A better thread title might have been "Nigerians"?"
EKET, Nigeria - The 9-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 month later, he died.
Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.
Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.
?Children are defenseless?
For their part, the families are often extremely poor, and sometimes even relieved to have one less mouth to feed. Poverty, conflict and poor education lay the foundation for accusations, which are then triggered by the death of a relative, the loss of a job or the denunciation of a pastor on the make, said Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund.
"When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," he said. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."
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.
Competition for congregations
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. Many promise to solve parishioner's material worries as well as spiritual ones ? eight out of ten Nigerians struggle by on less than $2 a day.
"Poverty must catch fire," insists the Born 2 Rule Crusade on one of Uyo's main streets.
"Where little shots become big shots in a short time," promises the Winner's Chapel down the road.
"Pray your way to riches," advises Embassy of Christ a few blocks away.
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.
Bishop A.D. Ayakndue, the head of the church in Nigeria, said pastors were encouraged to pray about witchcraft, but not to abuse children.
"We pray over that problem (of witchcraft) very powerfully," he said. "But we can never hurt a child."
U.S. branches ?had no idea?
The Nigerian church is a branch of a Californian church by the same name. But the California church says it lost touch with its Nigerian offshoots several years ago.
"I had no idea," said church elder Carrie King by phone from Tracy, Calif. "I knew people believed in witchcraft over there but we believe in the power of prayer, not physically harming people."
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.
"We have grown so much in the past few years we cannot keep an eye on everybody," he explained.
Another page of the story on the link.
African churches attack kids as ?witches? - Africa - msnbc.com
A better thread title might have been "Nigerians"?"
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yeah or bad parents or children abused by bad parents or psychos. There are plenty of things to name this.
These were evangelical churches, people forget the same thing was happening here 3, 4 hundred years ago with Christianity. Evangelicalism is a fad that has gotten way out of hand here and elsewhere.Originally Posted by Gotch
Just because some Christians used to do bad things does not mean that all Christians do. Not everyone is the same and some people actually have common sense and know what God expects of you. Some people are just crazy and use the term "Christian" to try and justify the things that they are doing wrong. I would never dream of hurting anyone much less a child and I am a Christian. That is kinda like saying that all atheists are devil worshippers and sacrifice people and animals on a daily basis. I don't believe that they are but you can't lump everyone in the same pot.
Seems to me to be more likely influenced by cultural beliefs than actual religious ones.
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I certainly agree with that! Some cultures have WEIRD beliefs and practices.
You know Joseph Stalin was studying theology until he became enthralled in the writings of Marx and Darwin. True story......
Mainstream history doesn't often mention his fascination with Darwin, only Marx, but several of his fellow students later said that the real change in him came about when he became so deeply interested in the work of Darwin.
So, is Darwinism responsible for all of the people he killed?
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If you are asking me then to be honest you are asking the wrong person.I am not even going to try to act like I know who you are talking about. I have heard the names before and although it is very embarassing to admit but I have no clue as to who they are or what they done. I think I may need to read more!!!
Apples and oranges, really reaching if that were to be considered. This is the result the bible and evangelicalism being injected into that area...it's not going to end well when people are introduced to the OT.
I never said they did, but Christianity and religion itself have been disastrous to society, this is another example. As gruesome as this sounds, this isn't insanity, this is uneducated people that have been introduced to the OT/Bible itself....which is full of all kinds of this. This is what happens when people go into these countries and try to inject their beliefs because they think God wants them to, it happens here all the time, trying to "save" people...of course something like this is more rare here. Evangelicalism is a pretty big problem here too IMO, but like I said rarely on this level now days.
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