Faith

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly ‘Plagues’ In 3rd World Countries — Here’s Why

This is a crosspost from Beliefnet.com.

A fear of witchcraft? In our enlightened age?

According to Reuters, the British news agency, a woman from the island of Sri Lanka off the southern tip of India has been charged with casting a spell on a 13-year-old Saudi girl during her family’s trip to a shopping mall.

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World
In Zimbabwe, local leader Maliki Masuku fined Shadreck Dube for performing witchcraft and “terrorizing nurses at Nathisa Clinic” in Mapoto.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in a New Year address to the nation ordered a crackdown on what he said was a growing number of murders and child rapes linked to witchcraft.

In Cornwall, England, the local council is defending its decision to include teaching children about witchcraft in religious education lessons. The Cornwall Council says that from the age of five, children should begin learning about pagan sites like Stonehenge and at the age of 11, pupils can begin exploring “modern paganism and its importance for many in Cornwall.” Critics say the council is offering “witchcraft lessons.”

Witchcraft? Seriously? The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund – UNICEF – says that tens of thousands of children in Africa each year are tortured and killed because of witchcraft. Blame is divided between local witchdoctors and Pentecostal churches that have led opposition to the witchdoctors.

In his recent visit to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI called witchcraft a “plague.” Africa’s bishops in 2009 denounced witchcraft as a “social drama” – where in poor households or those affected by catastrophes culprits are tortured or killed – blamed for the catastrophe.

Islam takes witchcraft very seriously – and bans it. Particularly forbidden is having anything to do with jinni – evil spirits – “genies,” which are prominent in local folklore.  If convicted in Saudi Arabia, a witch or sorcerer or anyone consorting with a jinn is put to death.  The Saudis have no written criminal code. Court rulings are based on individual judges’ interpretation of shari’ah – Islamic religious law.

“The punishment is always beheading for anyone found guilty of witchcraft,” Saudi lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, a human rights activist, told Reuters. Last December, Amnesty International condemned the beheading of Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar, who was arrested in the Saudi city of Qurayat on charges of “witchcraft and sorcery.”  The Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper reported that that while searching the woman’s home,  authorities found a book on witchcraft, women’s veils and bottles of  “an unknown liquid used for sorcery.” According to the charges, she claimed to be a healer and would sell three bottles of the liquid for 1500 riyals – about $400.

In September, Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki, a Sudanese national, was beheaded in Medina after being convicted of casting a spell involving jinni designed to reconcile a divorced couple.

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World
“Saudi law does not clearly outlaw sorcery,” reports Cecily Hilleary of Middle East Voices, a Voice of America website, “but the country’s legal system is based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law.”

According to the Understanding Islam website, belief in magic is integral to the Islamic tradition. Many Saudis say their belief in sorcery and jinni is an integral part of Islam.

Anyone Muslim denies their existence is not a true believer, according to Christoph Wilcke, Senior Researcher for the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch.

“I recall a meeting with the highest adviser to the Minister of Justice in Saudi Arabia a few years ago,” Wilcke told the Middle East Voices, a Voice of America website. “I asked him, ‘How do you prove sorcery or witchcraft in court?’ And the answer he gave me, after looking a little bit stupefied, was to point to the American justice system – how do Americans know what is pornography?

“He basically said, ‘I know it when I see it.’”

Witchcraft is a profitable business in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Muslim world, he said.

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World
“The poor, the ailing and the heartsick, believing in magic, turn to fortune tellers and herbalists for help,” writes Hilleary.

In the west, witchcraft is trivialized with children’s books such as Harry Potter and Disney movies and TV shows that present it as harmless.

However, the Vatican has called on African authorities to ban sorcery with rigid laws. When receiving visiting bishops from Angola, the Pope Benedict XVI declared that a “joint effort” of the church, civil society and governments must be made “to counter the “scourge” of ritual “murder of children and the elderly” due to witchcraft. Denouncing it, he urged officials to educate church members against “practices that are incompatible” with Christianity.

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World
He recommended “a joint effort of the ecclesial community” which would “counter this calamity, trying to determine the deep meanings of these practices, to identify the risks for pastoral and social development, and to find a method leading to its definitive eradication, with the cooperation of governments and civil society.”

