there isn't any here by any believer that is not second-hand, explainable by something else, or personal testimony, which is very faulty, whether it's in a criminal case or for reporting phenomena.

Another thing to ask my friends reading this, wasnt 'The Exorcist' based on a true account of a boy who played with the Ouija?

Wasn't the movie "Amittyville Horror" supposed to be based on a true story too? It was, but the story itself is now known to be a hoax and even most believers acknowledge that fact. Of course Hollywood over-exaggerates and spices things up as well. Unless you're about 12 years old, "based on a true story" should be rather meaningless to you by now when it comes to Hollywood.

actually Densha, JINS do exist, and I've come across them in Morocco, the country of the really powerful magic, there is a way to communicate with them, some old wizards can summon them for you, but it is reaaaally dangerous, there is like a shadow appears on the wall and the Jin will speak to in a wind breeze, and whoever speaks french, german, chinese , arabic they will all hear the breeze speaking to them in their own language, there is evil Jins and kind ones, and they can grant you a wish- always only 1 wish! but in return they will take something from you, it could be anything!!!! that is why it is so dangerous, and some Jin's won't take anything from you, and give you whatever you wished for. anywayz, they do exist

I can say the same for Unicorns. Go ahead, replace every "jin" with "unicorn" and it works exactly the same with exactly the same amount of evidence (none). Saying something exists doesn't make it exist and it certainly doesn't convince a critical thinker. Plus I think everything you said about wishes there has been in a million movies and TV shows by now. Makes good fiction, no doubt about that.

LOL, Densha my friend. You're right...there arent cases reported of Athiests being possessed because they arent Athiests anymore once they deliver themselves over to God to be saved, right?

And the Spaghetti Monster link summed it up as a 'paraody' in the opening sentence, so everyone knows its a joke. I got many laughs everytime I hear people mention it because I go into a whole other thought as "Did it have 12 Garlic Breadsticks acting as Apostles?"

Going totally off Thread, the reason I have to disagree with your argument of demonic possession is because I witnessed one first hand back in the 90's when I was at service. I'll try to sum it up up quick.

-To this day the guy has never returned, but churches are always suppose to allow newcomers. This guy in his 50's maybe, came in during service and nobody thought anything strange because when the service end, the preacher usually calls for the Newcomers/Visitors to stand and announce themselves.
-In the Southern Baptist Church, they call everyone up for prayer (like a parayer circle where you hold hands) and the Priests go into prayer. Midway through the prayer, the Guy started crying uncontrollably and his body was twitching. I remember opening my eyes and thinking it as funny, because I never saw that as a kid.
-When the Prayer Circle ended, the one Female Priest must have sensed his torment and asked him to stay while we returned to the pews. She laid a hand on his head and started praying. About a minute later, the guy started FOAMING AT THE MOUTH and BARKING. At once, the Three Male Preachers grabbed and held him.
-The Guy was speaking with a growling tone, and what sound like Latin. *This is what ruled out my thought that it was Mental Illness when I got older and understood, when people speak foreign languages that only some priests can understand. AND I SWEAR TO YOU, AS HEAVEN AS MY WITNESS, THE DOORS FLUNG OPEN IN THEIR OWN! These were steady double doors with door nobs on them. Our Head Pastor said that if anyone was afraid, then they should leave. Amazingly, nobody left their seats...
-The Head Pastor told the choir to sing and called the Deacons up. They circled the Guy while he was Spitting, Jerking, Foaming etc. and laid hands on him. A good ten minutes passed while the Choir was singing and the preacher preaching to the Guy. Then the Holy Spirit entered a few people in the Congregation and the Guy fell face first on the floor taking the Priests with him.
-They asked him to recite the Lords Prayer with them, and half way through his demonic voice left and he was speaking in his normal dialect. *Now for this part, I couldnt see because he was on the ground, but one of the Deacons stated that a LUMP underneath the Guy's skin moved from his neck down to his arm.
-The church I attend only do communion on the First Sunday of every month, but they did one specifically for the Guy. And I promise you I'm not trying to sound Hollywood or Cliche'd, but the church smelled like fresh flowers after communion.

That was nearly 20 years ago and I havent seen the guy since. Then again, I havent been to church in a few years... sorry guys...
But I'm sure if he had returned, my Mom wouldve called me and be like "Remember the possessed guy from a while back?...."

