Child-torture in Nigeria
Now for something more serious. Something intolerable.
Ostracised, vulnerable and frightened, she wandered the streets in south-eastern Nigeria, sleeping rough, struggling to stay alive. Mary was found by a British charity worker and today lives at a refuge in Akwa Ibom province with 150 other children who have been branded witches, blamed for all their family’s woes, and abandoned. Before being pushed out of their homes many were beaten or slashed with knives, thrown onto fires, or had acid poured over them…Many of those branded “child-witches” are murdered – hacked to death with machetes, poisoned, drowned, or buried alive in an attempt to drive Satan out of their soul. The devil’s children are “identified” by powerful religious leaders at extremist churches where Christianity and traditional beliefs have combined to produce a deep-rooted belief in, and fear of, witchcraft. The priests spread the message that child-witches bring destruction, disease and death to their families.
And the priests get rich on ‘exorcisms.’
The exorcism costs the families up to a year’s income. During the “deliverance” ceremonies, the children are shaken violently, dragged around the room and have potions poured into their eyes. The children look terrified. The parents look on, praying that the child will be cleansed. If the ritual fails, they know their children will have to be sent away, or killed. Many are held in churches, often on chains, and deprived of food until they “confess” to being a witch. The ceremonies are highly lucrative for the spiritual leaders many of whom enjoy a lifestyle of large homes, expensive cars and designer clothes.
The ‘spiritual leaders’ – even in a piece like this the flattering labels are pasted on. ‘Spiritual,’ forsooth – spiritual in what sense?
It’s a helluva gig, if your stomach is strong enough.
This goes a long way back in Africa. Witch-sniffing there does not require the witch to have done anything, freely or otherwise. The person can be sniffed out and destroyed apparently at random; a favoured method of killing them in South Africa was ‘necklacing’ with a burning tyre.
The witch-sniffer and in previous times the king would share the assets of the witches killed, so there was plenty of incentive, resulting in a permanent reign of terror.
However far back it may go in Africa, Pentecostal Christianity has (according to the article) caused an explosion in the practice.
In the usual sense, I’m afraid. “Spiritual” is an un-word, a conceptual vacancy that can be filled by any nonsense whatsoever. Yes, some people do attempt to define and use the word consistently – although, consistent or not, such definitions still tend to be awfully vague. And they don’t matter one snap anyway, because some twit comes along in the very next moment and uses “spiritual” to express something in direct opposition to someone else’s proffered pseudo-definition…
In this case, the word “spiritual” clearly has the meaning most common among American televangelists – a buzzword used to hid motivations and actions that are amoral, deceitful, and above all profitable. Utterly repellent.
Or to put it another way, ‘spiritual’ is a flattering label – it’s a word that pretty much can’t be used as a pejorative, which is probably why it is often preferred to ‘religious.’ But how odd that the reporter reached (automatically?) for the flattering label even in a piece of this kind.
itch smellers, I read, were almost always women, and were very important and powerful people amongst the Zulu and other Bantu languages speaking peoples of Southern Africa. Their activities are now thankfully illegal.
“In this state, they spun, stalked and leapt, eventually touching one or more of the people with their switches, upon which the person was immediately dragged away and killed.”
Could you just visualise one of the women swinging around and placing her switch on you because you happened to be the most despised neighbour of hers – who had a few more luxuries in your home than she did!
Most of us know from reading reams of on-line threatening stuff from snarling savage strangers – the venomous, ugly, scaremongering that takes place. These misogynistic tyrants want specifically to scapegoat and tantalise people, especially women, and if they cannot metaphorically get their pieces of meat – all hell lets loose. They are, in my estimation, as ignorant as the witches smellers
“In Karonga in the northern part of Malawi you can be removed from your bones if you are rude and when you apologise they are returned.”
This is what ought to happen to those strangers, mostly weak men, who see fit to torment the female species.
Witchcraft may be practiced by women – but it is essentially patriarchal
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4705201.stm
“Pentecostal Christianity has (according to the article) caused an explosion in the practice”
“The Gospel of Materialism – Nigerian Pentecostalism and Hypocrisy” is very informative.
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2890/1/The-Gospel-of-Materialism–
Interesting coincidence (or not), Sarah Palin is a so-called Third Wave Pentecostal.
Remember that witch idiocy in Wasilla with “Bishop” Thomas Muthee ? Yup, same deal. Just the Kenyan variation of the same crap, just not as murderous as what’s going on in Nigeria, so far…
Yes indeed; I thought all along that Palin’s witch-sniffing bishop was no joke.
Fifi…I know a Fifi…are you an Episcopalian minister yourself?
“Sarah Palin is a so-called Third Wave Pentecostal.”
I wonder was she ‘prayed over’ by a minister, at her neo-charismatic movement centre in Alaska, so that she might become the next vice-president?
The second “wave” occurred during the 1960s as the Charismatic movement spread throughout mainline Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic Church.
I once belonged to the ‘second wave’ one Roman Catholic element
I used to play the guitar at a Charismatic movement, which was right next door to Westminster Cathedral, London.
People from everywhere in their hordes flocked to the weekly prayer group. It was amazingly popular and the buzz was something else.
I thoroughly enjoyed singing at it – it was for me so uplifting/energetic, almost, I guess, like going to a pop festival. I even wrote some religious songs and nearly got one published.
I was at the time looking for some deep spiritual meaning to my life.
Charismatic movements albeit attract people who have immeasurable personal, emotional and psychological problems in their lives.
Going to them was equivalent to getting fixes. And what better way than to get them while being ” present “in the Lord.”
We were as spaced out (and bound together) as the local junkies were in Leicester Sq.
When attendees went up to the appointed leaders for the ‘laying on of hands’ some invariably would fall all over the place. They also screamed, and ranted and raved. It was always so very scary witnessing some very well educated people – who would have been by all considered to be pillars of British society, in this manic state – they were almost akin to people experiencing epileptic fits.
I never once went up to get healed, as I felt there was always something distrustful and unhealthy about the whole scenario. They were real eerie.
I can thoroughly surmise at how easy it can be for a person in a charismatic movement to work herself up into frenzy – and in this frenzied state, do whatever is asked of her by the pastor, in the name of her Pentecostal religion. As her mind is not her own. –
When one thinks about it child torture in Africa is borne out of people working themselves into crazy stakes like those that occur in Charismatic movements.