“The UNICEF study,” writes Kofi Akosah-Sarpong on the website GhanaWeb, “shows that gradually the international community is getting grip of the implications of witchcraft and other inhibitive beliefs in Africa’s development.

“In Ghana, prominent figures such as ex-President Jerry Rawlings are questioning certain inhibitive cultural practices that not only dehumanize Ghanaians and Africans but also undercut their progress. On a recent visit to Africa, Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI strongly spoke against the dangers of witchcraft beliefs and other inhibitive cultural rites that have been entangling Africans’ progress,” writes Akosah-Sarpong.

“Whether in Rawlings or Pope Benedict XVI, mixture of the international and the African campaigns are doing the work, helping to raise not only awareness and throwing light into the dark recess of the African culture but also how to tackle the dangers.”

In the Zimbabwe case, Chief  Masuku fined Village Head Dube after a traditional healer, or inyanga, often described by the politically incorrect term of “witchdoctor,” accused him of owning goblins that were disturbing the nurses at the local clinic. The staff had complained of nightly sexual harassment by the supernatural creatures, sources said.

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World
Chief Masuku called in the spiritual man to do a cleansing ceremony at the clinic. The witchdoctor declared that the goblins belonged to Dube. Tampers flared, resulting in Dube’s arrest together with six members of his family. They were charged with undermining the chief’s authority. A family spokesman, Anele Dube told the Voice of America they were released after prosecutors in the town of Kezi said they were still assessing evidence.

“We did not do anything that disrespected the court of the chief,” the spokesman said, adding that “the witchcraft accusations against my uncle are simply false.”

Under Zimbabwe’s Witchcraft Suppression Act, engaging in witchcraft practices is a criminal offense punishable by a fine or up to five years in jail.

Chapter V of the law reads: “Any person who engages in any practice knowing that it is commonly associated with witchcraft, shall be guilty of engaging in a practice commonly associated with witchcraft if having the intention to cause harm to any person.”

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World

In 2008, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete used his New Year address to the nation to call for a crackdown on witchcraft responsible for a rash of murder and child rapes.

He blamed witchcraft practitioners for “stupid beliefs that having sexual intercourse with infants can bring them fortune,” he said. “There are also those who believe that possession of some organs of infants and albinos can turn them rich.”

He has ordered police to come down hard out on such practices. According to Kikwete, albinos were being targeted by some witchdoctors and that police reported several cases of people exhuming the freshly-buried bodies of infants to remove organs to make potions.

Witchcraft cases are increasingly in the news in Muslim nations. In April 2010, the New York Times reported on the case of Ali Hussain Sibat, a Lebanese television astrologer who hosted a psychic call-in show on Arab television.

In May 2008, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to perform a religious pilgrimage to Mecca.  Religious police arrested him on charges of sorcery.  Sibat was condemned to death and his execution was scheduled for April, 2010.  However, pressure by human rights groups and the high profile of his case led the Saudi government to stay his execution.  Last October, Saudi government officials were reported as saying that while his execution had not taken place, Sibat is still in prison.

Regarding the more recent case in which the Sri Lankan woman was accused of casting a spell on a Saudi family at a shopping mall, police spokesman Mesfir al-Juayed confirmed to Reuters by phone that details of the woman’s arrest published in local media were correct.

The daily Okaz newspaper reported that a Saudi man had complained his daughter had “suddenly started acting in an abnormal way, and that happened after she came close to the Sri Lankan woman” in a large shopping mall in the Saudi city of Jeddah. “He reported her to the security forces, asking for her arrest and the specialized units dealt with the situation swiftly and succeeded in arresting her,” Okaz reported.

Britain’s Impact magazine describes a case in which a 15-year-old London boy, Kristy Babu, died during an exorcism performed by his sister Magalie Bamu, 29, and her boyfriend Eric Bikubi, 28. All are originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“A horrifically violent exorcism, involving a hammer, chisel, knives and metal bars, left Kristy begging to die,” reports Ellis Schindler for Impact. “Kristy was staying with the couple in London, along with his other siblings, for Christmas. Bikubi accused them of bringing witchcraft or kindoki into the house. Two of Kristy’s siblings were also subjected to torture but Kristy became the main focus of attention after wetting himself.

