The Devil in Westminster

Some Anglican bishops of England spoke of the Devil last week, and not surprisingly he turned up.

On the first day of the Convocation of Canterbury in Westminster's Church Assembly Hall--presided over by the Archbishop, Geoffrey Francis Fisher--the divines were discussing the report of a church commission on the Ministry of Healing. The Venerable Maxwell Dunlop, 59, archdeacon of Aston, rose to express his distress at the report's appendix on the subject of exorcism. "Apparently no member of the commission has questioned whether demons really exist," said Archdeacon Dunlop.

Sarcastically, he reviewed the recommended procedure: "If the demon seems at all active, the priest or doctor should refer it to the bishop. Then, if the demon understands Latin and the bishop thinks a case has been made for exorcism, he should consult a panel of priests and doctors for diagnosis. After the panel has reported, the bishop may proceed to do something about it. But what is the demon going to do? He may be an Anglican demon--or he may lack completely the kind of intelligence an Anglican shows when an appeal is made to the bishop."

Promptly prelate after prelate popped up to refute Archdeacon Dunlop--and the Devil made his presence felt by disrupting the lighting mechanism that was supposed to flash each speaker's name; instead, letters began to go on and off at random, spelling nothing. Said the dean of Windsor, the Right Rev. Eric Hamilton: "I would rather believe that the

Devil exists than that he does not. If he does, it explains a great many almost insoluble problems." Said Canon Arthur Shepherd of Worcester: "The first tactic of the Devil is to persuade Christians that he does not exist, next to persuade them that God does not exist."

Since the church officially believes in angels, many reasoned, then why not devils? Said Canon Evan Burrough of Oxford: "I have a profound belief in angels and therefore in demons or evil spirits. I believe that the majority of patients in our mental hospitals are really possessed by demons rather than suffering diseases of the mind."

Archdeacon Dunlop proposed that a commission be established to determine whether the church believes in the existence of the Devil or not, and as he spoke, the lighting system flashed on and off frantically. But the convocation turned the proposal down cold. The Anglican Church Times was delighted that the devil hunt had been headed off. "The Son of God had no doubt about the existence of such forces," it editorialized. "Where he was certain, it is hardly necessary for Christians to doubt."

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