Years ago the Catholic Church supposedly banned it's priests from doing exorcisms. it was never really a procedure carried out by the Protestant churches.
It does however seem to be a staple of the African and American non-catholic churches and children and the, particularly mentally, frail seem to be the most frequently subjected to this procedure.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "protestant".
This morning on Radio 4, in Thought for the Day Dr Rob Marshall, an Anglican priest, commenting on Halloween, stated that each bishop has an expert for driving out evil.
Looks like the CofE practising exorcism to me ...
Batty, David (2001-05-02).From "Exorcism: abuse or cure?" by David Batty - Guardian Unlimited 02.05.2001
The idea that the medical profession would consider this medieval religious practice as a treatment might seem far-fetched, but across the UK Anglican and Catholic clergy continue to perform the ritual, often with the sanction of psychiatrists.
The Church of England's Deliverance Ministry, which was set up in 1974 after an "unfortunate" exorcism in Yorkshire, has teams of clergy and psychiatrists in each diocese and investigates dozens of claims of haunting, poltergeists and demonic possession very year. No exorcism is sanctioned without the consent of the local bishop and a psychiatric assessment.
The Rev Lisle Ryder, head of the Deliverance Ministry in Worcester and a member of the Christian Deliverance Study Group, which trains parish clergy, regards deliverance as alternative form of therapy for people with strong religious beliefs.
"Many people in distress come to the church for help because they have a religious frame of reference and are either put off from visiting a doctor because of the stigma of mental illness or because they don't believe their problems have a scientific explanation," said Mr Ryder.
"Exorcism should only be used as a last resort," he warns. "I've only carried out five in the past eight years, but they have not followed the traditional rite. A simple blessing will usually suffice to comfort most people. Many clearly have a mental health problem.
I find it rather comforting to see the Rev Ryder showing an attitude of dsmissal to the blanket diagnosis of demonic possession.
However, the African "churches" that practice of "beat the Hell and the Devil out of them even if it kills them" form of exorcism are definitely not Catholic, and I would doubt if they could be called Anglican either, though Protestant would seem, to me (my ignorance as to the names of the various divisions of Protestantism) to be the group of Christian churches to which the belong.
