When the Governor met Satan

Today, many people are talking about 37 year-old Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is on McCain's consideration list for vice president. The big problem: In the early 1990s, Jindal took part in an exorcism -- and he wrote about the event at length in 1994 for the New Oxford Review. (He was a Rhodes scholar.)

The best description of the event is here.

Some background: Jindal is of Indian descent, born into the Hindu religion. During his high school years, he was introduced to Christianity by a Southern Baptist friend intent on "converting the world." Although this friend did not make a successful impression, Jindal became attracted to Catholicism. He wrote about his conversion with all the goofy zeal of the new convert, and many Catholics considered this bright young fellow to be a fine "get" for the church.

According to the story later published by the New Oxford Review, Jindal was attending Brown University when "Susan," a girl he was seeing socially, started to show signs of demonic possession. Or so he felt. Less pious observers might have concluded that the girl suffered from a form of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Even so:

Bobby became worried and scared. Bobby had heard a priest claim that “angels, spirits, and other such apparitions” were not meant for literal interpretation. Still, he wanted to believe Susan.

This passage would indicate that a priest was consulted and had seen no proof of the supernatural.

Jindal turned to the Campus Crusade for Christ -- an evangelical Protestant group with right-wing political connections. Noted fundamentalist Pat Matrisciana, in a blabby mood, once told reporter Daniel Hopsicker that he had created the "Campus Crusade" at a time when he (Matrisciana) had been "detailed" to Berkeley by the CIA! In point of fact, Campus Crusade was founded in 1951 on the UCLA campus by one Bill Bright. (Matrisciana's bizarre declaration constitutes a mystery outside the scope of this essay.)

The local Campus Crusaders at Brown conducted a full-fledged exorcism, with dramatic and -- we are told -- successful results. During the rite, Jindal was both a witness and participant, praying to the Virgin Mary. The Crusaders would surely have disapproved of that.

Since so many people enjoy spreading nonsense about Catholicism, we should understand that the Church does not sanction do-it-yourself exorcism. "Discernment of spirits," to use a term of art, is not considered a job for the lay person. Only a Bishop can sanction the ritual, and he will do so only after he becomes convinced that the case has a non-medical, supernatural origin. One classic indicator is the speaking of a language one has not learned. I suppose a 360-degree head rotation would also suffice -- although this has never occurred in any actual case, not even in anecdote or rumor.

In The Exorcist, a long period of evaluation and medical testing had to precede the actual exorcism. The novel and film were based on a real-life case from the 1940s, involving a 13 year old boy. Later published accounts of the events do not include what I would consider hard evidence of the supernatural -- in other words, we get no ceiling-crawls, no levitations, and no special guest appearances by the Babylonian deity Pazuzu. The boy probably suffered from an extreme and rare psychological affliction. I doubt that any present-day American Bishop would sanction the rite of exorcism in such a case.

After the success of the film, alas, certain fundamentalist Protestants became intrigued by exorcism. Being typical American individualists, they implemented ad hoc procedures lacking controls, assessment by a heirarchy, or outside medical opinion. Today, Protestants do almost all of the exorcizing in this country.

Jindal showed the poor judgment of youth when he published the New Oxford Review account. People who knew him at Brown would have no trouble guessing the identity of "Susan."

Religious issues aside, Bobby Jindal strikes me as an interesting fellow. While he was still a student, powerful political forces seem to have selected him for the proverbial "fast track" to elective office. In this regard, his story bears an unnerving resemblance to that of Barack Obama.