Court defends "Exorcism"

This is just too insane to be true

Basic background: A 17 year old girl (now 29) was abducted and subjected to a 2-day exorcism, where she was pinned to the ground and "pummeled."

So, she did what any sensible person would do: take her assaulters to court. Lowers court ruled in favor of the girl and awarded her $188,000 in damages. Big ol' Daddy Texas Supreme Court comes along and overturns the ruling, arguing that this is a First Amendment case...therefore it would be unconstitutional for the court to make a ruling on a religious environment. It's not a blank check, mind you: churches can't sexually abuse children. But the trauma caused by this particular religious experience was not considered within the jurisdiction of the court.


She's taking her case to the US Supreme Court.

I definitely think the Texas Court is in the wrong here. While I respect the rights of religions to hold their own spiritual practices and am willing to grant them some leeway on "child abuse" (for example, a child fussing about having to wake up at 7 AM on a Sunday would not be an adequate excuse for government intervention), this exorcism ritual crossed the line. Physical abuse and forceful pinning for days is an obvious abuse: what 17 year old wouldn't be afraid of being constrained by multiple others for an extended period of time?

And if it's obvious abuse, it isn't permissible under the law, just like sexual abuse.