Adsum

July 2002

The Morality of the Ouija Board

From the book, Father Connell Answers Moral Questions
by Very Rev. Francis J. Connell, C.SS.R., S.T.D., L.L.D., L.H.D.

Question: What should priests tell Catholics about the use of the ouija board, a practice that is now becoming quite common?

Answer: In times of danger and uncertainty, like the present, when people are anxious and fearful about the safety and the whereabouts of service men who are dear to them, there is a tendency to seek information that is unobtainable through ordinary channels from such sources as fortune-tellers, crystal gazers, etc. Recourse to the ouija board — a device that spells out answers under the pressure of the fingers — is one form of this tendency.

Regarding the use of the ouija board two facts can safely be asserted. First, many of the answers obtained by this means are merely manifestations of the unconscious thoughts and desires of the operator. Sometimes it happens, by an extraordinary coincidence, that answers procured in this fashion convey information that seems to be entirely beyond the scope of the natural. Yet, in fact, they are governed by the natural laws of human intellection and volition.

Secondly, it can also be unhesitatingly asserted that the powers of darkness, ever alert to ensnare the souls of men, sometimes intervene in the use of the ouija board and provide knowledge that could not be obtained by any human means. And since there is always a probability that this will take place, one who uses the ouija board for the purpose of getting information not available in the ordinary way is guilty of the grave sin of divination. For he is invoking, at least implicitly and conditionally, the assistance of the devil.

Accordingly, a priest need have no hesitation in telling the faithful that the use of the ouija board, like recourse to fortune tellers, is objectively a mortal sin. There is no reason for mitigating this statement so far as to say that the frequent use of the ouija board is gravely sinful. For, even a single experiemtn with this dangerous toy may invite the cooperation of the evil spirit; hence, it constitutes a grave violation of the first commandment of God. It might be alleged that the sin of divination would not be committed by one who would expressly reject all communication with the devil and protest that his only purpose is to utilize natural, though latent, human powers. Whatever may be said of the value of this defense in theory, it has very little weight in practice. For it would rarely happen that a person, eagerly using the board to acquire knowledge which he cannot obtain in ordinary ways, would intend efficaciously to exclude information which might be available through diabolical intervention, even though he would make an express statement to the contrary.

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