Nigerian Christians are killing children branded as "witches"

[Bluebear]

Evangelical pastors are helping to create a terrible new campaign of violence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being abused, abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money out of the fear of their parents and their communities.

The rainy season is over and the Niger Delta is lush and humid. This southern edge of West Africa, where Nigeria's wealth pumps out of oil and gas fields to bypass millions of its poorest people, is a restless place. In the small delta state of Akwa Ibom, the tension and the poverty has delivered an opportunity for a new and terrible phenomenon that is leading to the abuse and the murder of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children. And it is being done in the name of Christianity.

Almost everyone goes to church here. Driving through the town of Esit Eket, the rust-streaked signs, tarpaulins hung between trees and posters on boulders, advertise a church for every third or fourth house along the road. Such names as New Testament Assembly, Church of God Mission, Mount Zion Gospel, Glory of God, Brotherhood of the Cross, Redeemed, Apostalistic. Behind the smartly painted doors pastors make a living by 'deliverances' - exorcisms - for people beset by witchcraft, something seen to cause anything from divorce, disease, accidents or job losses. With so many churches it's a competitive market, but by local standards a lucrative one.

But an exploitative situation has now grown into something much more sinister as preachers are turning their attentions to children - naming them as witches. In a maddened state of terror, parents and whole villages turn on the child. They are burnt, poisoned, slashed, chained to trees, buried alive or simply beaten and chased off into the bush.

Some parents scrape together sums needed to pay for a deliverance - sometimes as much as three or four months' salary for the average working man - although the pastor will explain that the witch might return and a second deliverance will be needed. Even if the parent wants to keep the child, their neighbours may attack it in the street.

This is not just a few cases. This is becoming commonplace. In Esit Eket, up a nameless, puddled-and-potholed path is a concrete shack stuffed to its fetid rafters with roughly made bunk beds. Here, three to a bed like battery chickens, sleep victims of the besuited Christian pastors and their hours-long, late-night services. Ostracised and abandoned, these are the children a whole community believes fervently are witches....

'My youngest brother died. The pastor told my mother it was because I was a witch. Three men came to my house. I didn't know these men. My mother left the house. Left these men. They beat me.' She pushes her fists under her chin to show how her father lay, stretched out on his stomach on the floor of their hut, watching. After the beating there was a trip to the church for 'a deliverance'....MORE

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2224553,00.html

[Danger Mouse]

1. ...

:puke:
Another entry in the 'Great Moments in Christianty'

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Keep in mind: This is Nigeria

A country where anti-woman, anti-gay, extremely right wing wanna-be pope Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola is considered a Christian moderate.

Edited to add link, in order to forestall the "Who is that" responses. :hi:

[provis99]

5. Christians in general in Nigeria are considered

more educated and worldly than their Muslim fellow Nigerians. Which makes me wonder, if this is how the Christian Nigerians behave, how much worse are the Muslims?

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. There are some questions you daren't ask

You might be around when the answer makes itself evident.

[JerseygirlCT]

65. It's horrifying, isn't it? nt

[madeline_con]

3. This is thanks to missionaries

who introduced this crap to Africa.

[Mnemosyne]

21. Yep, pretend to accept Christ or starve.

This shit drives some over the edge. Your assessment is perfect, madeline_con!

Bastards destroy everything they touch.

:grr:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. The mainstream missionaries don't do this--get your facts straight

They used to, back in the early days, but there were too many people pretending to be Christian in order to get food.

For years, mainstream missionaries have not provided food aid personally and have left that task to arms of their respective churches that are specifically for that purpose: Catholic Charities, Episcopal Relief and Development, Lutheran World Relief, and others. All three organizations were active after the tsunami and after the earthquakes in Pakistan, giving out food and clothing and tents to mostly Muslim and Hindu populations without any strings attached.

What the fundies do is totally unpredictable.

[Mnemosyne]

40. I should have made clear it was fundies I was referring to, sorry unclear LL. n/t

[JanMichael]

4. This isn't bad if one believes in cultural relativity.

Which is asinine.

[undergroundpanther]

7. I remember seeing a show

years ago like in 1999, Somewhere in Africa there christians were killing so called witches back than too. They'd throw tires over the victim,than dump gasoline over them and burn them to death.It was a documentary on this. It made me really pissed.