“The wasn’t the first time the couple has accused someone of being a witch. In 2008 Bikubi accused one of their house guests of being a witch after he caught her biting her nails. The girl was then subjected to three foodless, sleepless days of praying with the couple to release the kindoki as well as having her long hair cut short to release the spirits.”

In 2005, Sita Kisanga was found guilty of torturing an eight-year-old in London, believing the girl to have kindoki. She told the court that, “Kindoki is something you have to be scared of because in our culture kindoki can kill and destroy your life completely.”

But officials in Cornwall, England, say there’s nothing to fear.  That worries Cristina Odone writing in the Daily Telegraph.

“Saint Morwenna, who in the sixth century built a church on a cliff with her bare hands, must be turning in her grave,” observes Odone. “Her beloved Cornwall, the last redoubt of Celtic Christians, is to teach witchcraft and Druidry as part of religious education.”

It seems that the politically correct Cornwall Council regards Christianity as no better than any other superstition.

Witchcraft & the Occult Are Seen as Deadly Plagues In the Third World

“Fear of being judgmental is so ingrained today that no one dares distinguish between occult and Christian values, the tarot and the Torah, the animist and the imam,” writes Odone.

“Right and wrong present a problem for liberals who spy covert imperialism or racism in every moral judgment. Saying someone has sinned is ‘disrespecting’ them, as Catherine Tate’s Lauren Cooper might say.

“Speaking of religious values is as dangerous as playing with the pin on a hand-grenade: it could end up with too many Britons blown out of their complacency. No one should dare proclaim that adultery is wrong; greed, bad; or self-sacrifice, good. In doing so, they’d be trampling the rights of those who don’t hold such values.

“This mentality is not confined to Cornwall.

“When the BBC’s ‘The Big Questions’ asked me to join its panel of religious commentators two years ago, I was taken aback to find it included a Druid. Emma Restall Orr rabbited on inoffensively about mother nature, but I was shocked that her platitudes were given the status of religious belief by the program makers.

“Restall Orr exults in her website that the media has stopped seeing Druidism ‘as a game’ and now invites her on serious faith and ethics programs from ITV’s ‘Ultimate Questions’ to Radio 4’s ‘The Moral Maze’ and ‘Sunday Program.’

“In pockets of Cornwall, children will point out a nun in her habit: ‘Look, a Druid!’ Their parents will merely shrug,” writes Odone, “one set of belief is as good as another. How long before the end of term is marked by a Black Mass, with only health and safety preventing a human sacrifice?”

Article courtesy of Beliefnet.com, the distinct online resource for inspiration and spirituality where you’ll find thousands of inspiring features, uplifting stories and access to other great resources.

Comments (69)

1 2
  • davetrav
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 9:23am

    Is this what we can look forward too. Obama wants us as a third world nation. Obama has got to go.
    America does not live in a world of lies, cheats , loser’s, like Obama.

    Report Post »  
    • Brasil2520
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 2:23pm

      DAVE

      Since us whites make up only 8% of the world population, your right “this is what we can look forward too” Look at cities here in America like Dearborn that has the biggest Mosque in America, it’s just a matter of time before that cancer “plague” spreads.

      “Britons blown out of their complacency” SHOCKING ! who knew, their white established culture replaced by a slow motion Muslim/African invasion, the second sad part is Americans see this happening in Europe and are still aloof to it happening here.

      Maybe if all of us white people just hold hands and sing “Children of the Rainbow” crime will go down and our culture will stay the same, ya thats it lets do that.

      Report Post » Brasil2520  
  • DeVain
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:45am

    The thing I find ironic is Islam is sooooo against magick but if a person studies magick you will learn a lot about ancient Egypt, Babylon (Iraq), and Damascus (in Syria).

    Report Post » DeVain  
    • texasbeta
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:31am

      It isn’t ironic, it is called historical context. See, you find “pagan” or “magical” histories in every single facet of our human existence, not just the area where Islam grew from. We have better records from their region, so you get more information on their history than say, Druids. It is basic 2nd grade logic. I am not shocked you don’t understand.

      Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:51am

      Ancient Egypt… gave birth to Moses and Judaism… just as Islam… and their Religion is the real first Book of the Bible & Koran! Plus, in Alexandera, you can see how the Greek & Roman beliefs mixed with the Egyptians!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • Max jones
      Posted on April 30, 2012 at 4:03pm

      Just recently, a small cadre of mean and nasty supernatural beings were released to raise hell somewhere near the Euphrates river basin.

      Report Post » Max jones  
  • Meyvn
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:30am

    Revenge is Messiahs.

    Report Post » Meyvn  
  • JTThrasher
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:02am

    I am sick of Africa. Does that sound harsh? We have been feeding them for generations yet starving people continue to reproduce. We have been in contact for hundreds of years with missionaries, science and medicine and they still rape babies thinking it will cure AIDS, practice female genital mutilation, etc. Then we decide to import them into the modern world for “Africa’s progress.” African progress? If diversity is so great then leave them in their mud huts to play with sticks. When we don’t we end up with Detroit, a city that could be at home in any messed up African nation. We end up with high murder rates akin to their tribal/gang wars. We end up with poorer test scores, lowered standards, higher gun crimes, crappy music with tribal dancing on TV and what have you.

    I have seen people say that the problem is a cultural one. Did it ever occur to them that people make the culture and not the other way around? America first. Let nature thin the herd. Let them reap what they have sown.

    Report Post »  
    • cryinginthedesert
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 10:41am

      I’m with you. I will never understand the need to keep supplying the welfare country. They will never advance, never find answers to their own problems as long as the world keeps coddling them. People are moved forward through invention. Invention comes from the need, we have taken away their need because now they just sit and wait for the emergency aid instead of taking care of themselves.

      Report Post »  
    • Sh3LLz
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:22am

      I hate to say it, but i also agree… Harsh as it may sound. The reality is”..teach a man to fish…” After that, he is on his own.. If these people are going to advance they must pull themselves up. Otherwise let them wipe themselves out through their self inflicted ignorance and genocide…

      And now for the middle east…………..

      Report Post »  
    • texasbeta
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:34am

      This is a funny one, but think about this…as a group, the far majority of blacks in America are more American than you are. Why? As a percentage of the population, the lineage of black people in America came here en masse at one time, long long long ago…while the majority of the lineage of whites in America have staggered over the years up to even the 1930s. So, as a portion of blood…blacks are more American than you are. Deal with that moron.

      Report Post »  
    • Brasil2520
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 2:39pm

      TEXASBETA

      “Blacks are more American than you are”

      So what you are saying is since “blacks are more American” that whites should accept the high rate of black on white crime ?
      To accept that would be to accept the African way of life, crime, violence, rape – as a normal day.

      Report Post » Brasil2520  
    • Truthbeliever2
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 2:51pm

      @TexasBeta

      You’re right. That is very funny!

      Report Post » Truthbeliever2  
  • Taxpayer550
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 4:03am

    Witchcraft, or Wicca, is very popular on the left, especially with feminists.

    Report Post » Taxpayer550  
    • justangry
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:41am

      How do you know that?

      Report Post » justangry  
    • JTThrasher
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:20am

      It is true. I have known lesbian Wiccans and have attended a male friends “wedding” done by a priestess. Feminists reject the male-centric view of divinity in favor of Gaia. We have a couple of covens here and the females tend toward hating men, especially Christian men. Obvious daddy issues, both physically and spiritually.

      Report Post »  
    • DeVain
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:41am

      People into Wicca can be any political group.

      My wife is British, idolizes Thatcher, and a hardcore republican. She has more knowledge of American social/political issues than most natural citizens.

      Report Post » DeVain  
    • mlcblog
      Posted on May 1, 2012 at 2:00am

      Dear JustAngry,

      It is common knowledge. Why, are you one of them?