So that was my account, and as a kid that age, you dont know what to believe. Technically, I wasnt an Athiest but I had no idea what Christianity meant at that age. Even before then, my brothers and I have had different accounts of hauntings around the area.

We were lucky growing up near an Indian Burial Ground in North Carolina..thanks Mom!

[edit on 17-5-2007 by Judaz_Escariot]

LOL, Densha my friend. You're right...there arent cases reported of Athiests being possessed because they arent Athiests anymore once they deliver themselves over to God to be saved, right?

If you can find a case where a real atheist was possessed and then turned himself over to god, I'd like to see it. It doesn't really matter if they are atheists or not afterwards, what matters is if they were atheists beforehand. Plus, if they are true atheists, they would go to a hospital or something, not to a church for exorcism.

And the Spaghetti Monster link summed it up as a 'paraody' in the opening sentence, so everyone knows its a joke. I got many laughs everytime I hear people mention it because I go into a whole other thought as "Did it have 12 Garlic Breadsticks acting as Apostles?"

Of course it's a parody, my point was that it goes far beyond South Park in scope and influence. Parodies serve a very important purpose to subvert institutions such as religion and government, proving a point while making us laugh. "Parody" does not mean frivolous and pointless. Twelve bread stick apostles is a fantastic idea, by the way.

---account of exorcism---

Pretty standard as far as demonic possession goes, especially in the south where (unsurprisingly) it's more common. Crazy things happen when a believer is surrounded by a bunch of other believers, reinforcing and playing off each other's beliefs. You were just a kid and it was twenty years ago, both of which have undoubtedly fuzzied up your recollection of how exactly the events went. Regardless of all of that, it's still not evidence, no matter how dramatic you remember it being.

Let's cross cultures here, maybe that will help prove the point. Why is there no modern demonic possession in Japan? Do demons have a Western bias? Why not attack such easy targets, 99% of Japanese people are not Christian and are therefore defenseless against demons. Why doesn't Satan just take them all over and have a jolly good time? Why is he so dumb as to only target highly religious southerners who are going to go straight to church and get exorcised? Doesn't quite make sense, does it?

Skeptic and magician James Randi, in his book An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, points out that when blindfolded, Ouija board operators are unable to produce intelligible messages.[5] Magicians Penn & Teller performed a similar demonstration in an episode of their television show Bull#! in which the operators moved the planchette into what they thought was the positions of "yes" and "no" without knowing that the board was turned upside-down, which caused them to move the planchette into blank spaces on the board. (from wikipedia)

Whenever I hear about Ouija boards I listen to both sides of the argument (the spiritual side and the scientific side) and can't figure out which I agree with.

I've never used a Ouija board "successfully". That is, when I was younger I used Ouija boards with friends and we never really got much from it.

However, a couple years ago I was drinking with friends and we pulled out a Ouija board and got jumbles of letters, basically. This makes me believe that Ouija boards "work" according to movement we make subconsciously, because the fact that we got jumbles when we were drunk kind of goes along with getting nonsense messages when blindfolded.

Until I'm convinced otherwise by personal experience (which I doubt will happen since me using a Ouija board is rare), I don't believe it. I want to sometimes just because of other stories and because some psychics use it as a method of communicating with spirits, but I just don't.

That's just my experience with it though... drunk Ouija-ing = unintelligible jumbles of letters.

Densha, I could be totally wrong but from what I was told by some Japanese friends in college that Religion doesnt play a part in the everyday Japanese life? I believe it was Shinto and Buddhism? Which remains the only religion that has proved to be uncorruptable because the texts have remained the sme throughout the ages. (just going on what I heard)

In the Western Culture, not just the American South, religion is filled with corruption as in Hypocricy, Thieves and False Testimony etc. Sure, even Chistians and Muslims know that some of their temples are filled with evil people looking to twist the context of the scriptures. Thats why evil exist and is believed to thrive in our Western culture.

I, myself, know that the worst demon is called 'Self', but I believe if you open yourself to evil thoughts and ways, then you can be made a vessel for demonic possession. Sad to say, but that is why America is one of the worst places to live because the crime and murder rate is embarrasing.

Could mental illness be a cause? Maybe. But even before a priest intercedes with an excorcism, the 'possessed' has to go through a mental evaluation with professional doctors to rule out sickness. Mental sickness has ruled out many cases of falsifiers, but as to making items levitate and the use if kinetic energy...no mental illness can do that.