The hate in the bible is real.And when christians take that old book of roman empire propaganda with the spirit yanked out of it so literally the hate in the bibles pages gets rationalized and 'god' justifies it in the zealots mind..Every time someone gets too full of bad religion this kind of thing happens it has happened before and it happens now.When will people let go of that book and let go of the superstition religion and authority and get over it and develop a bigger saner heart??

How many gays,lesbians,transgendered,pagans,etc. and other hate targets of fundamentalist christianity have to be hurt,have their lives ruined or even die before people stop believing in a bad religion?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. That method of killing people, known as "necklacing," was actually invented

by gangs in the South African townships during the apartheid era and was used against people whom the gangs believed to be in league with the police.

As I posted in another thread about this dreadful story of the "child witches," I am reminded of Colin Turnbull's book The Mountain People, which concerned a Ugandan tribe known as the Iks. They were terribly cruel to their children--making them fend for themselves almost as soon as they could walk, laughing at them if they were injured, and so on. This was the result of severe stresses on the tribe from several sources and was not traditional with them.

Similarly, Communist-era travelers to the Soviet Union invariably remarked about how well-treated children were there. But suddenly, after Milton Friedman's disciples urged the post-Soviet government to apply economic "shock therapy," we heard stories of children being brutalized and abandoned in horrid orphanages.

It makes me wonder if the part of Nigeria where this is happening is undergoing similar stresses. Most Christians, in Africa or elsewhere, do not treat their children this way.

Killing witches is not part of the doctrine or practice of any mainstream Christian denomination today. What the free-lance fundies do (the self-appointed "ministers" with no training and little knowledge of what Jesus actually taught, particularly about children) is another matter entirely.

[undergroundpanther]

19. You are wrong

The bible says stuff about killing witches thou shalt not suffer a witch to live...

Witches I hope are not killed in America,but pagans do get threatened by christians mostly fundies or pentacostals like assemblies of god or various 'independant' loosely affiliated evangelical/baptist fundies, Pagan shops have been vandalized,I myself was chased by jesus freaks with knives.They saw my pentacle.
And here..
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2007/10/27/witch_school_under_fire_in_ill_village/8338/
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chrw_rad.htm
http://www.holysmoke.org/wicca/xianscam.htm

An incident in Canada
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=24c908f6-14a4-4638-b4d1-429128ea87fb&k=860
India
http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2038915,00.html

More
http://www.sweenytod.com/rno/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=24

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. True, there's a passage in Exodus about "not suffering a witch to live," but

what I said is that no mainstream Christian denomination in the world today kills witches.

And I first heard of the horrible method of execution you describe in news reports from South Africa in the 1970s, directed not at "witches" but at police informants.

[Feron]

25. I had to read The Mountain People in college.

And that has to be the most depressing book I have ever read.

[NuttyFluffers]

26. Nigeria has been suffering extreme "economic shock therapy" for a long time

some would say decades, i'm tempted to say a couple of centuries. colonialism and post-colonialism has not been good to the people there. just looks like another scam artist came upon another way to a quick buck.

ps: hatred of witchcraft is very old in most of africa, let alone coastal west africa. christianity certainly wouldn't have helped, but the fervent anti-witchcraft stance is far older and most likely the more ingrained reason that this is happening. but then, most cultures in the world are anti-witches.

people forget that witch has a very specific and horrifying meaning in other cultures worldwide (this is a scientific anthropological term regarding a particular vocabulary word of another culture). it's like the equivalent of "evil psionicists in league with the cruel outer gods" or something. to say your a witch is to seriously invite danger in the vast majority of the world's cultures -- especially indiginous cultures. to let a "witch" live is a very real threat to everything they know and love, including family, community, and even the earth itself. letting witches live is to invite wholesale destruction to everything they see as good without resistence.

it's not like what we mean in current vernacular "enlightened" western society: some alternative religion folk trying to reclaim connection to the pagan past of europe. the use of the term "witch" in pagan religion is akin to acolyte, priest, deacon, etc. yet those terms would be perfectly understandable to most indiginous cultures; witches cannot and will not be understood, though. a rather poor choice of terms in my opinion. the pagan community probably would've been better served calling people high priest/priestess and pagan laity. but it's not my religion, so it's not my place to offer constructive criticism...

[Mythsaje]

28. The southwestern NA tribes have a pretty negative view of "witchcraft" as well.

And the issue, really, is how it was translated to them. A more reasonable translation to their tongue, whatever tongue it would be, would be sage or shaman. We can thank the Church for that one too.

