Tag Archives: child witchcraft

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse in Africa

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I’ve written countless articles denouncing these Christian preachers in Nigeria for accusing innocent children of witchcraft; it’s one of the few times I’ve taken a subject so seriously. It isn’t only because of the images of these poor children -victims of a toxic mix of ancient superstition and organized religion – are seared into my brain. No, my passion comes mainly from the fact that this issue has been completely ignored by the mainstream media because of the obvious question it poses concerning Christianity’s influence in the Third World.

These videos are extremely hard to watch. The situation appears to be getting worse as Christianity’s influence grows. When that little girl starts crying when a person nearby admits to wanting to kill her, you’ll find it difficult to wake up happy tomorrow morning.

Witch doctors make me sick

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If you live in a poor country and have no skills whatsoever, you should consider becoming a witch doctor. Rather than contribute something to society, which takes time and effort, you’ll enjoy the benefits of making shit up and still get paid. It’s like being a priest without a weighty institution holding you down; you get to be your own boss, and you set your own rules (sweet, eh?).

Of course, if you’re predisposed towards empathy or hate the idea of misleading your fellow man for profit, this job might not be for you. It takes some brass cojones to pull some of this shit off; just look at the story of this couple, who were told by a local witch doctor that by sacrificing their 3 month old daughter, they would suddenly become very wealthy. If you’re unfortunate enough to have a conscience, you should probably consider another line of work.

If we can accept the fact we are all simply naked apes with underdeveloped brains, it’s easy to accept how fantastically stupid we are sometimes. Still, although people do some tremendously dumb things pretty damn often, it would probably not be so bad if we stopped listening to fuckfaces who are quite literally experts in nonsense.

Uganda is messed up

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Do you have annoying friends who try to argue there’s no harm in superstitious beliefs? If they have kids, you may want to send them to this article on BBCNews detailing how human sacrifices, particularly of young children, are on the increase. As prosperity increases in Uganda, witch doctors are making a killing (pun intended) from gullible idiots who hope to increase their own fortune with some black magic.

There’s a whole racket of witch doctors, and as more money flows into their coffers, desperate people are kidnapping kids to have them killed in elaborate rituals. One former witch doctor claimed to have sacrificed over 70 people (including his own son), although he now works to persuade others to stop this cruel and barbaric practice. I guess he’s too important to the movement to jail, which only shows how seriously messed up this whole situation is.

We live in a privileged time in history; such primitive and dangerous superstitions cause many of us to feel shame and disgust. Sadly, this cannot be said for everyone. Though not all superstitions are as deadly, our failure to defend the virtues of skepticism and scientific inquiry in Africa (a continent saturated by religiosity) has made this region a terrible and frightening place to live.

Witch doctors tell population to slaughter albinos

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Ever knock on wood, or refuse to walk under a ladder? How many of you would never rent an apartment on the 13th floor, or own a black cat? Most of us think superstitions are fairly harmless, but only because we don’t take them too seriously. In countries like Tanzania and Burundi, however, crazy superstition (when will the world learn, Stevie Wonder?) is on the loose.

It seems as though witch doctors have been encouraging the local population to find and slaughter albinos, whose organs they believe have magical properties. That’s right, dozens of people have already been killed in this nightmare, and these sick witch doctors are profiteering from their slaughter.

So next time some douchebag tries to tell you superstitions are harmless, send them over to this website. Does anyone else feel entirely distressed at how stupid and backwards we all are?

Nigeria is still messed up

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Continuing our coverage of the messed up situation in Nigeria, here is a video care of Unreasonable Faith showing a mob of Christians faithful to Helen Ukpabio disrupting a humanist conference. The main issue they were going to discuss was the huge problem of abused children suspected of “witchcraft”.

The humanists (dressed in white) try in vain to calm everyone down, but in the end they can just sit and watch as these nutjobs yell, scream and jump around like wild animals. At minute 1:26, they attack one of the peaceful humanists, breaking his glasses and stealing a bag containing his camera and cell phone. How Christ-like of them, no?

Children in Nigeria are being tortured and killed over this superstitious nonsense, and meanwhile, monsters like Helen Ukpabio are making a small fortune from their ignorant and violent flock. I admire all of the courageous Nigerian men and women who fight against this terrible religiosity, especially in light of such terrible odds.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 074

Ryan was in Ottawa last week, so we weren’t able to record the free podcast on the usual day. That doesn’t mean we forgot about you. We have a great show for you today, where we talk about Nigerian child witches, the power of superstition, and the fact that we need your financial help to stay alive! Don’t miss out.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 074
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Helen Ukpabio is a monster

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I’ve written many times on the issue of child witches in Africa. Every year, thousands of kids are abandoned, beaten or killed because their parents or family members suspect them of being witches. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that in Nigeria alone, over 930,000 children are orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and often their remaining family members believe these children were responsible for their parents’ death.

