This line, stated by the prosecuting attorney in the case of the boy murderers, speaks volumes: “It is hard to believe in this day and age anyone can believe someone was practising witchcraft.”
I ask: how is witchcraft, which no doubt is a superstitious belief, different from all the other superstitions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam; to name a few? I mean for instance, Catholics still engage in exorcisms to cast out “demons” from people possessed by the Devil, yet I don’t hear anyone ridiculing the Catholic Church for that!
The fact of the matter is that all religions are based on superstitions. Its adherents may not all brutally torture and kill innocent people as they once did, for obvious reasons (although beheadings and stonings are not exactly benign acts) but we’ve probably all seen televangelist “faith healers” performing “miracles” on their ignorant followers; for a fee of course. Yet televangelist preachers are a dime a dozen in this country, and their evangelical supporters may be the single most important group in terms of deciding the U.S. presidency! Yet nobody criticizes them for believing the universe is only several thousand years old, or that dinosaurs walked the Earth with humans, or that man was made from dust and woman from a man’s rib; or all of the other stupidities these mindless people believe. Are these not superstitions as well?
At the end of the day, all religious beliefs are founded on superstition. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
AFP
A couple of Congolese origin were jailed for life on Monday for torturing and drowning a teenage boy they accused of being a witch.
Kristy Bamu, 15, died on Christmas Day 2010 after days of abuses by his sister Magalie, 29, and her partner, Eric Bikubi, 28 in an exorcism ritual.
He had come to London from Paris with his two brothers and two sisters to spend the festive season with Magalie.
But the couple, who were said to be obsessed with witchcraft known as kindoki in their native Democratic Republic of Congo, accused him of putting spells on a younger child.
Football coach Bikubi and Magalie were found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey last week.
Bikubi must serve at least 30 years and Bamu a minimum of 25 years.
Kristy had 130 separate injuries when he was found dead in a bath at their tower block flat in Newham, east London, prosecutors said during the Old Bailey trial.
Bikubi had beaten all the children after accusing them of bringing kindoki — or voodoo — into his home, but he reserved particular violence for Kristy, subjecting him to three days of attacks with knives, metal bars and a hammer.
The teenager had his teeth knocked out, ceramic floor tiles and bottles were smashed on his head and a pair of pliers was used to twist his ear.
He was in such pain that he “begged to die”, the jury heard. When he was put in the bath by Bikubi, “he was just too badly injured and exhausted to resist or to keep his head above the water”, prosecuting lawyer Brian Altman said.
Describing a “prolonged attack of unspeakable savagery and brutality”, Altman said: “Kristy was killed in the name of witchcraft.
“It is hard to believe in this day and age anyone can believe someone was practising witchcraft.”
Dr. Richard Hoskins, an expert witness who has studied kindoki for 25 years, told the trial that belief in it is “extremely widespread” among Congolese people, including those in Britain.
“Even here in London and amongst educated people, I’ve met lots and spoken with lots of people who believe in kindoki and think it has power,” he said.
Kristy’s sisters, aged 20 and 11, were also beaten but were let off after agreeing to confess to being possessed. The other two brothers, a 13-year-old and a 22-year-old with autism, were made to join in the torture.
