Author: Ophelia Benson

  • Students are Training in ‘EmoTrance’

    Listen, it’s fully recognised and licensed by the Sidereus Foundation – what more do you want?

  • Does Jesus Save Aliens?

    There are some difficult issues, such as whether Jesus is the one who saves everyone in the Universe.

  • The Ethics of British Professional Homeopaths

    Edzard Ernst compares the SoH Code of Ethics with claims on websites of members…

  • PEN/Index on Censorship Report on Libel Reform

    The law as it stands is hindering the free exchange of ideas and information.

  • Ben Goldacre on Research and Policy

    Oddly enough, research really is relevant to policy.

  • Ben Goldacre on Political Woo

    An MP dismisses statistics on screening, another embraces ‘the idea of energy transfers.’

  • Simon Underdown on the Misuses of Darwin

    Does it make sense to blame scientists for misunderstandings and corruptions of their ideas?

  • Humanism and Witch Hunt in Nigeria

    A conference introductory speech presented by Leo Igwe, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Humanist Movement at the Nigerian Humanist Movement’s National Conference on Witch-hunt, Christian Fundamentalism and Child Abuse
    Date October 21, 2009. Venue: University of Uyo Community Centre, Uyo Akwa Ibom State
    The Guest Speaker, Dr Nkopuduk Etuk
    The Executive Secretary of NAPTIP represented by its Uyo zonal head, Mrs Elizabeth Ekaette,
    Other governmental and non governmental agencies
    Members of the Press

    Fellow Humanists, Ladies and Gentlemen

    It is my honour to welcome you all to this national conference of the Nigerian Humanist Movement taking place here at the University of Uyo Community Centre. This is the first humanist event to be organised by the Nigerian Humanist Movement in Akwa Ibom State. And I would like to thank all of you who have come from far and wide to attend this conference. Your presence is a demonstration of your support for the humanist cause particularly your commitment to eradicating witchcraft related abuses in Akwa Ibom State and in Nigeria as a whole. This conference is organised to provide a humanist response to the problem of witch hunt and child abuse. By a humanist response I mean a way of looking at or addressing a problem using reason and experience, science, critical thinking and human rights. Humanism offers us a veritable framework to tackle this problem that has outraged the conscience of the world. So I can authoritatively say that here is a problem that confirms the fact that Akwa Ibom State needs humanism, that Nigeria needs humanism.

    But I know not all of us in this hall are humanists, not all of us in Akwa Ibom state are humanists. But whether we are humanists or not, I believe all of us in this hall are in agreement with the fact that abusing any child or any adult in the name of witchcraft is wrong. Am I correct?

    Participants: Yes.

    Leo: Thank you.

    It was the American president Barrack Obama who during his campaign, popularized the saying “Yes we can”. Dear Friends, concerning the eradication of witch hunt in our society, I want to hear all of you say Yes we can.

    Participants: Yes we can.

    Leo : Thank you once again. Yes we can put an end to this shameful practice of torturing and abusing those alleged to be witches and wizards in our families and communities. We can stop this primitive habit of blaming witches and wizards for our problems. We can stop the atrocities of child abuse and abandonment in the name of witchcraft.

    Fellow humanists and human rights activists, last December, the government of Akwa Ibom state said “Yes we can” when it signed into law the child rights act which criminalized the accusation and stigmatization of children. The office of the first lady said yes we can when it took off the streets children abandoned due to witchcraft and put in place programs to rehabilitate them. You can also say “Yes we can” by ensuring that no child or adult is abused, persecuted or killed in the name of this primitive superstition in our families and communities. On behalf of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, I want to thank the governor and the first Lady of the state for their commitment to the protection of the rights of the child. Particularly I want to thank the governor for his support and intervention following the raid on the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network by the agents of Helen Ukpabio and the Liberty Gospel Church on July 3 2009. On July 10 the governor visited the Center, pledged 10 million naira and promised the children scholarships and security to the staff. I hope other states will emulate the initiatives of Akwa Ibom state and put in place mechanisms to protect the rights of the child.

    Friends, you will agree with me that a lot of work still need to done before witchcraft related abuses are consigned to the dustbin of history. For instance the government of Akwa Ibom is currently prosecuting some pastors alleged to have abused children. But the prosecution is stalled because people are not coming forward to testify against these suspects.

