COURAGEOUS Nigerian humanist Leo Igwe has just emailed me news of a planned anti-witchcraft crusade by a local pentecostal church slated for July 27.
The banner for the event, due to take place at the Cultural Centre in Calabar in Cross River State, has a startling resemblance to a 50s horror movie poster. It declares:
That witch must die!
In March, the same church organised a similar event in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state where witch belief is strong and witchcraft-related abuse is common and widespread, said Igwe.
He added:
The activities of churches and prayer houses have been linked to the problem of witch hunting in the region. But very little has been done by local authorities to call these religious nuts to order.
Once again I want to draw the attention of the authorities to the activities of this church and other churches in the region that are fuelling witch-hunting in the name of spreading the gospel. These religious entrepreneurs have found a market niche in witch beliefs and are busy exploiting it at the expense of the rights and dignity of our children and elderly persons.
They fuel witchcraft fears through their books, films and deliverance sessions, and spread the false gospel that people’s problems are caused by witches and wizards in their families and communities.
Igwe said that the authorities cannot continue looking the other way and ignoring:
The havoc being caused by these evangelical throwbacks.
He called on the the governments of Cross River and Akwa Ibom to act swiftly and bring to justice “all witch-hunting pastors and god men and women in these states. They should prohibit all church programmes that incite hatred and violence in the name of witchcraft”.
He said that the two states cannot afford to go back to the times when the streets were dotted with children abused and abandoned after being identified as witches and wizards. They should monitor the programmes of churches and pastors in the region and ensure that they are not propagating
The poisonous gospel of witch hunting or inciting hatred and violence in the name of witchcraft.
For instance the theme of this crusade is literally inciting violence, and could lead to an upsurge of witch persecution and killings in the region. The title Koboko Night implies torture and abuse of any alleged witch. This could cause some people to go home and start beating up their children or aging parents whom they suspect of witchcraft.
Igwe said:
Adding ‘that witch must die’ makes it more horrifying. It clearly sanctions death and execution of any alleged witch. This alone can cause people to murder or commit atrocious acts against family or community members whom they believe are witches. This is particularly worrisome because the Bible, which Christians accept to be the holy book says in Exodus 22:18 ‘Suffer not a witch to live’. Obviously this biblical verse constitutes the evangelical basis of this crusade.
Igwe called on the authorities should to arrest and prosecute those behind it the crusade.
That will serve as a deterrent to other witch-believing churches and pastors. Witchcraft accusation is a crime under the law. Also inciting hatred and violence in the name of witchcraft is a criminal offence. So the law is very clear on this and should be employed by the authorities to bring these evangelical rascals to book.
Witch-hunting must stop. Witch-hunting churches and pastors must be stopped.
There is an excellent article here about Leo Igwe and his tireless campaign against
The ever-growing number of evangelists whose livelihood is dependent on the hysterical fear associated with witchcraft that exists in Nigeria’s fundamentalist, Christian south.
Leo:
You certainly weren’t exaggerating in your recent presentation in Sacramento, CA.
There are many abuses by fundamentalists in the U.S., but they pale into insignificance next to “Koboko Night.”
Bill
Brave man, that Leo Igwe, more power to him.
This was the USA 200 years ago…..Salem….the world seems not too have advanced very far.
“The ever-growing number of evangelists … that exists in Nigeria’s fundamentalist, Christian south.”
What is it about the south of countries that they end up full of religious wingnuts? EG the Southern states of the US, the ‘Southern Baptists’ and all that. Mind you, up north in my country, we have the Wee Frees. Maybe its just the middle ground that sees rationalists prevail in large numbers!
This is actually quite scary, they are calling on people to kill others. This is an incitement to violence and just shows, despite all those who claim that christianity is a religion of love, that, given the chance, christians would be just as fanatical and violent as muslims.
Considering centuries of traditon and Jesus’ commandment that not one jot or tittle of the law is to be changed or ignored, it is beholden to Christians to explain why they shouldn’t kill witches.
My answer as an atheist is three-fold. First, there are no witches. Second, self-proclaimed witches don’t deserve death for doing so. Third, unlike Christianity, there is no central authority or long tradition requiring killing witches.
Oh how sad to be an atheist with no morals.
Let’s not forget that in Biblical Israel and historical Europe, witches meant anyone who practised a religion other than Christianity (Judaism in ancient Israel). The senile and mentally ill were often branded as witches and punished accordingly. The euphemistic words of their death sentence were “in the most merciful manner possible and without the shedding of blood.”
All these religions are hate cults…they cannot survive without hate and fear.
From today’s Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/24/evangelical-christians-homophobia-africa
“Considering centuries of traditon and Jesus’ commandment that not one jot or tittle of the law is to be changed or ignored, it is beholden to Christians to explain why they shouldn’t kill witches”.
