Bill Maher finds himself disappointed with the new Pope again.

On his blog (Oh yes, he has one too!) Bill Maher decides that though he likes the new Pope, he simply cannot condone his praise for exorcists: 

Pope Francis has quickly established himself as the progressive Pope – not your father’s Holy Father. Early on, he said atheists can get into heaven. He’s expressed compassion for gays and even said that there’s a place for them in the Church. He’s affirmed the Big Bang Theory and evolution. He’s got a gambling problem he jokes about and it’s long been an open secret that he has a wife and three kids. 

But every time this Pope makes me think he’s dragging the Catholic Church kicking and screaming – like an altar boy into the rectory – into the modern, rational era, he goes and kicks it old school. The latest is that he met with and affirmed the work of the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 300 practicing Catholic exorcists. 

Embracing the idea that people are possessed by demons and that there are rituals to cast these demons out – that’s not just crazy, that’s Antonin Scalia crazy. I’d like to believe that Pope Francis doesn’t really believe this crap, but rather just feels he has to stay “on script.”

Like Maher I think a lot of people want to give Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt in the hopes that he is the level headed reformer that he seems to want to portray himself to be. 

However that is simply impossible when you realize that the Pope still supports some of the church's most egregious dogma as well as the idea that people can literally be possessed by invisible magical creatures that exist to spread evil and torment mankind.

Here is what the Pope said back in October: 

Pope Francis has told a convention of exorcists from around the world that they are doing sterling service in combating "the Devil's works", as the Catholic Church warned of a rise in Satanism and the occult. 

The Pope, who frequently cites the fight against Satan in his sermons, said that exorcists needed to show "the love and welcome of the Church for those possessed by evil". By treating people who were possessed, priests could demonstrate that "the Church welcomes those suffering from the Devil's works," he said in a message to a conference organised in Rome by the International Association of Exorcists.

On an almost daily basis I interact with, and treat, individuals with behaviors that two hundred years ago would surely have seen them beaten into submission (Spare the rod, spoil the child.), locked up in a sanitarium for their entire lives, or terrorized by a religious nut who would tell them that the source of their problems lies in their lack of faith and the fact that they have allowed themselves to become a dwelling place for evil.

Today we treat with patience, medications, and behavior modifications, people who would have received the kind of treatment that even farm animals were spared hundreds of years ago.

The idea that this Pope continues to promote this superstitious nonsense rips away any facade that he is reasonable or modern in his thought process.

Stephen Colbert does a little mocking of the Colorado state lawmaker who believes that President Obama needs an exorcism.

Click image to play video

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

On last night’s episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert savaged Dr. “Chaps” Gordon Klingenschmitt, the former Navy chaplain turned Colorado state lawmaker. 

Colbert played a clip of just some of the bizarre things that this Dr. Chaps has said:


“The demonic spirits inside the homosexual agenda are trying to redefine family,” Klingenschmitt says in the clip, “trying to homosexualize your children. Jesus, if he were giving marriage counseling to two gay men who were married, Jesus would command them to get divorced.” 

“Yes,” Colbert responded, “if Jesus were their marriage counselor, he would tell them to get divorced. And he would take 65 minutes to do it, so he could charge them the second hour. But it’s not just the gays — everyone needs a little Klingenschmitt exorcism.” 

“Don’t you think there’s something inside the atheist complainer that’s wrong,” he says in another clip. “I have a solution! Let’s do an exorcism, cast the devil out of them! Julius Genachowski, the outgoing FCC chairman, has not enforced decency standards. The demonic spirit inside of him influences him to abuse, and dare I say, molest and visually rape your children.”

Good job Colorado Republicans, this guy is the perfect example of our current GOP.

Later Colbert plays the clip where Klingenschmitt suggests that the President is possessed by a demon, after which he has this to say:

“Yes,” Colbert said, “Obama’s possessed by a demon — and he won’t even show us its birth certificate. Now, saying the president is possessed by a demon could be seen as a tad inflammatory, but after he was elected, Klingenschmitt told a Colorado newspaper that, ‘I would say it is time for people of good will on both sides of the political debate to come together to have reasonable discussions about these issues.’”

