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from the the-power-of-god-compels-you-to-read-it dept.
The conviction that demons exist—and that they exist to harass, derange, and smite human beings—stretches back as far as religion itself. In ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonian priests performed exorcisms by casting wax figurines of demons into a fire. The Hindu Vedas, thought to have been written between 1500 and 500 b.c., refer to supernatural beings—known as asuras, but largely understood today as demons—that challenge the gods and sabotage human affairs. For the ancient Greeks, too, demonlike creatures lurked on the shadowy fringes of the human world.
But far from being confined to a past of Demiurges and evil eyes, belief in demonic possession is widespread in the United States today. Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:16PM
It's not just the researchers, it's the institutions. They see ads promising to change your life right (just give us your life savings and go into a debt you'll never be able to pay off)) next to the ads for products that will eliminate fine wrinkles or perhaps leave you blind or eliminate yellowing of your toenails or wreck your liver. Then they see again and again in the news that some of them are outright scams and others result in well educated baristas.
Then cynical politicians come along and validate the idea that science is not to be trusted hoping to get a few more votes for their side.
That's the average person's view. For those who might actually read research papers and journals, the evidence suggests that the journals that were a cornerstone of scientific discourse really are just in it for the bux. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me that much is one of them published "evidence" for the flat earth if they got paid enough.