Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
One of the appalling results of the increasing growth of evangelical Christianity in Africa is a dramatic increase in people, including a great many kids, being killed after being accused of witchcraft by ministers with a following. The LA Times has an article exploring the stories of more than 200 children accused of being witches in Africa. The beginning is haunting:
The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him -- Mount Zion Lighthouse.
A look at the larger problem:
The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. In the past month alone, three Nigerian children accused of witchcraft were killed and another three were set on fire.Nigeria is one of the heartlands of abuse, but hardly the only one: the United Nations Children's Fund says tens of thousands of children have been targeted throughout Africa.
Church signs sprout around every twist of the road snaking through the jungle between Uyo, the capital of the southern Akwa Ibom state where Nwanaokwo lay, and Eket, home to many more rejected "witch children." Churches outnumber schools, clinics and banks put together...
It's hard for churches to carve out a congregation with so much competition. So some pastors establish their credentials by accusing children of witchcraft.
Nwanaokwo said he knew the pastor who accused him only as Pastor King. Mount Zion Lighthouse in Nigeria at first confirmed that a Pastor King worked for them, then denied that they knew any such person...
The Mount Zion Lighthouse -- also named by three other families as the accuser of their children -- is part of the powerful Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. The Fellowship's president, Ayo Oritsejafor, said the Fellowship was the fastest-growing religious group in Nigeria, with more than 30 million members.
And please recall the story of Sarah Palin being blessed and prayed over by Thomas Muthee, a Pentecostal minister from Kenya who has also been implicated in fomenting anti-witchcraft hysteria in his own country.
Politics
Comments
Sociopaths.
Posted by: nedlum | October 20, 2009 9:34 AM
Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world... Well, maybe not.
Posted by: Owen | October 20, 2009 9:44 AM
No defense for this kind of abuse. Even if the boy were a witch (not that I believe in witches) this is not acceptable. Pentecostals take Christianity (itself based on faith, and, hence, non-rational) and marry it to tribal superstition.
About 10 miles from where I live, an idiot preacher is having a book burning for all versions of the Bible except the Authorized Version. He'll also throw in books by sinners such as Billy Graham and Rick Warren. The stupid literally burns.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/182095.asp?from=blog_last3
Posted by: kehrsam | October 20, 2009 9:45 AM
Pentecostals take Christianity (itself based on faith, and, hence, non-rational) and marry it to tribal superstition.
Part of the problem is, these useless evangelical con-artists want inflated numbers, and a church on every block, much much more than they want to actually do anything to improve anyone's life.
Posted by: Raging Bee | October 20, 2009 9:53 AM
Who else could I think of while reading this but Sarah Palin?
Now I have to wonder who, in this country which has zillions of ministers of every stripe, would beckon a witch-hunter from Africa to come and preach here? Maybe those that handle snakes, speak in tongues, spew hate, and pray for end times aren't radical enough. I'm starting to think that fire and brimstone religion is like methamphetamine. The more you get the more it rots your brain.
Posted by: Rodney | October 20, 2009 9:53 AM
It's funny that I have the exact same situation in my suburban neighborhood in the United States. There are literally a dozen churches within 2 miles of my apartment building.
Again, I have the exact same situation. I constantly have people knocking on my door, trying to persuade me to go to their church. It's not even just Jehovah's Witnesses; I get recruiters from every denomination, even ones that don't normally go door-to-door. This story makes me glad that bothering me weekly is the extent of it. At least they're not killing children to get new members...yet.
Posted by: catgirl | October 20, 2009 10:19 AM
catgirl,
Just hang a voodoo doll on the inside of your door where they can see it when you greet said evangelicals. Believe me they stop coming around.
Posted by: Doug Little | October 20, 2009 10:38 AM
Africa needs teachers and the world sends missionaries. Here in South Africa, there is quite a bit of witch lynching going on as well. I detest the evangelical scourge as much as the next rational person but, here at least, I would be hesitant to place the blame squarely on them. It's more a case of meet the new religion, same as the old religion.From what I have seen, this behaviour is a continuation of traditional animist practices. One of the many problems with the influence of Christianity in Africa is that animist practices are often simply co-opted by Christian beliefs giving ancient superstitions a Christian veneer. Same goes for Islam in Africa, by the way.