[NuttyFluffers]

64. yeah, they were quite impressed by our Salem Witch Trials

when the Hopi and Zuni sent delegations to visit the Eastern Seaboard of the USA they were overwhelmed by the cities, but overall were not impressed with any point of similarity with Americans. that is until they went to Massachusetts and heard about the Salem witch trials. then they were all ears and quite adamant in taking tours. they found the whole thing quite sensible and remarkable thorough, which left a major respectable impression upon the delegation. pretty much the undying hatred of witches was part of the respectable levels of civility that raised our civilization in their eyes.

but truly, i think Wicca would be better served abandoning such a loaded term and trying to re-imbue it with positive meaning. the various languages in the world, along with linguistic history of english, is just too much of a barrier to adequately fight. too many battle fronts and god forbid some unaware westerner gets hurt by cultural unawareness. but it's not my fight and the most i can do is provide information, right?

[midlife_mo_Jo]

46. The orphanages were always there

And were even worse before the country became "more open." You just didn't hear about them.

[EFerrari]

8. Why would Christian clerics manipulate folk beliefs in Nigeria?

Surely not to consolidate their influence. :sarcasm:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. These aren't exactly "clerics"

These are self-appointed "preachers."

[EFerrari]

20. Thanks for the clarification.

I read about "witches" in this culture a long time ago but, this seems like a newer wrinkle -- the collision of Christianity with folk belief and practice.

[dmallind]

51. And I bet they put sugar in their porridge too!!.... NT

l;k;k

[undergroundpanther]

15. Assemblies of God

Are heavily"invested" in the"flocks over there.Assemblies of god is a horrible cult and they hurt me pretty bad.Ashcroft was a member of the church.
They milk the poor..Because the poor are more desperate to believe..Financial desperation and lack of a way out leads to an attraction of get rich quick or prosperity gospel bullshit.

Though it carries no advertising, the network generates more than $170 million a year in revenue, tax filings show. Viewer contributions account for two-thirds of that money.

Lower-income, rural Americans in the South are among TBN's most faithful donors. The network says that 70% of its contributions are in amounts less than $50.

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/PaulCrouchAttemptsToKeepAccuserQuiet.html

http://www.agcongress.org/cc/issues/000807/000807_20_churchgrowth.cfm
http://pewforum.org/surveys/pentecostal/countries/?CountryID=150
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/julyweb-only/128-41.0.html
http://www.ascleiden.nl/Pdf/asc2Akoko.pdf
This is how prosperity gospel works
http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/sheep.html
http://www.spanishherald.org/christianforum/0000003d.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-18188263.html
AoG shook down the people of brazil with a gold teeth scam

[The Straight Story]

9. Well, Islamic folks do bad things too

(hey, if people can bitch about Christians in a thread about Islam.....)

Seriously though, I am glad the Christian faith has progressed in the free world and is not as backward most places.

[Bicoastal]

12. Forget targeting specific religions--it's a pretty simple rule of thumb, folks.

The worse off a country's economy and infrastructure is, the more likely it is to be governed by religious extremists and zealots. As far as I know, only Saudi Arabia is an exception to this rule, and their country isn't doing THAT great right now, despite all the oil

That was lost in the RW media's reporting of the "Mohammed the Teddy Bear" story--they weren't just muslim fundamentalists, they were SUDANESE muslim fundamentalists. If Pat Robertson was born and raised in war-torn Sudan, he'd probably be calling for the heads of Muslim children on pikes.

[readmoreoften]

13. Ah yes, the Values Voters.

Exploit fear of the Evil Ones, make a cool buck, if some kids die--eh fuck em. These preachers should hang out with the neocons. They'd fit right in.

[L. Coyote]

14. This is Christian bashing. Does anyone say African Christians are spreading AIDS?

First, one would have to establish that belief in witches is directly correlation to Christian beliefs, just as one would have to establish same for the case of AIDS. I could go on, but basically this goes on w/o the actors being Christians. People with these beliefs became Christians, and now have syncretic beliefs.

[Bluebear]

16. "This is Christian bashing." - yes, of course.

:silly:

[TechBear_Seattle]

18. I agree, but you must keep in mind: This is being done BY Christians

This is Christians bashing children, either because the pastors are genuinely deluded into performing exorcisms and "deliverances" because the pastors are raking money in hand over fist by exploiting the deep fears of their flock. Either way, it is the Christians who are doing the bashing.

