I was reading up on witches in Africa. It turns out that between 25,000 to 50,000 Africans were executed as witches by 2006, thousands of children even today are accused of witchcraft and thousands of women accused of witchcraft have escaped to witch camps in Ghana over the past century. In 2008, at least 11 Africans were known to have been burned alive as witches and at least seven have been burned alive this year so far news.discovery/human/psychology/seven-accused-african-witches-burned-to-death-141011.htm You might think this relates to Christianity. Well, it does in a way... Christians are among the strongest forces in Africa trying to stop this. Africans today still believe in witchcraft across Africa and witch doctors are still commonplace. While we see crazy laws created such as witches not being allowed to fly too high dailycaller/2013/05/17/african-country-prohibits-witches-from-flying-higher-than-150-meters/ and African leaders either admit to having been witches dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2536513/South-African-president-Zuma-reveals-used-practice-witchcraft-against-white-people.html or trying to kill anyone suspected of witchcraft independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/gambia-gripped-by-fear-as-leader-scours-country-in-search-of-witches-1648414.html Now, while you might think this is nuts, the behavior of Africans and their belief in witches is now being examined in relation to Europe and European beliefs in witchcraft. The reason for the research is that we really do not know why people were accused of witchcraft other than people saying it was just Christians trying to eliminate rival faiths and paganism. However, we know that the pagans already behaved like this before the emergence of Christianity as there was widespread belief in witchcraft, practitioners of magic and those who sought to purge themselves of witches. In fact, almost all the practices for dealing with witches and seeking them out already existed among pagan peoples before the coming of Christianity and we see pagans who converted to Christianity among the first to begin witch hunts and executions.What differs is when they became state sanctioned by the Christian church on a wide scale where they exploited such practices and surviving pagan beliefs which had survived among those descended from pagans who converted to Christianity. Until recent years, the modern belief about the witch hunts stems from the Christian era as peoples became more literate and better at recording such events... but we know such events happened before these times as there are written records from the Romans, Greeks and other literate pagan peoples telling us of witch hunts and executions... even witches burned by fire. Then came whats called the Dark Ages because of the loss of literacy except, often enough, among the clergy. Thats not to say there werent written records, that is to say that sources for written records dropped dramatically. thus, the reasons we think of witch hunts and executions comes from the growth of literacy and chronicles of the actual witch hunts kept as records by the Christian church. We know that many thousands of people were accused and killed as witches who were never recorded about during this time and there must have been great numbers of people killed as witches during the Dark Ages as what records we do have even from pagans tell us about witch hunts and executions. Now, examine Africa. We all know theres no such thing as witches. However, we see in Africa that the people there do believe and that most of these people are not Christian or Muslim but pagan. We also see great tragedies committed by people who believe in witchcraft ranging from the murder of children to the butchery of albino Africans for their body parts believed to be good luck charms. In fact, numerous murders happen in Africa every year where Africans are cannibalized, butchered for parts, bled out and maimed in the name of beliefs in witchcraft. Now, what if Europe during the witch hunts was the same way? A lead reason why people believed in witches, vampires and werewolves turns out to be murders committed by the mentally ill and witches... it was also believed that the mentally ill and witches were of the same ilk as people who didnt believe in witches would have thought such people mentally ill. We hear the same ridiculous claims about the belief in witches today in Africa that we heard being made across Europe... and we know that African belief in witchcraft was not imported from Europe but has existed throughout their history and survived into modern times. So, heres the question... are we correct to link witchcraft and the persecution of witches to Christianity alone when belief in witches, witch hunts and mass executions existed before the coming of Christianity? Might it simply be that the witch hunts are an inheritance from pagans as they became Christianized? Again, look at Africa. Look at India and even look at South America where pagan peoples rather than Christians are burning and killing witches, where the native peoples believe strongly in witchcraft and where those who practice witchcraft commit atrocities in the name of their faith. Even in voodoo, animals are killed for their blood as substitutes for human sacrifice. I in no way am suggesting that Christians are innocent of what was done, I am suggesting that converting to Christianity brought with it many pagan beliefs and practices which Christians finally evolved beyond meaning the Christian faith is an evolving faith and progressive compared to many other faiths. Examine Islam and the many wrongs we see them committing in the name of their religious beliefs. Stonings, hangings and worse still happen where we see the entire community come out to take part claiming Islam demands it. yet, we also hear that Islam is a religion of peace... a contradiction? Maybe the reality is that Islam absorbed the pagan beliefs of their predecessors as we see the same practices and beliefs we denounce today within Islam existed before Islam among the converted peoples. Where atheists attack Christians for their beliefs, the reality is that over the past century we have seen a huge change within Christianity as compared to the century preceding it and that Christianity had evolved each century before that as well... its simply a matter of trying to set a date when it was at its worst to make note of its evolution to what it is today. For all the talk and harsh words at times, Christianity has become a rather benign force in relation to both its beliefs and its practices... beliefs do not always translate into actions and while we see isolated acts by Christians we might denounce as violent, we rarely hear of anyone committing violent crimes committed by Christians motivated by their faith... only crimes committed by Christians where people try to link their crimes to their faith when secular and atheist Americans commit the same crimes for the same reasons. For all the attacks on Christianity for things Christians say or believe, they actually do great good in the country through their charity and pulling communities together during times of great hardship. Not all Christians are good people and, being an Agnostic Christian / Theist, youll hear me criticize the entire lot of them for beliefs and views like anyone else. The difference being, I dont attack them for just being Christian and where you find that... you often find as much or more hate against Christians than Christians themselves are guilty of. Today, it often seems as if Christians are the victims of witch hunts even as some among them like to play the victims role when they arent being victimized. Its kind of a mix where it seems like in this country, people think the freedom of speech means they can condemn and hate while acting like they arent... Christians are guilty of doing this as well as victims of others doing this to Christians. Food for thought...
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 21:54:28 +0000
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