The OT Law was to continue ‘until all is fullfilled’, which is now in the past. A new covenant has replaced the old, a radical discontinuity with the Jewish past meaning Christians are not under the Mosaic Law. Hence no priesthood offering sacrifices, circumcision, the mixed fibres and shellfish laws no longer apply. The judicial execution of witches no longer applies. ‘You’ OT Jews ‘shall not permit a witch to live’.
The new testament does retain the spirit of the moral law, so this does not mean Christians are ‘free’ to commit adultery, steal or murder. These are internalised and even extended – murder is not just wrong, but angry contempt as well, the underlying attitude problem.
So, you cannot use the bible to justify murdering witches, but you can use it to show this is wrong.
@Ken: If this new morality, expressed as you put it, is now the way to behave, how come so many so called “christians” preach hatred and intolerance?
@Matt – I think, going by experience, this hatred and intolerance thing is more imagined than real.
Someone who really is preaching hatred has left any authentic Christianity behind. Don’t confuse ‘hatred’ with clear ideas of what is right and what is wrong.
Before all the True Scotsmen turn up, I am not saying Christians never get this wrong, or do and say stupid or even hurtful things.
In the case in point with these Pentecostals, they may be being unjustly attacked by a secular opponent, but it’s also possible they are money-grabbing faith healing charlatans. I’ve encountered the latter, and if they are Christians at all, they need to get straightened out. Since you cannot (as opposed to ought not to) serve God and mammon, then their Christianity is of little use to them or anybody else for that matter.
It’s not just atheists and agnostics who take issue with this kind of thing, the outlandish goings on amongst some pentecostals are heavily criticised by mainline evangelicals as well.
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” sounds a bit intolerant and hateful to me. Maybe I imagined that part of the bible…
Also Jesus said the OT law will remain in effect until heaven and earth pass away. They’re still here (presumably), so no, you can’t wriggle out of it that way. Besides, even if god changed his mind once Jesus showed up, you’re still worshiping an entity that at one point thought the OT was morally acceptable.
@Ken: Christians believe the bible to be the word of god? The sentiments expressed about witches are in the bible, yes? Therefore they must be a christian’s gods word, yes?
So are you saying that your god got it wrong? Or that your god changed it’s mind? Or that you know better than your god (according to your god, the son bit, all of the OT commands are to stay in force).
Usually when backed into a corner regarding Jesus insisting on keeping to the OT law, Christian apologists do what Ken did above, and rephrase what was said by Jesus into something vague that they can reframe as “it’s only until Jesus rises from the dead, then you have to be nice to one another”. That unfortunately relies on both a very loose translation of the passage (which is generally held to mean ‘until heaven and earth pass away’ or ‘until the end of time’) as well as a generous amount of reading into its vagueness to suit the “Jesus doesn’t want you to kill gay people” agenda. I have seen many discussions blocked off by this dead-end, because with nowhere to go apologists are forced to either acknowledge they are wrong (never, ever happens) or endlessly reiterate their assertions in the face of reality (happens lots).
I’m looking forward to seeing if Ken actually has something of substance to say about it, but even if he does, he’s still got the pickle of god changing his mind on stoning and burning lots of people to deal with.
JohnMW – the bit I quoted from Matt 5 was the bit atheists usually omit. The context is important – the coming new testament would ‘fulfill’ rather than abolish the old, something important for Jewish listeners. The moral law – what is right or wrong – does continue.
The rest of the NT expands on this – the OT ceremonial law is ‘obsolete’, and not binding on Gentile Christian believers. It’s like a new will replacing an old one.
I would have thought most atheists know that their local church doesn’t keep the ceremonial law, there is no sacrifice, circumcision, ceremonial food laws etc. If they did go back under OT law, then the Catholics would have to execute their child-abusing priests!
Bringing up the mixed fibres and shellfish laws may be amusing, but it’s pretty serious to claim that the bible tells you to ‘go around killing people’.
The essence of the law was ‘loving your neighbour as yourself’, and if you read the 10 commandments as a summary and Matthew 5 as an expansion of them, you won’t find people enjoined to be ‘nasty’ to each other.
As ever, Ken, you’re not reading what other people are writing. You’re wriggling around with your particular, oh-so-convenient interpretation of that passage, which in many translations is explicitly referring to the OT law (all of it, not just the convenient layer of it you’re carefully extracting) not passing on until the end of time. I said this already.
And yes, the bible does tell you to go around killing people. That’s what you’re supposed to do with people who commit abominations. Now, please actually answer the question and explain how your perfect deity managed to get it so wrong the first time. Quit dodging around the issue – your god is bloodthirsty and brutal, and even if he changed his mind, there once was a time this perfect being thought it was ok to execute people for having sex with the wrong person or eating the wrong thing.
The Matt 5 passage is not the sum total of what the NT teaches on the OT law. The latter was a legal system given to the Jews, and even in Moses time did not apply to the surrounding nations.
The church being under the new covenant, is not under the law – it’s jurisdiction is for the Jews only, it’s obsolete for Christians. French law, pefectly good for France, does not apply in the UK.