[L. Coyote]

23. "Christians" is a large fraction of global population. It is not being done by "Chrisitans"

It is being done by "individuals" who identify with Christian beliefs in some way.
They probably have a very localized concept of what the word Christian means.
Just like someone in a village in the Missouri Ozarks has a distinct idea of Christianity.

So, when someone in Missouri gets a traffic ticket, do you say that speeding is done by Christians?
Granted, there may be a more significant relation between the beliefs, but actions are done by actors, not by taxonomic categories.

[TechBear_Seattle]

30. True Scotsman fallacy

No True Scotsman

If they identify themselves as Christians, then they are Christians.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. These are self-appointed preachers of syncretistic groups

("Syncretism" means mixing elements of one religion with another. Christmas is a syncretistic festival.)

These are NOT mainstream Christians.

Read what Nuttyfluffers has to say about witchcraft in Africa. It's not only "Christians" under the leadership of free-lance megalomaniacs who kill witches. If you've ever read much anthropology, you'll know that the concept of witchcraft is indigenous to Africa, has nothing to do with European paganism, and is a form of blaming a scapegoat for the group's misfortunes.

[TechBear_Seattle]

38. I never said they were mainstream Christians

But they do describe themselves as Christians. It is a logical fallacy to say they are not. The fact that the very same activities -- exorcisms and "deliverances" -- are being done in the United States with similar results by likewise self-described Christians would seem to indicate that this is not just a local syncretic phenomenon.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. Did you read Nuttyfluffers' post?

Yes, there are exorcisms in the modern world, although frankly, you never used to hear of them until that movie came out.

[LanternWaste]

48. I think one can identify themselves as anything they want

I think that though one can identify themselves as anything they want, it does not in fact mean they actually are.

One can say they've given their life to Christ, but that means nothing. One actually has to do it rather than say it (according to mainstream Protestant doctrine-- works & deeds vs. words).

If I say I'm a Christian, but have not given my life to Christ, then I am in fact not a Christian, nut merely identifying myself as one.

If I identify myself as a macro-biologist, does that I am indeed a macro-biologist? I think that (more likely) it means I want people to think I'm a macro-biologist (for whatever reason) regardless of whether I am or am not.

[dmallind]

53. So...

...you think Christians must be educated experts in Christianity to have the name (as in biologist - it's not a label anyone would sensibly use after say Freshman Biology for a few weeks)? Or just really really want to be nice guys (as if Xinaity had any unique or special claim to encouraging niceness)? Just because THEIR Christianity does not match with yours does not mean they are not Christians. It means they interpret their faith differently, and believe me they can quote scripture right back at ya as to why they are more Christian than you. Works for every Xian squabble and has for 1800+ years. Kinda nmakes you think scripture is full of contradictions and incompatible statements doesn't it?

[TechBear_Seattle]

61. I can ask to see your credentials as a macro-biologist

What similarly objective standard can I apply to determin if you have, in fact, given your life to Christ or are merely lying about that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. They say themselves it comes from Christian beliefs

Although old tribal beliefs in witch doctors are not so deeply buried in people's memories, and although there had been indigenous Christians in Nigeria since the 19th century, it is American and Scottish Pentecostal and evangelical missionaries of the past 50 years who have shaped these fanatical beliefs. Evil spirits, satanic possessions and miracles can be found aplenty in the Bible, references to killing witches turn up in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Galatians, and literal interpretation of scriptures is a popular crowd-pleaser.

Pastor Joe Ita is the preacher at Liberty Gospel Church in nearby Eket. 'We base our faith on the Bible, we are led by the holy spirit and we have a programme of exposing false religion and sorcery.' Soft of voice and in his smart suit and tie, his church is being painted and he apologises for having to sit outside near his shiny new Audi to talk. There are nearly 60 branches of Liberty Gospel across the Niger Delta. It was started by a local woman, mother-of-two Helen Ukpabio, whose luxurious house and expensive white Humvee are much admired in the city of Calabar where she now lives. Many people in this area credit the popular evangelical DVDs she produces and stars in with helping to spread the child witch belief.

'led by the holy spirit'.

[treestar]

50. No, but if a Muslim gets a traffic ticket, you can count on the MSM

to say that speeding is inherent to Islam.

