Exorcists are making another cinema comeback

But America's spiritual climate isn't what it was when "The Exorcist" was a hit

The man who wrote “The Exorcist” knew what he was doing.

The late William Peter Blatty was a witty Hollywood veteran (he wrote the Pink Panther classic “A Shot in the Dark”), as well as an articulate pro-Catechism Catholic. We met for tea, back in 2013, not far from the Georgetown University neighborhood that played a pivotal role in his life and in the dramatic events in his novel and Oscar-winning screenplay.

I expected to have about 30 minutes of his time, as he worked his way through press interviews linked to the 40th anniversary of the movie that scared the hell out of millions of moviegoers.

However, I had a list of theological questions — so we talked for nearly two hours. This led to a 2013 column (“William Peter Blatty and 'The Exorcist' — Taking incarnate evil seriously for 40 years”) and there was plenty of material in my files for a 2023 follow-up after his death (“The Exorcist turns 50 — Visions of hell, in defense of beliefs about heaven”).

Our Rational Sheep question today is whether the life experiences and beliefs that inspired Blatty’s masterpiece remain relevant, as exorcism-related movies continue to appear on multiplex screens everywhere.

Thus, here is the full text of that 2013 “On Religion” column. After that, I will point readers to some choice bites of a recent Religion Unplugged essay by Joseph Holmes, a must-follow online commentator about media and popular culture.

First, tea with the mind and soul behind “The Exorcist.”

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In the middle of a New York Magazine dialogue on heaven and hell, damnation and salvation, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia offered this theological zinger: "I even believe in the Devil."

The Devil is a major player in the Gospels and faithful Catholics know that, he said, before adding: "Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history."

The principalities and powers of elite America were shocked, shocked by his confession. But one veteran Hollywood scribe pounded out a friendly email of support, from one conservative Catholic to another.

"I told him to quit honing into my territory," said William Peter Blatty, who won an Academy Award in 1973 for adapting his novel, "The Exorcist," for the big screen. "I don't tell him how to write Supreme Court opinions. ... He should let me take the heat for talking about the Devil. That's my job."