Stop Transporting Exodus 22:18 to Africa, Evangelists; It’s Killing and Torturing Children.

Exodus 22:18 says, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”

Here in the states, where we don’t take the Old Testament seriously and that verse is an embarrassment most Christians would prefer to ignore, it doesn’t have too much of an affect.

But as the influence of Christianity is waning in the West, fundamentalist Christianity is being exported to other populations.  And they, like the Old Testament “God,” apparently, do believe that there are witches. >br>
In Swaziland, as recently as 2013, there was a law banning witches from flying above a height of 150 metres.

In the Central African Republic, as of 2010, witch cases took up 40% of the court system’s case load (You know how much we try drug crimes here in the states?  For reference, that’s only 12% of our case load).

In another story written in 2014 about seven witches killed in Tanzania (East Africa) it is noted: “A local rights group, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), has estimated as many as 500 “witches” are lynched every year, based on reports that counted some 3, 000 people killed between 2005 and 2011. Many of those killed were elderly women.”

Furthermore, here are some additional cliff notes on the problem from the United Nations Human Rights Office,,,

Stop Transporting Exodus 22:18 to Africa, Evangelists; It’s Killing and Torturing Children.

Decolonising the mind: The misunderstanding of traditional African beliefs - This Is Africa

To the modern African who distrusts these age-old traditions, indigenous faith systems can be nothing but evil. Proof of this is in the ritual killings that keep on happening in this modern age whether it is 100 graves dug up in Benin Republic or albinos being killed for their body parts in Tanzania. These rituals, otherwise called witchcraft, are said to exist due to the superstitious nature of Africans, which arises from traditional beliefs. It is believed that in rituals, people are regularly abducted and killed, their body parts used to create charms or “fetishes” that are said to bring riches to whoever bears them. These so-called ritual killings have attained the status of urban legends in countries like Nigeria where the 10% of Nigerians who adhere to traditional beliefs have to keep their faith secret or risk being labelled as enablers of human sacrifice. There is a great need to differentiate between legitimate spiritual systems and witchcraft, yet it is widely accepted that human sacrifices were part and parcel of pre-colonial faith systems.

That these rituals are done with the main aim of making money should hint at their true capitalist nature. In a world where everyone is looking to be rich and wealthy, indigenous African spiritualities are not exempt from being corrupted by those who would do anything to get rich. Discussions about the modern “innovations” in African cultures and religious practices are almost nonexistent, so most of us never consider that the growth of Pentecostal churches is encouraging witchcraft related fears or that market forces are central to today’s beliefs in witchcraft. A few months ago at a work meeting, the topic of ritual killings and idol worship came up and a colleague boldly objected to a idea that ritual killings had been traditionally done by Nigerians in pre-colonial times. She said she recalled when human sacrifices started in Nigeria  – at the time, she was a child growing up in the 1970s. Her opinion is backed by Chief Adelekan, a Yoruba diviner who at a talk in the Manchester Museum insisted that human sacrifices have nothing to do with his indigenous worship. But in people’s minds, this modern practice of ritual killings has been conflated with indigenous faith systems.

Decolonising the mind: The misunderstanding of traditional African beliefs - This Is Africa

Liberians fast, pray for three days to break Ebola 'curse' | Fox News

Liberians began three days of fasting and prayers on Wednesday to seek salvation from the "curse" of the Ebola epidemic, which has killed 2,705 people and infected 4,665 more in the West African country.

The National Christian Ebola Task Force, an organization formed in September by different Christian denominations, urged Liberians to fast from dawn-to-dusk over the next three days.

"Ebola is a virus from the devil. It's killing us because we have turned our back to God," Reverend David G. Benitoe, a representative of the task force, told a news conference.

"We have traded the worship of God with the worship of demons and witchcraft, and evil stuff is now happening in this country," Benitoe said.