[dmallind]

52. So firm belief in Missourian citizenship is given as a reason to speed?

The Missouri Citizens' Infallible Book of Life says you must drive at 90mph at all times?

Talk about wacky analogies. These people are kiloing kids BECAUSE OF their Christianity. It's a little bit different from merely belonging to a group and committing a completely unrelated offense isn't it?

[readmoreoften]

22. Yes, this is Christians bashing innocent children to death. Bashing and other methods. /nt

[Feron]

27. According to the Bible, witches are to be executed.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

There was more behind the Salem Witch Trials than simply religion and that is likely the same in this case. Nevertheless, it is abhorrent.

History is full of examples of people using religion as a means to oppress or to justify oppression. It wasn't too long ago that the Bible was used as proof that slavery was okay.

That doesn't mean, however, that Christians are all bad and intolerant. Slams on certain manifestations of Christianity isn't necessarily a slam on them all. Christians can be evil like the Vatican spreading lies about contraception for example (since you brought up AIDS).

I'm certainly not a Pollyanna that believes that the world would hold hands and sing if religion were abolished. We'd just find something else to fight about.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. And how long has it been since anyone in the West executed a witch?

I think it was some time in the 1720s.

[dmallind]

55. Oh well that makes it perfectly OK.

After all if an unchanging perfect faith in ONE place only stopped doing it after 1700 years it's just fine and dandy to give a more junior set of brothers in Christ a few more centuries to catch up eh?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

57. Did I say that it was okay for Nigerians to execute alleged witches?

Or for them to be cut some slack to "catch up"?

Show me where I said that.

Some people are so into their hatred of religion that it dulls their reading comprehension.

[dmallind]

59. So your point that witchburning is out of fashion in the west

as opposed to OB/Gyn shooting, gay bar bombing and the like that is, was intended for what purpose exactly? To continue the absurd no true Scotsman parade? Or to try to make people feel better that we live in a place with mostly slightly less demented religionists?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

60. I rest my case.

n/t

Not only reading comprehension but logic.

[LanternWaste]

49. I think that applies if and only if...

"According to the Bible, witches are to be executed. It doesn't get any simpler than that."

I think that applies if and only if, one is a Bible literalist.

[Canuckistanian]

17. Religion is such a comfort n/t

[Dark]

24. Jesus Christ.

no pun intended.

A very depressed recommendation

[shenmue]

29. This is really crazy

Someone has to stop this. :grr:

[CT_Progressive]

36. Its time we start killing all the Christians.

Seriously, though, this just proves that religion is the root of all evil in this world.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

37. Evil is the root of all evil...

Religion is a tool that some people use to further their agenda.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. If they don't have religion, they'll use some other excuse

Politics, economics, what have you.

[Snarkturian Clone]

41. You remind me of this south park episode

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_God_Go

I'm sure it's on youtube or google video but I can't access those from where I am right now.

[spoony]

47. You still planning on "scortching" us all off the planet?

[CT_Progressive]

54. Depends. Do you still think you're "superiour" ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2455751#2456476

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

58. It's time we start killing all the religious people.

Seriesly, though, this just proves that black people is the root of all evil in this world.

[DS1]

43. You guys need to start respecting other cultures!

/standard GD argument when it's Muslims carrying out pure madness

[CJCRANE]

45. It isn't about respect.

It's about not generalising.

If some Nigerian christians do bad things does that mean ALL christians are bad?

(Same goes for muslims). The answer IMO is no, this is more a cultural thing particular to the community in question ,so obviously I wouldn't claim that American christians (for instance) are just as bad.

[KaptBunnyPants]

62. Bet you can't find one thread where someone has said that.

Conservative strawmen of liberal arguments are pathetic.

[DS1]

63. I tried

but DU search sucks, and I'm not spending more than two minutes on you.

Still, I've seen them. Next time I ran across it, I'll be sure to point it out to you.

[Mountainman]

44. This is not Christianity. It is a scam to make money. Anyone here can do the same if he/she wants.

You need to find some suckers and sell them on something and they pay you for it. It isn't a religion that is to blame it is greed and that is not Christianity.

[formerrepuke]

56. Non-Catholic Christians usually have no central authority..and are able to

become part of a larger established 'franchise' group, or to simply go off on an unregulated tangent- following the loudest/psycho/self-appointed 'preacher' in the neighborhood. It happens a lot.

[zingaro]

66. WWJD? Burn a child? Poison them? Suuuure he would. nt