Posted by: Joe | October 20, 2009 10:41 AM
Instead of killing people alleged to be witches, in Tanzania and Burundi they're killing albinos for the sake of witchcraft:
Posted by: Gretchen | October 20, 2009 10:47 AM
It's 2009 and people are still thinking witches are real and demons possess bodies. It really is shameful and the amount of human suffering religion and superstition create is legion. It would be funny that so many people buy into this BS if it wasn't ultimately so sad.
Posted by: JimC | October 20, 2009 10:52 AM
This is all the fault of Harry Potter. He and his juvenile friends have encouraged millions of children to become witches.
Posted by: llewelly | October 20, 2009 10:58 AM
The LA Times article was reprinted in my Mpls Strib. When I read it, the thing that struck me was how little value was placed on children in many African societies. We are shocked because we value children. In aninimist cultures with high child mortality, children are also valued. As we "Westeners" try to reduce child mortality in Africa, we must also try to reduce poverty. If we don't, it's just more mouths to feed, less value to children, more sacrificing them to god, money, health, etc.
Posted by: Ann Klein | October 20, 2009 11:03 AM
10 In aninimist cultures with high child mortality, children are also valued.
---------
Not necessarily so. I think people tend to romanticize animist societies. In South Africa, most of of those killed for muti (traditional medicine) are children. They usually take the organs, eyes and genitals. I don't know how prevalent this behaviour amongst christians, but I do know that many of the "witches" killed are accused of this practice.
Posted by: Joe | October 20, 2009 11:23 AM
Joe @ 8:
I would argue that Christian co-option provides a slew of new resources that helps to perpetuate this activity. Growing up fundie provided me with plenty of observations on how the denomination I was in to used these types of stories self-justify that Satan's address was Africa and that we needed to send more money and more people over there to increase the volume of work in exorcising the Devil, his demons, and the witches out of Africa. So while I agree it's a co-option, it fits in quite nicely with evangelical and fundies' pre-disposal to racism and fantasies regarding the 'Armies of Darkness* arrayed against humanity.
* Where the word "Darkness" fits in quite nicely with the unstated position.
Posted by: Michael Heath | October 20, 2009 11:57 AM
No matter what the level of education, no matter how technologically evolved, any country/civilization where religion has the most governing power has this kind of activity.
Superstition begets superstition.
Posted by: Rob Jase | October 20, 2009 3:03 PM
Well ... I must say that blaming all the wrongs in a community on a select group; then whipping up a congregation into a bloodthirsty froth; followed by what amounts to a human sacrifice which both destroys the accused evil doer and placates an angry, jealous God ... it is certainly a way to make church attendance memorable. Probably instills a strong group loyalty and cohesion. Like when a gang has the new guy kill someone in front of the group. The psychological Gordian knot of shame/legal guilt/loyalty/dedication to the cause binds the individual to the group.
Having the congregation kill someone makes the church experience truly life changing. Of course in so many things horrid the US leads, Hitler was inspired and took many of the finer points in Nazi theory from Henry Ford, the hunting and killing of witches is just an imitation of the vilification of blacks/Mexicans/communists/unionists/gays in the US. Each variation is spiced a bit differently but the dish remains the same.
It is a formula as old as man. The idea you could move evil from people and things, concentrate it into an object, animal or person and rid the group of evil by destroying the vessel containing it.
Posted by: Art | October 20, 2009 3:23 PM
Another part of the problem is that too many persons of faith, and too many denominations, currently consider atheism and rationalism to be The Enemy, and are too willing to turn a blind eye toward the atrocities of each other's religions, because they feel more threatened by non-religious people. In effect, many of the world's religions are agreeing to settle their differences, agree on turf-borders, and gang up on a common enemy they can crush more easily than they can crush each other.
(I also notice Christian evangelists devote most of their efforts toward atheists and agnostics; once they know you're committed to another religion, they pretty much give up on you.)
Confronting the irrationality and atrocities of another religion, means sooner or later you have to think about the possibility that your own religion may not be totally rational. Better to bash rationalism and atheism instead.
Why are so many churches in the West (including the RCC under Pope Palpadict) turning toward the less developed world? To gain new allies against the increasingly secularized West.
Posted by: Raging Bee | October 20, 2009 3:32 PM
Joe: Africa needs teachers and the world sends missionaries.
My sister was teaching Namibia a few years ago and had a similar response. She said the christian locals would bitterly complain about the presumption - most of the tribal folk were already christian and extremely poor, yet these U.S. groups kept sending missionaries instead of treating them the way they would, say, an American faith community in need of material support.
