American Exorcism
For The Atlantic, Mike Mariani writes about the rising demand for Catholic exorcisms, which are formal religious exercises that aim to cleanse an individual of evil spirits. Mariani connects the rise in exorcisms to the declining influence of the church: “Today’s increased willingness to believe in the paranormal, then, seems to have begun as a response to secularization before spreading through the culture and landing back on the Church’s doorstep—in the form of people seeking salvation from demons through the Catholic faith’s most mystical ritual,” Mariani writes.