Whether demonic possession is real and whether the Church should exorcise people are two separate questions, although (as here), they are often lazily conflated. I discuss this in my next book amazon.co.uk/History-Anglic…
Historically, many Christians have maintained the reality of demonic possession but refused to exorcise. Furthermore, some exorcists today do not believe in demonic possession but still believe in the therapeutic power of exorcism
There are also those who argue that, whether or not demonic possession is real (a matter for theologians and demonologists), it is unethical to exorcise people
The ethical case against exorcism is twofold: 1) if demonic possession is not real, then exorcism demonises the mentally ill 2) if demonic possession is real, then a demoniac is unable to give informed consent to exorcism and therefore it is unethical