There's a lot of not-so-subtle bigotry going on in these missions, with the U.S. evangelists assuming that poor or non-white must mean heathen.
Posted by: eric | October 20, 2009 3:35 PM
Ed: remember that anti-atheist alliance thingy you posted about, the one that both Bush Jr. and the King of Wahabbi Arabia signed onto? SSDD. (Also, can you please post links to those past posts of yours?)
Posted by: Raging Bee | October 20, 2009 3:38 PM
Sir,
You neglect to tell of the hundreds of thousands of people killed by Islamic terrorists in this part of the world. You also choose to ignore the Christian missionaries bringing food, water, clothing, and shelter to these ravaged people many who have been martyred because they believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins and yours too Mr. Brayton. May God richly bless you and I pray he open your eyes and give you a new heart. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!
Posted by: John | October 20, 2009 5:36 PM
No, John, we're not "neglecting" anything; we're just pointing out a particular atrocity that you and your "Christian" colleagues seem unwilling to stop. And no, feeding people in other places does not excuse killing innocent children in the name of Jesus. Neither does any of your rote-spouted "Jesus died for all our sins" spiel -- especially when "Christian" hatemongers commit more sins for Jesus to die for every day.
A bit defensive, are we, little man?
Posted by: Raging Bee | October 20, 2009 5:41 PM
When a news organization reports on a serial killer strangling children, raping their bodies, and stuffing them in a freezer, do you think they ought to balance the article with references to his charity work and a reminder of how other people were serial killers too?
Posted by: DaveL | October 20, 2009 5:47 PM
I swear by the fish-eye peephole in my front door. If I spy anyone toting a clipboard through it, I leave the door unopened. This also spares me the spiels of numerous pest control and carpet cleaning sales folk as well.
Posted by: twincats | October 20, 2009 6:41 PM
The general situation is actually pretty complicated, if my experience in Nigeria is any indication. Most of the missionaries I've met were fairly decent people who were genuinely interested in helping the poor. And most of them were interested in making some converts, but they did it to save their eternal souls, not to spread their numbers. I am not going to get into that particular debate. It is ridiculously complex and I'm incredibly bored of it from both sides.
What eventually happens is a missionary and pastor is stuck for months in one of the worst places in the world, with a lot of power over people who don't know any better. Quite a few people are going to get corrupted. And then the locals pick up on this and start their own churches as a fast ticket to power and authority. And the Christian traditions get mixed up with the African traditions. Keep in mind that when you live in a small village isolated from most of the modern world, stuff like ghosts and witches play a large part of your life. So you have a community of very bitter western Christians, opportunistic natives, and outdated traditions, and...crap like this happens.
It's a very serious problem, and there's no easy solution. Kicking out all the missionaries means less food and water, and there aren't enough secular organizations to take up the workload. And attempting to police over the villages will just be 19th century colonialism all over again. Sadly, the only real solution is to wait for these communities to modernize and help them along the way.
Sorry for the rambling. My point is that it's very simplistic and dishonest to say, "Christianity is bringing food, water, and culture to these heathens," or "OMG all teh Christianz are teh evilz!" I am by no means condoning these tragedies, but don't pretend there is one massive hive mind of missionaries who simultaneously help the poor and burn witches. Unfortunately, things are never that simple.
Posted by: Brandon | October 20, 2009 7:02 PM
This tracks well with the anti-gay Pogrom underway in Uganda as we type. For the ignorant and superstitious the world is a target-rich environment.
Posted by: SharonB | October 20, 2009 7:14 PM
That's pretty much what happens when your only experience with the modern world are a bunch of white guys who steal your diamond mines.
Posted by: Brandon | October 20, 2009 8:05 PM
Hey, we can also promote antisemitism in Africa.
Posted by: Uncle Glenny | October 20, 2009 9:15 PM
Burning witches is a time-honored technique for increasing market share in the tithing sweepstakes. In europe, the Church didn't really get going with witch burning until the mid-1400's. It's not entirely clear why they started this new marketing campaign, but it seems to have coincided with the early renaissance, the invention of printing, and the increasing social mobility of urban life.
Africa has always been plagued with witch hunting, so it's not like christianity imported something new. However, this article seems to say that Christianity is contributing to an increasing level of atrocity. That is very sad, but not too surprising.
Posted by: gerold | October 21, 2009 7:14 PM