Confusion is sometimies caused by the fact there is some continuity between the old and new, but implementing the judicial punishments isn’t one of them, it’s the moral law that continues.
Saying the bible says ‘you Christians should go around killing people’ is doubly wrong. Even if they were under the OT law still, such punishments would only be for believers, not outsiders.
I’m not saying that the law wasn’t valid as is for the time it was given, but it describes a good God dealing with people deserving judicial punishment in the context of the ancient near east.
Lies, obfuscation and dodging the issue. Why am I not surprised to see this?
You’re still clutching at straws and relying on vagueness as you try to hammer the actual words of the bible into shape to suit your own purposes. You’re ignoring that ‘believers’ are people too, so yes, the bible does say you should kill people (it also says you should kill unbelievers and foreigners, even if it says the opposite elsewhere). You’re ignoring that your ‘good god’ was happy with and encouraged wanton slaughter and vicious punishment for petty and arbitrary insults to him (like putting your penis in a man’s anus) and then changed his mind at some point (except about putting your penis in a man’s anus, for some reason).
Your god is not a good god. You keep asserting that but you ignore that which has been pointed out – he cannot be good if he at least at one point was in favour of murder, human sacrifice and violent punishments for harming his fragile ego. Try reading and answering questions for a change, Ken. How do you get around the fact that your god was once ok with murdering homosexuals for being what he created them as? How do you marry the god that drowned the entire planet with the concept of ‘good’? How is a god that encourages his tribes to murder and rape and enslave their neighbours a just and good being at all? And how does he retain any that goodness when he writes a new book that upends all of what he condoned previously (except when it suits, like with persecuting gays)?
@JohnMWhite: You are making a valiant effort to throw a sliver of enlightenment on Ken’s closed mind but I fear you will not succeed. The way the superstitious mind works is to accept their beliefs, however bizarre, and everything must be forced into that straitjacket. Procrustes could have taken lessons from these guys and gals. Ken’s patronising courtesy does not hide the fact that he regards you (and the rest of us) as misguided and obtuse because we cannot believe in his tyrant God.
Where exactly are the lies?
i. I would have thought it obvious no church practices the OT ceremonial law – everyone knows this, except perhaps atheists who repeat what they have read on the internet about mixed fibres etc. Dawkins’ disciples are particularly bad at this.
ii. Judicial execution as in the OT is not murder. There was an easy way to avoid it, too. God has every right to take back what he owns, namely human life.
iii. I should think every shade of opinion is outraged at the child abuse and cover up in the RC church. This deserves justice – i.e. judgment. The OT is God’s judgment against tribes who very much worse than the catholic priests could ever hope to sink to. Atheists studiously ignore this side of things – unless of course it is useful for bashing religion. The idea of mercy and forgiveness is also ignored.
For all the claims about how damaging ‘religion’ is, the secular alternatives of modern sophisticated society have a proven track record of not being condusive to a long and happy and contented life. This I find to be very ironic.
Ken. As to your…
Nope. Can’t be arsed to go through it again.
@Ken: So far, and you will have to take or reject my word for this, as an atheist my life has been fairly long, mainly happy and very contented. I am easily and conveniently able to observe church going and devout christians, sometimes relatives, who live emotionally cold, resentful and frustrated lives. I am not surprised at this if their barren lives are lived with the fantasy that their tyrant God is watching them and judging what they do.
I keep clear of my christian relatives as much as possible. Their christianity is based on ignorance of their bible and depends on an unexamined assumption that they are good people deserving of eternal bliss. One of my christian cousins cannot, on occasional family occasions, resist trying to convert me. Despite her always taking the initiative and being faced with challenges which she cannot meet her husband has asked me not to discuss religion with her. He tells me that after any of our debates she is left so angry she cannot sleep at night.
Ken
Either the bible is the inerrant word of god or it isn’t. You either buy into the whole thing in its entirety or you accept that it is blatant, made-up nonsense. And no amount of theological tap dancing is going to convince anybody here that you can pick ‘n’ mix your Ot and your NT, that you can just abandon half of the bible and say ‘it doesn’t apply to me any more’. Presumably you think that the story of biblical creation is real? Presumably you believe in the garden of Eden and the fall of Adam and Eve? If so, why do you think that the rest of the OT can now be dismissed? Or if what you actually believe is that these stories are merely allegories, then how can you put any faith whatsoever in anything else the bible says?
As for your god being ‘a good god’ dispensing ‘judicial punishment’ – oh, do grow up. The bible is unequivocal in its description of him being an angry and malevolent dictator who dispenses horrific punishment on a whim. Oh yes, and then there’s the fiery pit that he kindly invented for the eternal torment of anyone who doesn’t do exactly what he wants them to do in thought and deed. What a lovely chap! Well worthy of our adoration and reverence. It’s the stuff of kids’ storybooks, if only you could see it.