Do Episcopalians Believe in Demons?

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.

Halloween is just around the corner (or maybe was this past weekend, depending on when you hear this). The pumpkins are carved, the candy bowls are filling up, and plenty of us are curling up with a scary movie or two. So this seemed like a good week to talk about something I don’t usually take on in this segment: demons and darkness.

You might assume a progressive church like mine would wave all that away as ancient superstition. And to be fair, we do know more than the ancient world did. Conditions like epilepsy and schizophrenia were often mistaken for demonic possession, and that misunderstanding caused real harm to real people. No one should confuse an illness of the body or mind with a spiritual attack. People who are sick need good medical care and a community that loves them, not fear or blame.

But if you think that means we’ve stopped believing in evil, you’d be wrong.

Every time we baptize someone in the Episcopal Church, we ask them, or their parents and godparents if they’re an infant, to make three renunciations. They renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God. They renounce the evil powers of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. And they renounce the sinful desires that draw them away from God’s love. Those words are spoken at the font, in front of the whole congregation, every single time. Our Book of Occasional Services even includes guidance on exorcism. Mostly it says, very wisely, to call the bishop. But it’s there.

The Anglican writer C.S. Lewis, who comes out of my own tradition, imagined a senior devil coaching his nephew in The Screwtape Letters. One of the strategies he describes is simply staying hidden, letting people believe there’s nothing evil there at all. Lewis also warned about the opposite mistake: becoming obsessed with the demonic and seeing it behind every bush. Both errors, he suggested, please the forces of darkness equally.

I’ll be honest with you. In my own ministry, I’ve seen and experienced things that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Darkness is real. There is an evil in this world that is bigger than the bad intentions of a few bad actors. It is insidious. It can take hold of people, and even of institutions and whole systems, at least for a time. And that’s the key phrase: only ever for a time.

Because goodness is real, too. And the best way to resist evil is to surround yourself with God’s goodness.

That means being part of a church willing to ask hard questions, including whether the church itself has been hoodwinked by darkness and the systems of the day. Christians have too often confused the Faith with systems of discrimination, exclusion, and oppression. Evil loves to wear religious clothing. It means studying the Bible with good tools: a healthy community, a solid mainstream commentary, and some honest skepticism about what others may say… knowing anyone can twist Scripture to serve their own ends. It means worship and prayer, meeting God’s grace in bread and wine, in the waters of baptism, and in the warmth of real authentic spiritual community.

And it means becoming a force for that goodness yourself. Darkness won’t be beaten back by people who pretend it doesn’t exist. It will be beaten back by those who name it honestly, then stand up with the light of Christ’s love and demand something different (including something different of their church).

So enjoy your spooky movies this week. Just remember that the light is stronger. It always has been.

Thanks for being with me. To find out more about my parish, you can go to sjegh.com. Until next time, remember: protest like Jesus, love recklessly, and live your faith out in a community that accepts you but also challenges you to be better tomorrow than you are today.