Bobby Jindal: Completely Crazy or Warrior for God?

The oft talked about VP possibility for John McCain, Bobby Jindal is a man of interesting background, prestige and success. For a man who is not even “over the hill,” and who comes from a minority group, hiss success is reputable. Also well known is that he is a devout Catholic, having converted at a young age.

Bobby’s Catholicism has been known to border on the extreme at times however, as he is known to think of protestants as “heretical.” More interesting is his editorial in the New Oxford Review, a right wing Catholic journal, of a supposed exorcism that he took part in.

Apparently, a friend of Jindals, suffering from skin cancer and the recent suicide of a friend, began to smell of sulfur to those around her. Later on, during a prayer circle, the woman collapsed and fell into seizures; assuming that this was merely a demonic allergic reaction to all the thanskgiving to God at the meeting, Jindal & Co. knew what to do.

The students, led by Susan’s sister and Louise, a member of a charismatic church, engaged in loud and desperate prayers while holding Susan with one hand. Kneeling on the ground, my friends were chanting, “Satan, I command you to leave this woman.” Others exhorted all “demons to leave in the name of Christ.” It is no exaggeration to note the tears and sweat among those assembled. Susan lashed out at the assembled students with verbal assaults.

So, to recap so far, a sick and emotionally stressed woman collapses and seizes at a prayer circle. Instead of rushing said woman to the hospital, the surrounding students begin to pray and start to shout out demands for Satan to leave her body. Sick, scared and probably more than a little ticked, the woman screams a the crowd. Where was the priest during this holy war against soul devouring skinwalkers? He refused to take part. Bobby described how it felt:

Whenever I concentrated long enough to begin prayer, I felt some type of physical force distracting me. It was as if something was pushing down on my chest, making it very hard for me to breathe. . . Though I could find no cause for my chest pains, I was very scared of what was happening to me and Susan. I began to think that the demon would only attack me if I tried to pray or fight back; thus, I resigned myself to leaving it alone in an attempt to find peace for myself.

After a short lull in the frantic spiritual activity, Susan apparently tried to escape.

Maybe she sensed our weariness; whether by plan or coincidence, Susan chose the perfect opportunity to attempt an escape. She suddenly leapt up and ran for the door, despite the many hands holding her down. This burst of action served to revive the tired group of students and they soon had her restrained once again, this time half kneeling and half standing.

To recap again, after what is apparently turning into a tiring activity, said spiritually molested woman tried to escape, but was grabbed by her fellow studets and held down for even more exorcism. Did they get that Demon bugger out of there? You bet they did.

While Alice and Louise held Susan, her sister continued holding the Bible to her face. Almost taunting the evil spirit that had almost beaten us minutes before, the students dared Susan to read biblical passages. She choked on certain passages and could not finish the sentence “Jesus is Lord.” Over and over, she repeated “Jesus is L..L..LL,” often ending in profanities. In between her futile attempts, Susan pleaded with us to continue trying and often smiled between the grimaces that accompanied her readings of Scripture. Just as suddenly as she went into the trance, Susan suddenly reappeared and claimed “Jesus is Lord.”

With an almost comical smile, Susan then looked up as if awakening from a deep sleep and asked, “Has something happened?” She did not remember any of the past few hours and was startled to find her friends breaking out in cheers and laughter, overwhelmed by sudden joy and relief.

Apparently the exorcism was so successful that not just demons, but all the cancer was spirited away as well. Susan had no sign of cancer when they went to operate on her.

Now, I’m not usually one for criticism of religion, and I am myself a Catholic, if not a very good one. Nor do I mean for this to be a criticism of Bobby or his religion. If he believes that an exorcism worked, and even if it did, more power to him, Susan, God and everyone. I in no way intend for this post to be a criticism of religion.

I do feel, however, that I can criticize the politics of how a story like this will play out if Jindal is chosen as VP. Being a devout Catholic, even one who believes in the power of exorcisms, may be alright in Louisiana, however, it is going to be looked upon differently in the rest of the country. Especially in swing states McCain hopes to flip or keep such as the super protestant: New Hampshire, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa and Minnesota. When all any of the Democrats will have to do is get Jindal’s beliefs parodied on The Daily Show by supplying this picture ->, its gonna be bad looking for McCain.