"Rolling Stone" contributor Doug Pratt called it a "high point" of the first season. Kinney Littlefield of the "Orange County Register" said of the episode, "All this proves once again that animated series are great platforms for hot topics that live action shows don't dare grab head on. "South Park" allegory of good and evil is more apt and knowing than anything seen on '"Christy" or '"Touched by an Angel". Funnier too." However, Littlefield also said some of the show's graphic dialogue, like the phrase "poop on a stick", was growing "pretty darn redundant". Gary Budzak of "The Columbus Dispatch" described the "Damien" episode as perhaps "the most outrageous yet". Virginia Rohan of "The Record" praised the episode, saying, "The episode is funny, and ultimately, good does conquer evil, albeit for all the wrong reasons." "Chicago Sun-Times" writer Lon Grahnke gave the episode three stars and called it simultaneously strange and funny. Eric Mink of the "New York Daily News" called the episode "awfully funny" and praised its satirical element, although he warned it was potentially very offensive to some viewers: "A scene in which the kids offer profane between-rounds encouragement to Jesus could make even thick-skinned viewers wince a bit." Likewise, "Star-Ledger" reporter Matt Zoller Seitz said, "Tonight's episode is crazy, vulgar and borderline blasphemous; it is also, if you're in the right frame of mind, paralyzingly funny."