      Report Post » mlcblog  
  • Rayford
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:58am

    Well at least they captured a photo of Sheila Jackson Lee.

    second from the bottom if you arent sure

    Report Post »  
    • EP46
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:36am

      I absolutely was NOT going to say that…I was not….and I was not going to say “Hey look, members of Congress on a foreign trip” …I was not……

      Report Post »  
  • Conservative_T-Rex
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:40am

    I’m guessing “I Dream of Jeannie” didn’t get very good television ratings over there. oh wait, they don’t even know what a tv is because they live in the stone age.

    game/quiz for avid fox news watchers: http://www.sporcle.com/games/Bohnfather/fox-news-personalities

    Report Post »  
    • Hunger_Gamer
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 7:44am

      You nailed it!
      The problem with people that believe in witchcraft and voodoo is that they are ignorant and gullible.

      I was working on a job in the Caribbean when our local contact stopped by for a beer after work I saw a cat and was trying to get it to come over when the local shouted at it and made it run away.
      I asked if he didn’t like cats and he said “It could be someone evil.” Being the P.C. and sensitive guy I am I laughed in his face and said “As an adult you actually believe in voodoo and that people can change into animals?” He got a bit embarresed but didn’t deny it.

      Of course we in America have a lot of superrstitious ideas like breaking mirrors, walking under ladders, black cats and such.

      Report Post »  
    • texasbeta
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:37am

      That’s HILARIOUS! They believe in ridiculous hoodoo huh? Like people living for hundreds of years, giants, talking donkeys, talking snakes, the world was created in 6 days, a magic man lives in the clouds and makes and does everything, the dead rising like zombies, living inside of a fish for 3 days, that you literally drink the blood and eat the body of a guy who died 2000 years ago, that their are saints, Jesus communicating through a picture on a pc of toast, etc. Yeah, they believe in such fairy tales huh?

      Report Post »  
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:19am

    Belief in ‘something’ vs. those who believe that we are decendents of apes-who HAVE opposable thumbs, yet still insist they strike their fists upon the post-yet still insist they see the ghost.

    Atheist/Maoist/Christian/Jew/Muslim/Pagen….frankly, I could give two sh*ts. We deny to our core what is to come, yet even the hardcore atheist buys an extra can of beets. NOT because anyone likes them….just to have on hand. lol

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • OperationNorthwoods
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:15am

    I live in South Central Pennsylvania. Up until about the 1930′s there were still many here who practiced witchcraft often for healing purposes. It was mostly the ancestors of the German immigrants who brought the practice here in the 1700′s. This part of PA is known as the hex belt. You can see the hexograms painted on many barns in the area. There was a case here in the 1920′s that made national news when one witch killed another witch who he thought had put a hex on him. He was trying to get a lock of the witches hair to bury it in order to break the spell but ended up getting into a fight and killing the other witch. They made it into a movie called apprentice to murder. So this stuff doesn’t just happen in Africa and the middle east.

    Report Post » OperationNorthwoods  
    • mlcblog
      Posted on May 1, 2012 at 2:03am

      You are so right. People are not aware of the supernatural in its reality. There is a good supernatural as well as the bad one we all know about. The good guys can win. The name of Jesus trumps everything.

      Report Post » mlcblog  
  • Grawpy
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:11am

    This is a big ******* deal! Right Joe?

    Report Post » Grawpy  
  • lassiegirldawn
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:10am

    Even the demons knew who Jesus was. Demons are very real and as you can see, they are alive and well in many parts of the world as well as in out US of A. To do what these politicians are doing the have sold out to satan, and have not regard for the American people. They only have self-serving agendas and you the little people attitudes. There is no way you can be a politician and be a Christian, you have to play the game their way or you are gone and their way is selling their souls to the devil.

    Report Post »  
    • girlnurse
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 3:59am

      Right LASSIE! And one of Satans best tricks is making people believe he doesn’t exist.

      Report Post » girlnurse  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:29am

      I am weary of playing the game their way. It’s time to change the game.

      Report Post » Meyvn  
    • FoxholeAtheist
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:16pm

      GIRL, that is a popular movie quote. Why do you all use it? It makes you all seem like you can’t come up with anything on your own. It also makes you sound gullible. I have friends who live their lives around movies. They are constantly quoting Yoda. You sound similar.

