Nigerian Christians join in witch hunts

[Steve Hayes]

I've just come across a news item about Nigerian Christians taking part in
witch hunts.

Witch hunting is a very ancient practice in Africa, but in the past it has
not generally been something that Christians have engaged in.Western-
initiated churches, which have been influenced by modernity, have tended
to regard beliefs about witchcraft as superstition, and encouraged people
to discard such views.

African-initiated churches have taken witchcraft beliefs seriously, but
have generally urged witches to repent, and teried to rehabilitate them
(whereas in pagan African society witches were often thought to be
incorrigible and deserving only death).

But now new denominations, which appear to be mainly neopentecostal, seem
to be persecuting suspected witches in a manner reminiscent of the Great
European Witchhunt of early modern times.

I've blogged about it here, with a link to the source article:

http://tinyurl.com/2at96l

Does anyone know anything more about this?

Is anyone doing further research on it?

Are attitudes changing like this in other parts of Africa too, and how
long has it been going on in Nigeria?

[B.G. Kent]

Post by Steve Hayes
I've just come across a news item about Nigerian Christians taking part in
witch hunts.

B - It's a sad thing. It seems odd that someone who may believe in
something they can't prove....is trying to "rehabilitate" someone who
believes in something they can't prove.

It's sick.


Bren

[Steve Hayes]

Post by B.G. Kent
It's sick.

Can you prove that?

[Jani]

"B.G. Kent" <***@victoria.tc.ca> wrote in message news:BPFaj.37001$***@trnddc04...

[]

Post by B.G. Kent
B - It's a sad thing. It seems odd that someone who may believe in
something they can't prove....is trying to "rehabilitate" someone who
believes in something they can't prove.
It's sick.

Not really. Witches in traditional African cultures are, quite specifically,
maleficient magic-users; it's not a generic term for a neopagan /
practitioner of "white" magic. But in any case, the article Steve linked to
is about children from Christian families being *accused* of witchcraft, and
suffering violence, abandonment and death on the instructions of Christian
church leaders.

Jani

[B.G. Kent]

Post by Steve Hayes

Post by B.G. Kent
It's sick.

Can you prove that?

B - Hmm I didn't put "i.M.O" on that post? no? my mistake then...In my
opinion it's sick.

there ya go..bobsyeruncle (uhm...in my opinion I mean..LOL)

Bren

[Jani]

"Steve Hayes" <***@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:u7laj.3832$***@trnddc06...

[]

Post by Steve Hayes
Does anyone know anything more about this?
Is anyone doing further research on it?
Are attitudes changing like this in other parts of Africa too, and how
long has it been going on in Nigeria?

A couple of articles from the BBC, which indicate that it's not solely
confined to Nigeria, and that socioeconomic factors plus scapegoating are
relevant:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2372907.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2660757.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3100848.stm

And this, which describes the growth of Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria,
makes some interesting points.
http://www.teol.ku.dk/CAS/nyhomepage/mapper/Occasional%20Papers/Occ_Musa%20Gaiya(internetversion).doc.

"Ancestral spirits, witches and ritual practices that related to veneration
and protection were consequently classified as demonic and were diabolised.
Healing and deliverance from such powers can only take place through the
"blood of Christ", the laying-on of hands and ecstatic prayer sessions in
which the presence of the Holy Spirit is manifest through speaking in
tongues. Objects and substances that relate to a cultural past are not
allowed within its ritual practice and discourse. For most Born Agains, it
is not enough to follow the Pentecostal doctrine of stopping various forms
of ancestral veneration such as the pouring of libations at name-giving
ceremonies, at initiation ceremonies and at funerals. Even confirmed Born
Again believers may still feel haunted by ancestral curses and may therefore
encounter the problems, afflictions and misfortunes that result from their
past and from the web of social relations and commitments that tie a person
to the family. As emphasised by deliverance rituals, the answer is a
complete break with the past; that often means breaking with the blood tie
that binds a person to an ancestral curse which is still operating from the
past through the living relatives in the present."

"Living relatives in the present" .... such as children suspected of
witchcraft. The article also mentions that most founders of Pentecostal
churches are not trained theologians, and that they are KJV-literalists. The
preachers described in the Observer article seem to be preying on parents
looking for scapegoats to account for poverty, illness and so on, by taking
advantage of the traditional fear of witchcraft and validating the
"exorcisms" and "deliverances" through selected scripture passages.

Jani

[Steve Hayes]

Post by Jani
[]

Post by Steve Hayes
Does anyone know anything more about this?
Is anyone doing further research on it?
Are attitudes changing like this in other parts of Africa too, and how
long has it been going on in Nigeria?

A couple of articles from the BBC, which indicate that it's not solely
confined to Nigeria, and that socioeconomic factors plus scapegoating are
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2372907.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2660757.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3100848.stm

Thanks for those links, though the first does not relate to Christian
involvement, and indicates a widespread phenomenon in eastern and southern
Africa.

Post by Jani
And this, which describes the growth of Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria,
makes some interesting points.
http://www.teol.ku.dk/CAS/nyhomepage/mapper/Occasional%20Papers/Occ_Musa%20Gaiya(internetversion).doc.
"Ancestral spirits, witches and ritual practices that related to veneration
and protection were consequently classified as demonic and were diabolised.
Healing and deliverance from such powers can only take place through the
"blood of Christ", the laying-on of hands and ecstatic prayer sessions in
which the presence of the Holy Spirit is manifest through speaking in
tongues. Objects and substances that relate to a cultural past are not
allowed within its ritual practice and discourse. For most Born Agains, it
is not enough to follow the Pentecostal doctrine of stopping various forms
of ancestral veneration such as the pouring of libations at name-giving
ceremonies, at initiation ceremonies and at funerals. Even confirmed Born
Again believers may still feel haunted by ancestral curses and may therefore
encounter the problems, afflictions and misfortunes that result from their
past and from the web of social relations and commitments that tie a person
to the family. As emphasised by deliverance rituals, the answer is a
complete break with the past; that often means breaking with the blood tie
that binds a person to an ancestral curse which is still operating from the
past through the living relatives in the present."

In southern Africa most there is a general tendency among Christians to
interpret troblesome spirits as demonic, though in African traditional
religion they are usually regarded as ghosts, that is the spirit of dead
persons, who may or may not be related to the victims. Most Spirit-type
African Independence Churchess (AICs) help to deal with such problems, thoguh
some interpret them within the traditional Christian frameworjk, and others in
the African traditional framework, so some allow, and others reject ancesdtor
veneration. Western-initiated churches (WICs) tend to ignore such problems,

Post by Jani
"Living relatives in the present" .... such as children suspected of
witchcraft. The article also mentions that most founders of Pentecostal
churches are not trained theologians, and that they are KJV-literalists. The
preachers described in the Observer article seem to be preying on parents
looking for scapegoats to account for poverty, illness and so on, by taking
advantage of the traditional fear of witchcraft and validating the
"exorcisms" and "deliverances" through selected scripture passages.

It is common in African witchcraft beliefs to attribute riches as well as
poverty and other misfortunes to witchcraft. Rich peiople who accumulate
wealth are regarded as doing so by witchcraft and other antisocial practices.
But in Southern Africa at least, witchcraft accusations seem to have been rare
among Christians. AICs offer spiritual protection against witchcraft, but have
not generally accused specific individuals of witchcraft, though traditional
healers have often done so, as indicated in the Tanzanian article.

When people become Christians, they have sometimes confessed to being witches,
and this is where the churches have tried to rehabilitate them, but the
Nigerian, and possibly the Congolese examples seem to show that in
central-west Africa it is different.