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"I have the faith that after Friday things will not be the same in Liberia with Ebola," said Mary Freeman, who attends the Faith Healing Temple of Jesus Christ of Monrovia, adding that she had started fasting on Wednesday morning.

"The Lord has taken pre-eminence over our situation."

Liberians fast, pray for three days to break Ebola 'curse' | Fox News

Train faith healers, herbalists on mental health care | Health News 2014-10-23

I have been watching some of the developments in Africa as a whole in regards to "faith healing" and "exorcisms" and LGBT rights issues. Partly to see what, if any, the connection may be to Scott Lively's anti-gay propaganda but also to follow and better understand religious hocus-pocus that is unique to the continent. This article slipped by me but is important as it highlights the difficulties in battling the absurd.
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The Mental Health Authority (MHA), had been urged to train local pastors, otherwise known as faith healers and herbalists, on mental health care delivery, to enlighten them on how to treat mental patients in their care.

The call came from contestants from the  (KNUST) in the just ended  in Cape Coast.

The debate was on the topic; “Towards Mobilising Political and Social Will to Modernise Mental Health Care Delivery in Ghana: The Way Forward.”

The two contestants noted that from the research they had carried out, especially in the rural areas, most mental patients ended up at churches, healing camps and shrines.

According to them, some of these patients were found to be suffering from serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s syndrome, among others, which should be treated at recognized mental facilities.

Some patients, they said, were chained, while others were quarantined, with others subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment, which went against their fundamental human rights and freedoms.

They contested that mental patients also deserved the right to their freedoms and human dignity, under Chapter Five, Articles 12 (one and two), 14(one d) 16(one) and 17(one, two, and three) of the Constitution, and therefore, the public needed to accord them such respect, no matter the state of their mental illness.

Train faith healers, herbalists on mental health care | Health News 2014-10-23

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Why Church Must Give Consent for Exorcism

According to Fr Josephat Ddungu, the chaplain of Makerere University's St Augustine chapel, "God's grace is real and He can give it to anyone", but what the likes of Mukajanga fail to do, is to follow church rules.

"Every diocese has one official exorcist. Ordained priests, too, can have the anointing powers. But if a lay person feels they have such powers, they should approach the authorities and get authorization," Ddungu says.

Fr Ddungu's argument raises the question of whether someone needs authority to cast out demons in God's name. Msgr Charles Kasibante, the vicar general of Kampala archdiocese, says people should understand the difference between exorcism and deliverance.

If it is exorcism, it is only the bishop who can authorize someone and in Kampala, only Msgr Expedito Magembe, Fr Dominic Mwebe and Fr Atanansi Musajjaakaawa have that authorisation.

"For what is happening among some people, I doubt whether it is exorcism. If it is simple cases of praying for someone and the ailment goes, that is deliverance and we have no problem with that," Msgr Kasibante says.

Pastor Rebecca Namutebi, a board member of the National Fellowship for Born-Again Pentecostal Churches-Uganda, says no one should be limited from casting out demons; "People resort to God because they are overburdened".

She, however, agrees with Ddungu that caution should be exercised, not to suppress or oppress anyone but, rather, to save the unsuspecting laity of fake prophets and cults.

"We should be very careful with lay people. These policies in church come about with precedence," Ddungu argues. "You have heard of people who say they have seen the Virgin Mary; but the Church always goes slowly on them, because we want to protect our people."

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Why Church Must Give Consent for Exorcism

See also:

Uganda: New Religious Cult Worries Masaka Leaders

Two suspected ‘witches’ hacked to death in Tanzania

Two Tanzanian women were hacked to death by men who accused them of casting spells that made them sexually impotent, police said Friday, in the latest killings of alleged “witches.”

The women, one aged in her 80s and her 45-year old daughter, were killed in the village of Ihugi in Tanzania’s northern Shinyanga province late on Tuesday.

Three men slit their throats and then chopped their bodies up, local police chief Justus Kamugisha said, adding that their neighbour was suspected of carrying out the attack after he believed they had made him unable to have sex.