      Report Post » FoxholeAtheist  
  • Karama
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:03am

    Witchcraft and the Occult are very real things to a lot of people. Some use it to help others, some use it to do harm. Either way a person who tries to jump in to magic should never take it lightly. If they do it never ends well, whether it is an angry mob who drags you from your house to burn you or worse. And yes worse can happen to you than an angry mob I‘m sure Aleister Crowley’s mistresses could have told you all about it, granted you would have had to interview them while they were in their best straight jacket and drooling.

    Report Post » Karama  
    • justangry
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:38am

      So I should stop bleeding chickens while running naked around a bonfire in the woods during a full moon?

      Report Post » justangry  
  • Ruckus_Tom
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:00am

    This is what we’re dealing with, folks. This is what we’re dealing with.

    A shining city on a hill or the rest of the (third) world.

    Report Post »  
  • MissKitty33
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:51pm

    Make no mistake about it, the occult sucks in many people. In the instance of suicide, they would more ofter than not find occult materiel in the 80′s. Today I do not know if they still “look” for that. Drugs play a huge role in the occult and that is another social tabu we are welcoming.
    When you open up to the occult, you are opening up a door to a dark place. Experiences will very as each has their own strengths and weakness but I does not end well and they usually die violent deaths.

    Report Post » MissKitty33  
    • DeVain
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:38am

      The was one of the most ignorant post I ever read. Totally baseless on just about every point you attempt to make.

      Report Post » DeVain  
  • ToddH
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:47pm

    This is pretty interesting. Yes, I have seen some of the Dateline specials regarding witch-burning and albino limb sacrifices in Africa. But people in every nation still believe in witches.
    The only difference is: here in America, those who believe in witches will try to ban Harry Potter books from the school library.
    There, those who believe in witches point to their enemy, cry out “witch” and then watch with great pleasure as that enemy is dragged through a kangaroo court system and then either hung or burned to death.

    Report Post »  
  • JP4JOY
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:35pm

    The article does speak volumes on how cultures are able to control people through their ignorance and superstition. Even in this “age of enlightenment” people live in the darkness of ignorance.

    Report Post » JP4JOY  
  • Nate W.
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:34pm

    Amazingly intelligent synopses there, Kanga.

    Hard to believe, but a person’s spiritual beliefs will directly effect every aspect of their lives. Even in politics, the theology (or more likely “theology”, if you know what I mean Rev Wright) will determine policy.

    Report Post » Nate W.  
  • sandrunner
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:32pm

    funny…islam is a cult, that is jealous of another cult that is witchcraft.
    hypocrites…
    islam doesn’t worship the God of Abraham, which Abraham is a Jew.
    islam worship a god of dominance or death.
    They remind me of the Borg in Star Trek. resistance is futile or die. one mind in a collective, no freedom of creative or artist thought,

    Report Post » sandrunner  
    • dwcarrigan
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 4:22pm

      Abraham was not a Jew. His great-grandson, Judah, started the Jewish race. Judah’s father was Isaac and the term Jews came from that tribe. FYI. Because Abraham fathered Ishmael as well as Isaac, both Arabs and Jews come from the same line.

      Report Post »  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:30pm

    “In pockets of Cornwall, children will point out a nun in her habit: ‘Look, a Druid!’ Their parents will merely shrug,” writes Odone, “one set of belief is as good as another. How long before the end of term is marked by a Black Mass, with only health and safety preventing a human sacrifice?”
    If there isn’t a human sacrifice (or any other harmful behavior), then what does it MATTER? Who CARES what stupid crazy **** people choose to believe as long as they follow the laws and respect the rights of others? Isn’t that supposed to be the whole POINT of religious liberty you all are supposedly so fond of?

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:27pm

    ““Fear of being judgmental is so ingrained today that no one dares distinguish between occult and Christian values, the tarot and the Torah, the animist and the imam,” writes Odone.”
    It’s not that no one dares distinguish–it’s that the differences are arbitrary, and no basis on which to base a claim to special moral authority.