Like I said the other day, it is becoming increasingly difficult to define the line between where the actual quotes from Republican politicians end and parodies of them begin.

If any of you think that this Dr. Chaps guy sounds familiar it's because we did our own reporting on him just last week.

Colorado just elected an exorcist to their House of Representatives. And here you thought YOUR state had gone off the deep end.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

The radical anti-LGBT religious activist Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt won a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives with almost 70 percent of the vote, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports. 

The former Navy chaplain’s victory was not surprising, as Republicans outnumber Democrats by a 2-to-1 margin in the El Paso County district Klingenschmitt now represents. 

The notoriously anti-LGBT Klingenschmitt came to national attention last year, when he attempted to exorcise a “demonic spirit” from President Barack Obama. 

“We pray against the domestic enemies of the Constitution,” Klingenschmitt said, his eyes tightly closed, “against this demon of tyranny who is using the White House occupant. That demonic spirit is oppressing us.”

Here is the video of Klingenschmitt "exorcising" the demonic spirit from the White House.

As you can see it was clearly not a REAL exorcism (There was not green puke or anything), and if it was it was the laziest one that I have ever witnessed, and I have actually seen a fair number.

Here is more from Think Progress:

Here is a collection of choice Klingenschmitt quotes: 

1. “Almighty God, today we pray imprecatory prayers from Psalm 109 against the enemies of religious liberty…who recently issued a press release attacking me personally… Let their days be few, and replace them with godly people. Plunder their fields and seize their assets. Cut off their descendants. And remember their sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” 

2. “She gave her life to Jesus. She welcomed the Holy Spirit. And I looked into her eyes as she began to weep and I said, “You foul spirit of lesbianism, this woman has renounced you, come out of her in Jesus’ name,’ and she began to wrestle with that and suddenly her eyes began to bug out and then she began to weep, and weep, and weep as the Holy Spirit forgave her sins… She was baptized the next day and then she became one of the best evangelists in our church, started carrying around her Bible telling all of her friends about Jesus and she started dating boys.” 

3. “Almighty God, please bless Lowes Home Improvement stores for their wise decision to stop advertising for the TV show All-American Muslim, which is nothing but Islamic propaganda designed to whitewash the fact that practitioners of militant Islam not only slaughtered over 3000 American civilians, but routinely kill millions of Christians worldwide.” 

4. “Sen. Franken recently released a video in which he blames the high rate of suicide among homosexual teens on school bullying, by abusing these sad tragedies as his own propaganda tool. By spreading even more lies to more teens, Franken is ultimately causing more suicides. Teen suicide is tragic enough without Senator Franken recruiting more kids into homosexuality, which causes depression, self-hatred, self-rejection and self-murder.” 

5. “Sexual harrassment [sic] is banned in the military, unless you’re a homosexual abusing a Christian, then it’s openly encouraged.” 

6. “Federal bureaucrats will enforce Obamacare to exterminate the elderly, systematically. We must take a stand.” 

7. “Picture this: four NFL players coming out as gay, and then this whole youth movement of coaches recruiting children into the homosexual lifestyle and punishing Christians because they voice an opposition to that sort of thing in the locker room… that is a demonic use of the sporting industry.” 

8. “Is bestiality now a perceived sexual orientation? Well since it’s not defined in the ENDA bill, yes it is!” 

9. “An atheist chaplain would be the perfect vehicle for convincing wounded warriors that they should end their lives because there’s nothing in the future and there’s nothing now, so why not just save money and kill themselves.” 

10. “In other words, it doesn’t matter what your skin color is, it matters what’s inside of your heart. And if your heart is full of corruption or sin or immorality — in this case, homosexuality — then you should be discriminated against.” (There are more of these over at Think Progress.)


Holy cow this guy makes Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert seem rational.

What the hell Colorado? Did nobody check this guy's biography, or do some Coloradans like their wing nutty politicians with extra nuts?

I swear if we do not do something to keep these superstitious idiots out of office, our country is doomed.

I mean what's next, a President who bases his decisions on advice from an Astrologer?

Oh wait.......