One name keeps popping up I can no longer ignore: Helen Ukpabio. Helen has been producing movies capitalizing on the fear of witchcraft for some time. The Nigerian film board has repeatedly tried to censor her dangerous and violent rhetoric, but because of their corruption and general ineptitude, these videos are allowed to circulate to the surrounding populace, creating fear, violence and hatred as a result.

Helen has done quite well for herself fanning the flames of fear. She boasts over 50,000 members in her church, and the future seems bright for her. The proliferation of her movies and her massive church attendance has made Helen a rich and powerful woman in Nigeria. With her obsession with child witches growing, it’s difficult to imagine how this practice can be stopped.

If you want to know what the face of evil is, then look no further than this woman, who profits from the death and torture of little children. Nigeria is the most dangerous place to be a child, and it’s because of people like Ukpabio and her ilk. This is the true danger of superstition: it makes otherwise peaceful humans into fearful monsters who would murder their own children. Women like Helen Ukpabio are shielded from responsibility for their crime by a bubble of religious delusion. No doubt she must think WE are the ones who are monsters for allowing witches to run free. What a sad and ignorant world we live in.

Belief is not innocuous

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A few months ago I wrote about the plight of Nigerian children who are accused of being witches. These kids are often beaten, abandoned, or killed because their parents or members of the community accuse them of being possessed by Satan. The problem is only getting worse, with an estimated 15,000 kids in Nigeria alone accused of being witches.

Even though there are a number of organizations working to undo the damage caused by such accusations, in truth this will continue to be an issue so long as the population remains ignorant. They believe witches are real, and no one so far has done enough to dissuade the population of this superstition. Why would they? Most of the organizations over there are missionaries, and a Christian priest trying to tell someone their beliefs are incorrect would only be faced with uncomfortable questions regarding his own superstitions. It’s the blind leading the blind.

The problem is also exacerbated by the fact no one seems willing to put their foot down and work on a campaign to abolish the belief in witchcraft:

“It is not the belief in witchcraft that we are concerned about,” Foxcroft said. “We acknowledge people’s right to hold this belief on the condition that this does not lead to child abuse.”

How can you ignore the elephant in the room here? Obviously it’s the belief that’s the problem. The intellectual lazy position that “everyone is entitled to their own beliefs” is not helping anyone here. No one lives in a bubble where their own personal beliefs won’t interact with reality. That’s obvious from the fact that thousands of kids will face persecution for the rest of their lives simply because their family believes in the childish notion of witchcraft.

If you want this kind of thing to stop, we’ll need to be serious about teaching the native population of Nigeria that their superstitions are in fact false. It may be unpopular, but if you can think of a better way to stop human beings from harming and killing one another, I’d love to hear it.

Children in Nigeria victims of superstition

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In a small village in Nigeria, a little boy of 5 years of age is frightened and confused. His mother and father have abandoned him; their normally loving embrace will never be felt again. The other villagers are angry, and some of them throw stones at him. He does not cry. Part of him has accepted his fate, and the rejection of his loved ones is enough to make the boy numb. The only question in his mind is how all of this is happening, and whether or not it’s simply just a bad dream.

If you’ve ever thought human superstitions were quaint and amusing, this is due to the fact in your society, science has unmasked superstitions and shown how foolish and silly they are. No one takes the idea of throwing salt over their shoulder for good luck seriously, any more than we avoid black cats. But in places like Nigeria, superstition is a powerful force which dominates their lives. It is made worse by the fact that the fear they trigger is being used by powerful evangelical ministers to gain power and wealth. The victims are little children who are often tortured, abandoned, and sometimes killed.

Their tactic is simple: by accusing children of witchcraft, a minister offers his expensive services to exorcise them. Often, however, when the parents can ill afford the treatment, their fear turns them from caring parents into brutal murderers. Some of these preachers have become extraordinary wealthy doing this. All of them have the blood of innocents on their hands.

It’s difficult enough to watch as whole villages turn on innocent children without seeing the long term affects. Many of the children, even when they do find a home, look despondent and scared. Their childhood has been savagely ripped away, leaving sorrow, despair, and unhappiness.

A little while ago, we did a podcast on the subject, but a fan of the site thought it necessary to remind me that this was still going on. I felt it should be mentioned again, if only to encourage those generous few to donate to an organization called Stepping Stones Nigeria which takes in these abandoned children who would otherwise be turned into slaves, or simply raped and killed. I don’t normally ask this of anyone, but it’s far too shocking to do nothing.

I’ve heard it said atheists are less generous than their religious counterparts. I think this untrue. I encourage you to help out this worthy organization, and if you have Christian friends, make them understand that their Savior is being used to justify torture and death. If they feel even half the outrage I do, hopefully it will match their generosity.