    “Right and wrong present a problem for liberals who spy covert imperialism or racism in every moral judgment. Saying someone has sinned is ‘disrespecting’ them, as Catherine Tate’s Lauren Cooper might say.”
    Again, you miss the point. The problem ISN’T with morality writ large (i.e. as a concept)–the PROBLEM is the REASONING (or more specifically, the LACK thereof) offered for various moral claims. THAT’S the problem. I don’t have a problem with morality, but SOME moralities are BETTER than others–some moralities are more JUSTIFIABLE than others. And if you can’t JUSTIFY your morality, then there’s no reason anyone should be convinced to listen to your edicts.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:24pm

    “If convicted in Saudi Arabia, a witch or sorcerer or anyone consorting with a jinn is put to death.”
    And this is why we are a 1st world country, and the countries which still think “witchcraft and sorcery” are something real, are not.

    “’The poor, the ailing and the heartsick, believing in magic, turn to fortune tellers and herbalists for help,’ writes Hilleary.”
    Not unlike religion.

    “However, the Vatican has called on African authorities to ban sorcery with rigid laws…”
    Because the Catholic Church has such a HISTORY of giving good advice to Africans–hows that “no condoms” policy helping with AIDS rates…oh the’re worse than ever?

    “In 2008, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete used his New Year address to the nation to call for a crackdown on witchcraft responsible for a rash of murder and child rapes.
    He blamed witchcraft practitioners for “stupid beliefs that having sexual intercourse with infants can bring them fortune…”
    Ah isn’t religion wonderful. Also–mentioning child rape is AWFULLY ironic; isn’t there another, supposedly “modern,” religion that had/has a problem with that…?
    And as a side note, shouldn’t wanton gratuitous rape and murder (esp. of children) be wrong REGARDLESS of who does it or why?

    “It seems that the politically correct Cornwall Council regards Christianity as no better than any other superstition.”
    …because it isn’t? Is this news to you?

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
  • HappyStretchedThin
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:22pm

    Anti-sorcery laws just exacerbate the problem. Can you imagine what kind of evidence would be necessary to charge someone?
    Belief in animist and occult powers is very much widespread, in more than just the 3rd world, and it’s part of the reason dictators and socialists are so rampant. If your belief system basically says “higher powers are in control, and you must please them and sacrifice to them or you won’t get what you want, or may even suffer their capricious wrath”, then personal responsibility, hard work, and cause-effect logic go out the window. It took the democratization of Christianity to bust Europe out of this thought process. This is why I have great hopes for Africa and the rest of the 3rd world–the democratization of Christianity is well afoot there…

    Report Post » HappyStretchedThin  
  • expertmagician
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:19pm

    Mmmm, maybe they should read the following book….

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Discoverie-Witchcraft-Dover-Occult/dp/0486260305

    Old time witches were only magicians…..oops, guess I will be dead……

    I better get ready to shoot balls of fire in my attackers face.

    Report Post »  
  • expertmagician
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:16pm

    Oops…guess I will be dead since I am a magician.

    Maybe I should throw a ball of fire in my attacker’s face :-)

    I wonder if magicians are treated the same as “witches”, etc. ?

    Maybe they should read a book called “The Discovery of Witchcraft” by Scott:

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Discoverie-Witchcraft-Dover-Occult/dp/0486260305

    The book was written to explain why witches of yesteryear were mear mortals.

    Report Post »  
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:05pm

    WOW! JUST WOW!!!

    This story went from normal to BEYOND in two paragraphs. What other story is going to link the Celts to the Muslim Brotherhood????

    Oh, throw in teachers, England, and Finnland. Geeze, DROP THIS like a hot potatoe! Then the last picture of a little girl on Halloween???

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
    • Nate W.
      Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:29pm

      What an intelligent synopses there, Kanga.

      Maybe if we could see more things in life on a spiritual level, we wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the serious ramifications our beliefs can have on the physical level. In fact, one might say that almost everything we believe spiritually (or don’t believe) will directly effect what we do in life. Even politically! (Just look at Obama’s “theology”!)

      Report Post » Nate W.  
    • Pontiac
      Posted on April 26, 2012 at 12:26pm

      [However, the Vatican has called on African authorities to ban sorcery with rigid laws. ]
      What’s this? No “freedom of religion”? Usually this would outrage christians but here they call for it? They better be careful as any prayer to god, which no more and no less real than sorcery, could become unlawful if such a ban is enforced equally. Maybe they should stick to enforcing laws against murder, rape, abuse, fraud, and such. Just a thought.

      Report Post » Pontiac  
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