    My good people of Akwa Ibom state, witch hunts will not stop unless witch hunters are punished for their crimes. So we must help the government bring these criminals to justice. And to the government I have this to say. You should be ready to protect and guarantee the security of those who testify against child abusers including those working to defend the rights of persons accused of witchcraft. People are not coming forward to testify because they fear for their lives. As you know children constitute a vulnerable group. And many of those who abuse children like parents, pastors or witch doctors are powerful or have powerful networks which they could use to victimize those who testify against them. If a child testifies against a parent who abused her, will the state provide her care and support? If a child testifies against a member of the community, will the government give him protection? If a child or a church member testifies against a pastor who tortured her during exorcism, will the government provide her security?
    To all these questions the government of Akwa Ibom and of Nigeria must answer an emphatic YES!

    Distinguished guests, combating witch hunt requires not only legislation or prosecution but also education. The prevalence of witchcraft related abuses is not only a failure of human rights and the rule of law but also a failure of public education and enlightenment. Once again we must commend the government of Akwa Ibom state for introducing free education up to secondary schools for children in the state.

    As part of the free education scheme, we enjoin the government to encourage the inculcation of scientific temper and critical thinking skills. Because today most people believe in witchcraft, indulge in and endorse witchcraft related abuses due to lack of scientific temper and critical thought. If most people in our society today believe in witchcraft, it is because superstition, religious indoctrination, brainwashing and dogma direct our educational system and family upbringing.

    Dear Friends, if we are meeting here early in the 21st century to discuss how to tackle the menace of witch hunt. It is a clear demonstration of how disconnected our society is from the rest of the world. It is an indication that we Nigerians are poor students of history. Because witch hunt is a problem which ‘the civilized world’ tackled and resolved centuries ago. Witchcraft is a non issue and has no place in any modern and developed society. Because witchcraft is superstition- that is a belief informed by fear and ignorance. And witchcraft related abuses prevail in our society because, over the years we have, by omission or commission, by benign neglect, indifference or apathy, allowed fear and ignorance to corrupt our minds and intellect. We have allowed the medieval mindset and stone age mentality to rule and ruin our culture.

    We have allowed dogma, blind faith and religious fanaticism to drive popular thought and conscience. What a shame.

    Distinguished guests, witch hunt is not new to our society. The persecution of those alleged to be witches and wizards has been going on for ages and predates the advent of christianity and other alien faiths and traditions. But you will agree with me that the wave of witch hunt that is currently sweeping across Akwa Ibom and other states in Nigeria is mainly driven by fundamentalist christianity and the literalist interpretation of the Bible. Some churches and prayer houses are fueling witchcraft accusation and stigmatization of children, women and the aged. Some pastors habitually attribute the problems in our families and communities to witches and wizards, and other agents of darkness (whatever that means). Pastors perpetrate various human rights abuses in the name of exorcising witchcraft. They incite their members to attack anyone alleged to be a witch. And in most cases they use Biblical verses like Exodus 22:18 to sanctify this message of hatred, this campaign of terror and violence.

    The time has come for us to call such churches to order and expose those unscrupulous pastors The time has come for us to stop all forms of witch testing, witch screening and witch deliverance sessions anywhere in the country.

    We must let everyone know that:

    Those who believe in witchcraft are ignorant. Those who refrain from challenging the claim of witchcraft are cowards. Those who defend the belief in witchcraft are slaves.

    Those who promote the belief in witchcraft are fools. Those who blame their problems on witches and wizards are idiots. Those who claim to deliver people from witchcraft like the Apostle in Calabar, are charlatans. Those who torture, persecute or kill persons alleged to be witches are criminals.

    Friends, I am not unaware of the risks, dangers and challenges facing us as humanists and human rights activists in the fight against witch hunt and religious fundamentalism in Nigeria. Particularly in a situation where many penticostal churches and their so called pastors, bishops, prophets, apostles, men and women of God have built their ministries on witch testing, screening and deliverance. As some of you may have heard, in July some members of the Liberty Gospel Church invaded the venue of our child rights conference in Calabar.

