(from cenlamar.wordpress.com)
“Beating a Demon”:
Of the Collected Works of Bobby Jindal, one story, in particular, has been the subject of intense scrutiny. The story concerns Mr. Jindal, as an undergraduate, participating in a strange type of exorcism ceremony. This experience, claims Mr. Jindal, helped to underscore his nascent Catholic faith.
This, in a truncated and paraphrased form, is the now-famous exorcism story:
When Bobby Jindal was attending Brown University, he had a friend named “Susan.” Susan and Bobby were very close friends. Some people even thought the two were an item, but they never were. One day, Susan and Bobby attended a Christian concert, and in the middle of the show, Susan got up and left. Bobby knew something was wrong. He followed her outside, and she was sobbing. Bobby tried to console her. A female friend showed up and gave Susan a hug. Bobby knew the problem would not go away with a hug, and he offered to walk her back to her dorm room. Once they were in the room, Susan confessed why she was upset. She said she had cancer. Skin cancer. Bobby promised to stand by her forever. He sat next to her in bed and distracted her with “fairy tales.” Susan calmed down.
The next time they were supposed to meet for dinner, Susan was late. She refused to apologize, so Bobby refused to speak with her for a week. But they quickly resolved everything when Susan opened up about her nightmares and the strange, unknown odors emanating from her dorm room. Bobby attributed the odor to the devil, because it smelled like sulfur. Susan also told Bobby about speaking in tongues and visions she had. Bobby became worried and scared. Bobby had heard a priest claim that “angels, spirits, and other such apparitions” were not meant for literal interpretation. Still, he wanted to believe Susan.
When Susan was telling Bobby this, he excused himself and left the room. Then, he made the sign of the cross and prayed to God for help. When he walked back into the room, Susan “angrily lashed out” at Bobby, and he thought, “Gee. Thanks God. So much for prayer.”
The next day, when Susan went for another set of tests, Bobby and his friends in the University Christian Fellowship club (UCF) organized a prayer meeting for Susan later that evening. Bobby asked Susan if she wanted him to attend the meeting. At first she said no, but she quickly changed her mind.
The UCF prayer meeting was held in a classroom. A group of people, including Bobby, Susan, and Susan’s sister, sat in a circle on the floor and sang songs and prayed together. Suddenly, right after a group prayer, Susan “emitted some strange guttural sounds.” Bobby thought she may be having a seizure. Susan’s sister told everyone to place their hands on Susan’s body. Bobby “refused” and “froze in horror.” Susan began to scream Bobby’s name. She yelled, “Bobby, you cannot even love Susan.” Bobby thought it was funny she referred to herself in the third person. Bobby walked to the back of the room, and Susan began insulting every person in the room, revealing private information and embarrassing secrets.
Susan’s sister and a woman named “Louise,” who Bobby says was “a member of a charismatic church,” pinned Susan down and prayed loudly and desperately. They yelled things like, “Satan, I command you to leave this woman” and commanded “(all) demons to leave in the name of Christ.” Susan continued shouting. Bobby tried to remain calm, though at one point, he thought he could be having a stroke. Bobby considered calling the campus priest, but he also thought that Catholicism could actually be bogus. He was having questions about his faith. Instead, the students in the UCF meeting continued to pray for Susan. Bobby tried praying, but he became exhausted.
Susan attempted to escape, and during the scuffle, “Alice,” the student leader for Campus Crusade for Christ, “entered the room for the first time, brandishing a crucifix.” They had tried calling a “rival” Christian group to help, but the preacher “denied” their request for help and told them to not to “confront the demon.” Alice made Susan even angrier. Susan tried lunging toward the door. Bobby began repeating the Hail Mary over and over again. He said, “Being new to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doctrines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry.” But he could not think of anything else at the time, so he prayed to Mary.
Susan eventually calmed down because of the crucifix, and her sister brought out a Bible. They all began daring Susan to read passages from the Bible. She would begin to read a passage and then blurt out obscenities. But after reading several passages, Susan changed, almost in an instant. She proclaimed, “Jesus is Lord,” and then told everyone she could not remember “any of the past few hours.”
Susan even asked Bobby if he was okay. Bobby told Susan’s sister he would “commit” to a “nightlife” of prayer for Susan. Susan spent the night in the house of a missionary, because her roommate had pagan-looking decorations in their dorm room.
Bobby felt a renewed appreciation for his Catholic faith. He no longer doubted, as he had only hours before.
Susan and Bobby stayed friends. Susan even became a Catholic. And her cancer somehow completely disappeared.
What This Story Reveals:
Mr. Jindal was writing about a profound and transformational religious experience, but there is probably a good reason his campaign does not want people to read this essay. The essay raises more questions than answers, and many of these questions are uncomfortable