I was 8 years old and a pretty smart kid. There is NO WAY to make a double door with knobs open unless you open them. Nobody was around the doors when the suddenly blew open. For years, people still talked about that. And we're Southerners, so i highly doubt Special F/X played a part in it.

As a test, i wonder if an athiest will play with a Ouija and ask the board to let anything enter them...will something happen?
*Horrorgasm, I'm not calling you an athiest, but would you volunteer for us? lol

[edit on 18-5-2007 by Judaz_Escariot]

[edit on 18-5-2007 by Judaz_Escariot]

` demonic possession ` medical science and the god of the gaps

hi - just a quick and generalised observation on the subject that this thread has drifted too over the last few replies

IMHO " demonic possesion " is one of the last bastions of the god of the gaps arguments

in the past religious belief " blamed " a whole slew of symptoms on " demons " , " divine wrath " and other such supernatual causes - to mask thier ignorance of what was really going on

nowadays through the advancement of science - naturalistic explainations for these conditions have emerged

as have effective treatments .

but still in the 21st century , there is a wideley held beleif in " demonic possesion " and other forms of malevolent possesion

************** DISCLAIMER ***************

please not , that i am NOT attempting to ascribe a blanket explaination for all events labeled " demonic posession " - i believe that the root of such claims is wide ranging , from fraud , hysteria , attention seeking , mental illness . each case must be handeled uniquely - there is NOT a single " cookie cutter " answer

******************** END **********************

appologes for that - on with the rambling

presumed causality , is often skewed by a priori assumptions of what an observe believes to be the most likley cause

the atheist will sometimes assume epiliesy or skitzophrenic collapse - and attempt to render first responder MEDICAL aid

a devout believerwil sometimes assume " demonic posession " and attempt prayer or other rites

and so on .

the god of the gaps - reflects the fact that most people who still believe in some manner of demonic possesion ALSO accept the naturalistic explainations for episodes that were previously labeled " posessions " - see how " god " is shrinking ?

Densha, I could be totally wrong but from what I was told by some Japanese friends in college that Religion doesnt play a part in the everyday Japanese life? I believe it was Shinto and Buddhism?

Yes, but it's not comparable to how Christianity affects the US. It's really hard to understand because it is so different, but there is a popular saying that goes Japanese people are "born Shinto, live Christian, and die Buddhist." In other words, they are Shinto by virtue of being Japanese (you can't convert to it as a foreigner). The second part doesn't actually mean "Christian" in the religious sense, but "Western" in the sense that Japan is more Westernized than the rest of Asia and Japanese people live day-to-day not unlike most Westerners (capitalistic consumerism). They say they die Buddhist because they still do Buddhist funeral ceremonies.

Really, other than shrine visits to honor loved ones, ancestors, or make wishes (some would say to pray), religion isn't such a big deal, even festivals are less religious than they used to be and are enjoyed more as a fun time out, a day off of work. There are no religious grounds on which to reject certain ideas like abortion, stem cell research, teaching evolution, etc. Beliefs are based much more on evidence and science here, and it makes some of the things that go on in America look strange, like teaching creationism in schools.

I, myself, know that the worst demon is called 'Self', but I believe if you open yourself to evil thoughts and ways, then you can be made a vessel for demonic possession. Sad to say, but that is why America is one of the worst places to live because the crime and murder rate is embarrasing.

Well, I think there are a lot of reasons for the crime and murder rate. Certainly the lenient gun laws play a huge part in it, but the biggest areas of crime and murder seem to be related to poverty. I think that saying it is due, at all, to demonic possession is a smoke screen to real problems that can be solved. I would also argue that, at least as far as the "far right christians" are concerned, they are much more dangerous than atheists and other more moderate believers (the kind who can intellectually combine evolution with their belief, for example, tend to be a bit more moderate, they still believe but are still moved by evidence and science. Sadly they are still susceptible to magical thinking in general). BUT, I don't think we should have that argument here, that's just my take on what you're saying.

Also, it still brings up my previous point: why don't demons possess atheists? Why possess religious Americans who will go straight to church? There are billions of people on this side of the world ripe for possession.

but as to making items levitate and the use if kinetic energy...no mental illness can do that.

True, but there's still no evidence that this has ever happened in the first place.

If it weren't for "The Excorcist", ouija boards would just be a board game in my opinion.

It's all in your head.