    They attacked me, and snatched my bag, my digital camera, and mobile phone. They tore my Tshirt and destroyed my eyeglasses. The police intervened and arrested one of them, Jeffrey Bassey who in his statement confirmed that they were sent to disrupt the event by Helen Ukpabio. Unfortunately, the police have yet to bring to justice those who perpetrated and masterminded the attack.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make this clear. We shall not flee from witch hunters. We shall not be silenced by these charlatans and their gangs and goons. We shall not be cowed by the criminal plots of these evangelical throwbacks who use the pulpit to spread lies and hatred. We at the Nigerian Humanist Movement are determined to use reason, science, critical thinking and human rights to defeat these agents of Dark Age and barbarism. But we know we cannot do it alone. That is why we have invited you all to this event. We know we need your support and cooperation to win this battle against a cultural scourge. I hope this conference will offer us a veritable opportunity to identify and articulate strategies to tackle and combat witch hunt, christian fundamentalism and child abuse nationwide. Thank you.

  • More transcendent quantum energy for YOU

    Now don’t laugh. You mustn’t laugh. It would be terribly rude to laugh. Whatever you do, do not laugh.

    The “EmoTrance” project is taking place at the Haydon School in Pinner, Middlesex. Nineteen pupils are being trained in “emotional transformation”, which is described in a press release from EmoTrance.com as a “practical system for energy healing and energy working”…The EmoTrance.com press release says the therapy helps students to “identify where emotions are held in their body”. It quotes one pupil as saying: “I felt hatred towards a person, yet when I went through EmoTrance after some layers of energy were removed I felt as if I could accept this person.”

    The release adds that the pupils are practising the therapy on each other, having been “trained to Student Practitioner of EmoTrance level, which is fully recognised and licensed by the Sidereus Foundation”. The Sidereus Foundation offers courses in “energy psychology”, “quantum mind healing” and reiki, which it teaches via “unique advanced distant quantum initiations”.

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    Okay, it’s hopeless, we can’t possibly not laugh.

    All the courses are based on the “revolutionary insights into how energy works” gained by Silvia Hartmann, whose website has a section explaining the theory behind EmoTrance. It says: “In 2002, I had accumulated so many patterns and techniques, all based on a central understanding how the universe works, that it became necessary to create a framework for teaching this… After some considerable thought, I chose the basic technique of feeling energy directly through the body, and then FEELING what happens when you move this energy as the perfect introduction.”

    Ooooooh – after some considerable thought she did that. That’s good – and of course we know she did the thinking right, because she gots a central understanding how the universe works, which is nothing to sneeze at.

    Don’t miss David Colquhoun’s comments. And then check out EmoTrance land, and Dr Sylvia Hartmann land, and Dr Sylvia Hartmann on Metaphysical parenting. Shall I give you a taste of the latter?

    In EmoTrance, we have the concept of the “Creative Template”. That is who a person was designed to be by the Creative Order at the moment of conception; and then this Creative Template moves through time to its ultimate conclusion, which is death of the physical body and transcendency of those energy systems which are not reliant on the physical body…

    People make unfortunate health goals for example, or appearance goals, personal performance goals, that are either based on: 1. Themselves BACK in time – when they were 16 or something, or “before the accident” which causes CHAOS when applied to a 50 year old who is actually AFTER the accident; or 2. Someone who isn’t them at all – that’s when a red haired Xena The Warrior Princess type girl tries to become Brittany Spears, or even worse, when a fully grown black man tries to become Bridget Bardot when she was 18.

    Oooh I hate when that happens! Don’t you hate when that happens? When a fully grown black man tries to become Brigitte Bardot age 18? I see it all the time, and it just drives me nuts.

  • Wishful thinking

    Joe Hockey has been reading Karen Armstrong, it appears.

    Those who seek to proclaim the prescriptions of the Bible selectively or literally provide an armoury of ammunition to those like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Laymen like myself struggle with the logic of such an approach. While debate rages about such matters, the true message of the scriptures – of compassion, justice, equality, dignity, forgiveness, charity and respect for other people – inevitably takes a back seat.

    That’s the true message of ‘the scriptures’ is it – in spite of all the content of the scriptures that says no such thing but rather the very opposite? In spite of all the abundant material in the scriptures that urges cruelty, brutality, inequality, humiliation, revenge, anger and hatred for other people? Somehow in spite of all that ‘the true message’ is…….what people want it to be.

