Devil Worship
The meaning of this compound term is sufficiently obvious, for all
must be familiar with the significance of its two component parts.
But the thing denoted by the name is by no means so easy to
understand. For there is such a strange startling incompatibility
between the notion of devil and that of an object of worship, that
the combination in this case may well present a grave difficulty.
And the more we are able to understand about the character and
history of the Devil and about the true nature of worship, the
more difficult is it to believe that men can have been led, even
in the utmost extremity of folly and wickedness, to worship the
Devil. Yet, incredible as it may seem, it is unfortunately true
that some worship of this kind has prevailed at many times and
among widely different races of mankind. The following
considerations may help in some degree to lighten the difficulty
presented by this singular phenomenon.
In the first place it may be well to recall the analogy between
the worship given to a divine being and the tribute paid to a
king. Both alike are sensible proofs of service and subjection. In
the case of kings, besides the willing service paid to a just and
legitimate sovereign, there may be tribute paid to some alien
oppressors or blackmail grudgingly given to some pirate Chief or
marauder in order to deprecate the evils that may be feared at his
hands. And so in the case of religious worship, we may find that
in the rude polytheism of barbarous races, where the gods were not
only many in number but various in character, besides the willing
worship given to good and beneficent beings in the service of love
and gratitude, there is a sort of liturgical blackmail offered to
the evil and malignant gods or demons in order to placate them and
avert their anger. In like manner, when we pass from Polytheism to
the philosophic Dualism--where the worlds of light and darkness,
good and evil, sharply defined, are constantly warring against
each other over against the good men, who offer worship to the
good god, Ahura Mazda, there are the wicked Daeva-worshippers who
sacrifice to the Demons and to Ahriman their chief, the principle
of evil.
Another source of this strange worship may be found in the fact
that in the early days each nation had its own natural gods; hence
racial rivalry and hatred sometimes led one nation to regard the
protecting divinities of its enemies as evil demons. In this way
many who merely worshipped gods whom they themselves regarded as
good beings would be called devil worshippers by men of other
nations. Such may be the case with the Daeva-worshippers in the
Avesta. In the same way the Greeks and Romans may have worshipped
their divinities, fondly believing them to be good. But the
Christian Scriptures declare that all the gods of the Gentiles are
demons.
This declaration, it may be added, was not the utterance of a
rival race but the teaching of Holy Scripture. For as the Fathers
and theologians explain the matter, the fallen angels besides
tempting and assailing men in other ways have, by working on their
fears or exciting their cupidity, brought them to give worship to
themselves under the guise of idols. If not in all cases, it would
seem that much of the heathen idolatrous worship, especially in
its worst and most degraded forms, was offered to the devils. This
may explain some of the manifestations in the old pagan oracles.
And something of the same kind occurs in the demonic
manifestations among the modern demonolaters in India. Nor has
this been confined to heathen nations, for in connection with
magical practices and occultism some forms of devil worship appear
in the heresy history of medieval Europe. G�rres, in his great
work on Christian Mysticism, gives some curious and repulsive
details of their obscene ceremonial. Of late years there seems to
have been a recrudescence of this evil superstition in certain
countries of Europe. While there is some authentic evidence as to
the existence of these evil practices, the truth is overlaid with
a mass of legend, many charges of this kind are false or grossly
exaggerated, and a number of innocent persons have been cruelly
put to death on charges of witchcraft or devil worship. It is well
also to remember St. Augustine's words: "Non uno modo sacrificatur
traditoribus angelis"; and possibly calumny and cruelty may be
more dangerous forms of devil worship than all the dark rites of
African Medicine men or medieval magicians.
W. H. KENT
Transcribed by Rick McCarty
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
-------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
Web:
http://www.ewtn.com
FTP: ewtn.com
Telnet: ewtn.com
Email address: sysop@ ewtn.com
EWTN provides a Catholic online
information and service system.
-------------------------------------------------------