A 40-year-old man, who also accused the women of poisoning his mother last year, has been arrested.

“The victims were attacked as they were about to take their evening meal,” Kamugisha said.

The attack follows the killing last week of seven people in a separate attack in western Tanzania, burned alive in their huts, who were also accused of witchcraft.

Two suspected ‘witches’ hacked to death in Tanzania

ADDENDUM::Tackling Witch Hunts in Tanzania: A Proactive Approach - JREF

Researcher and activist Leo Igwe reports to the JREF on the governmental response to such atrocities.

The killing of a witch is the end of a murderous process that starts in the mind. Witchcraft has to do with people’s cosmological notions and a people’s mentality. Changing attitudes and mentality takes great time and effort. Legislation is not enough, enforcement has to go in hand with mental and cultural reorientation.
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We need to understand why the imaginary evil of witchcraft is so real to some people to the extent that they can kill and maim suspected witches as well as poisoning family and community relations.

The government should encourage skepticism, rationality and critical thinking in all areas of human endeavor. Be they students or teachers, taxi drivers or market men and women, technocrats or artisans - the value of critical examination of issues and questioning of magical narratives that fuel suspicions and accusations of witchcraft should be encouraged in society.
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The misconception that witchcraft is African “science” has to be corrected. Scientists, skeptics and rationalists in the country should adopt a more proactive approach.

The government should address traditional healing practices and the sanctioning of healers who mix magic and medicine including faith healers of all types - traditional, Christian and Islamic.

Tackling Witch Hunts in Tanzania: A Proactive Approach - JREF

Seven accused of witchcraft burned alive in Tanzania | News | Africa | Mail & Guardian

Attackers in Tanzania burned alive seven people they accused of witchcraft, police said Friday, who have arrested 23 people for murder in the latest killings of suspected “witches”.

“They were attacked and burnt to death by a mob of villagers who accused them of engaging in witchcraft,” the police chief for the western Kigoma region, which borders Burundi, Jafari Mohamed, told Agence France-Presse.

“Five of those killed were aged over 60, while the other two were aged over 40,” he added.

Among those arrested on suspicion of carrying out the killings was the local traditional healer, or witchdoctor. Relatives of those killed described horrific scenes, with the bodies of family members hacked with machetes or burned almost beyond recognition. “When I returned home in the evening, I found the body of my mother lying 10 metres away from our house, while the body of my father was burnt inside the house,” said Josephat John, according to Tanzania’s Mwananchi newspaper.

The attack in the village of Murufiti took place on Monday, but reports only emerged after police announced the arrest of the suspects. “We are holding 23 people, including local leaders, in connection with the attack,” Mohamed said. “They will appear in court to face murder charges.”

Belief in witches and black magic remains strong in many parts of Tanzania.

Seven accused of witchcraft burned alive in Tanzania | News | Africa | Mail & Guardian

Kenyan Pastor Bans Female Congregants From Wearing Underwear in Church

Another bizarre example of harm by religion. No accusations of misconduct have been brought forth, yet, but thinking such as this ",,,so God can enter their bodies easily," makes me cringe.

A pastor in Kenya is making headlines for recently banning his female congregants from wearing underwear to church, telling them to avoid wearing the garments in order to be closer to God.

The pastor, described only as the Rev. Njohi by The Kenyan Daily Post, reportedly asked his female congregants at the Lord's Propeller Redemption church in Dandora to arrive at Sunday's service without underwear or bras. The pastor's reasoning was that the undergarments are "ungodly," and people need to be "free in 'body' and 'spirit' to receive Christ," according to the local newspaper. The church is located in an eastern suburb of Nairobi.

According to Nigerian Watch, the pastor also said he made the new rule for women so God can enter their bodies easily. The pastor added that women who continue to wear undergarments to church will suffer "dire consequences," and encouraged mothers attending his services to check their daughters to make sure they had obeyed the new rule.