    I don’t accept that any of the great religions envisage a God or a divine force that sanctions the worst failings of humanity. Religion asks of us to become better people – to choose a life of giving and compassion. This “Golden Rule” is a thread that runs from Confucius to Christianity, from Buddhism to Islam. For me this is the essential message of all faiths – that we should love our neighbour as we love ourselves…The God of my faith is not full of revenge, as the Old Testament would suggest with a literal interpretation…It is not a loving God who wilfully inflicts pain and suffering. No God of any mainstream religion would do that if God’s love is real….My God does not discriminate against women, or favour first born children over others…All of these things have been claimed as acts of God at various times in our history. They provide easy targets for those who argue that religion causes harm rather than good. However, they are not propositions that I believe have any foundation in the mainstream religions.

    He can ‘believe’ that only if he has sedulously avoided finding out what is actually in the ‘scriptures’ of the big monotheisms and if he has avoided learning anything about what religion was understood to mandate over the past three thousand years. Maybe his God doesn’t discriminate against women, but everyone else’s God certainly did for century after century after century…and the God of most people hasn’t stopped yet. Joe H should check out the Vatican’s view on all this, and that of your average online imam. He should have done that before he wrote this piece.

  • It’s the Placebo Effect Wot Does It

    Just don’t tell the patient it’s a placebo.

  • PZ on the Putative Deep Rifts in Atheism

    There is no atheist pope, no atheist catechism, no atheist holy book.

  • Atheists Are So Literal to See God as a Bully

    God of course is all about love and compassion, and there is no reason to think otherwise.

  • HRW on Fattahian, Iran, ‘Enemies of God’

    Article 186 of Islamic Penal Code makes all members of armed groups opposed to the regime ‘enemies of God.’

  • Iran: Bastards Executed Fattahian

    Many Iranians and rights groups fear government will carry out more executions to silence opposition.

  • His Very Popularity Should be More Popular

    Normblog on Seumas Milne on hugely popular strangely neglected Noam Chomsky.

  • Jesus and Mo on the Plague of Atheists

    They just can’t see the love, the bastards.

  • Legislators Oppose Abortion on Religious Grounds

    Invoking religion on the floor of the House defies the Constitution.

  • The enemy of me is the enemy of God

    Iran has a section of its penal code that makes quite clear why it gets to execute pretty much anyone who opposes it.

    Article 186 of Islamic Penal Code states that when any group or organization attempts armed confrontation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, so long as its leadership is intact, all its members and supporters who are aware of the organization’s positions and take steps to further its objectives, are “enemies of God,” even if they are not involved in its military branch. Article 190 of Islamic Penal Code states that there are four possible punishments for “war against God or corruption on earth”: death, death by hanging; amputation of the right hand and then the left foot; or permanent internal exile. Article 191 of the Islamic Penal Code gives the judge the discretion to choose the punishment.

    I trust that’s clear enough. Iran is the same thing as God, so anyone who opposes Iran by joining some armed group becomes an enemy of God, and therefore Iran gets to terminate such opposition here on planet earth by sending that opponent to…somewhere else. You can’t say fairer than that, can you.

  • Jumping v stretching

    Anthony Grayling points out that university students aren’t there to get maximum ‘contact hours’ with faculty.

    The assumption that lies behind the contact hours issue is a deeply mistaken one. It is that universities are a simple extension of school, and that as at school, students should be given as much attention as possible. This misunderstanding is astonishing coming from Peter Mandelson, who read PPE at Oxford, though comprehensible enough among students first encountering a much more independent working style than they had while being prepared for the endless hoop-jumping at school…University is emphatically not about spoon-feeding and hand-holding through courses, but the very opposite. It is not about maximising contact hours, but about autonomy in thinking, researching and writing. We once used to ask, “What are you reading at university?” In those words lies the clue to what a university education is supposed to involve. People who get into university change educational gear and direction on doing so. They read and attend lectures, they write essays and discuss them with their tutors and peers. To do this in a knowledgeable and intelligent way, they have to do a lot of thinking, studying and discovering, the bulk of it for themselves, because no one else can do it for them.

    And…that’s paradise, you know? That’s the whole point. The jumping through hoops part is no fun – it’s doing a lot of independent thinking, studying and discovering that is fun.