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Njohi has received media attention for his strange new rule, and some are not pleased with the pastor's edict, arguing that it is an attempt to take advantage of women under the ruse that they are doing something godly.



Kenyan Pastor Bans Female Congregants From Wearing Underwear in Church

Pastor arrested for conducting virginity test on member with finger - Vanguard News

The Ogun State Police Command said yesterday, that it had arrested a pastor identified as Adekunle Kayode, 34, for conducting virginity test on a 20-year-old female member of his church in Abeokuta, the state capital, using his finger.

Kayode, a pastor in charge of Jesus Is The Way Evangelistic Ministry, Olorunsogo, Abeokuta, was reportedly arrested by detectives attached to Kemta Division in his house, 3, Okeyidi Street, Abeokuta.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement said the pastor’s arrest was carried out when the victim narrated her ordeal to her father who then informed the police of the incident.

The pastor was reported to have been engaging in the act in the church weekly in a bid to confirm the girl’s virginity status.

[,,,]
“Another suspect arrested for similar offence is one Onatade Oluwasegun, 23, of 4, Sheriff Onatade Street, Obantoko for conspiring with the said pastor to use the victim for a ritual purpose.

“The father of the victim alleged that the duo were fond of dipping their fingers in the victim’s private part even when she was menstruating for reasons best known to them.


Pastor arrested for conducting virginity test on member with finger - Vanguard News

Rise in satanic crimes among black youth - Crime & Courts | IOL News | IOL.co.za

Satanic panic not just a US phenomenon and it is not "old news" as many believe. It is recent and always has the potential to repeat itself,,,

Occult-related crimes are on the increase across Gauteng, and now police are warning parents to be on the lookout for the telltale signs that their children are dabbling in the dark arts.

The provincial Harmful Religious Practices (Occult Crimes) Unit of the SAPS said it had 78 occult-related enquiries in the past three months, 48 of which were connected to a crime.

Investigator Lieutenant-Colonel Hennie de Jager said his unit had seen an increase of occult-related crimes in Gauteng, particularly among black youth.

“Occult-related crimes are increasing, especially in black areas where boys and girls are promised fame and riches.”

He said his unit had recently received calls from parents who had told investigators their children were drinking blood.

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The national head of the Harmful Religious Practices Unit, Colonel Attie Lambrecht, said he believed that the increase in occult-related crimes had to do with urbanisation, and greater access to smartphones and computers. He said Hollywood had its influence, too.

Lambrecht said people were turning to witchcraft in the hope of finding quick wealth.

Rise in satanic crimes among black youth - Crime & Courts | IOL News | IOL.co.za

Permit to hunt endangered African black rhino sells for $350,000 - Telegraph

To save the species? I don't know, sounds more like they are saying everything has a price. Even more disconcerting is the fact that last year the African Western Black Rhino was officially declared extinct meaning that no individuals can be found surviving outside cultivation, captivity, or naturalized populations.

The "debate" surrounding this auction is whether this "culling" is good or bad. Some say yes, others say no;all black rhinos should be protected, given their endangered status. I think it is just plain ole stupid,,,

Steve Wagner, a spokesman for the Dallas Safari Club, which sponsored the closed-door event, confirmed the sale of the permit for a hunt in the African nation of Namibia. He declined to name the buyer.

Ben Carter, executive director of the Safari Club, has defended the auction. He said all money raised will go toward protecting the species. He also said the rhino that the winner will be allowed to hunt is old, male and nonbreeding - and that the animal was likely to be targeted for removal anyway because it was becoming aggressive and threatening other wildlife.

But the auction drew howls from critics, including wildlife and animal rights groups, and the FBI earlier this week said it was investigating death threats against members of the club.

Officials from the Humane Society and the International Fund for Animal Welfare have said that while culling can be appropriate in abundant animal populations, all black rhinos should be protected, given their endangered status.

Permit to hunt endangered African black rhino sells for $350,000 - Telegraph