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Shit List 22/6/09 - killing children in God's name
Yeah, fair warning. This is a nasty one. Possible triggers for people who are walkaways from Dominionist groups, possible offence for people who belong to such groups.
I've just finished watching the current affairs program, Four Corners. Tonight's show was about so-called child 'witches' in Nigeria. I've heard a little about this, but I had no idea it was so horrific.
Dozens of kids - from babies to teenagers - tortured, abused, mutilated, abandoned, imprisoned, and traumatised by the very people who should care for them and protect them from harm at all costs. Their own families. And they are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones have stones tied to their feet and are thrown into the river ... or are burned alive ... or poisoned ... or hacked to death with machetes. And why? Because their preacher told them that these poor children were witches. Willing servants of Satan, responsible for everything from poor crops to deaths in the family. These children at at the mercy of unscrupulous, money-grubbing, power-hungry, evil people who incite and commit atrocities in the name of God.
One little girl, Mary, was blamed for her mother's death and abandoned by her father. When a man from Stepping Stones Nigeria (a charity that rescues these kids - up to ten per week) tried to help her, he could not find one person willing to take her in. His attempts to set up a shelter in the village led to his nearly being assaulted.
A boy was forced to drink a concoction made of pure alcohol, mercury and the blood of a 'Bishop'* who charged the local equivalent of 170 English pounds (a fortune for the family). The same poison was dripped into his eyes and ears. All this was done to prevent him from casting an evil eye on people.
A girl of about twelve, so traumatised that she could not speak, showed the scars on her buttocks where her father had forced her to sit on the grille over a fire to make her 'confess' to witchcraft. Two teenage boys (one of whom was clearly developmentally disabled) were chained to posts every night and forced to stay awake to prevent them from working 'spells'. Eight girls were locked up in a small, dark room for days at a time by the local preacher. And it goes on.
Nigeria has always had a strong Christian population, but up until very recently, they were moderate in their beliefs, tolerant and peaceful. Enter the Pentecostal churches - particularly Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries and its brother groups. Local, traditional beliefs in supernatural causes for negative life events gets married to a religion that pushes the idea that demons possess people all the time, and can be spotted by the 'fact' that they make little babies cry for hours on end and kids talk back to their parents. (Not an exaggeration. Go look it up.) The result? Children are scapegoated for every ill in life, and subjected to unimaginable tortures. All with the blessing of the church.
One particular 'exorcist' whose influence cannot be stressed strongly enough is Helen Ukpabio, of the aforementioned Liberty Foundation. Her short film, 'End of the Wicked', made such an impact that it is regularly cited as either 'opening people's eyes' or 'poisoning people's minds' (depending on who's being interviewed). It's very triggering and utterly sickening, but if you want to see for yourself, you can find it here. Suffice it to say it makes the 'Satanic Panic' of the late 1980s and early 1990s here look like nothing. Footage of kids apparently pledging their souls to Satan in lurid ceremonies and engaging in 'spell-casting'. Much of it is so stereotyped, in fact, that it makes me think that Ukpabio and her film crew were using the Malleus Maleficarum as their script.
And it doesn't stop there. Liberty's website has dozens of videos, books, and advertisements for 'conferences' all relating to the allegedly pervasive witchcraft problem in Akwa Ibom (the local province). Unaware she was on camera, she arrogantly told a reporter who insisted that her movies were contributing to the number of abandoned children that were roaming the streets that 'no white person can come into my country and tell me about things they don't know'. This is a woman who incites people to commit acts of terrible violence against defenceless children. Whose 'deliverance' ministry fleeces people of far more money than they can afford - then cuts them off, saying that the 'witch' will not let go of the demon. Who sows fear and hate and terror in the name of a God whose own son said, 'Whatever you do to the least of these ... you do to me'.
Ukpabio is not the only one, by any means. Nor is she the worst. Her words, her teachings, the lies she delivers with 'spiritual authority', are just one example of the havoc being wreaked in Nigeria. This isn't something that happened centuries ago. It isn't even something that happened decades ago. It's happening right now.
How can anyone claim to be the servant of God and allow this to go on? No, that's not strong enough - how can they cause it? In what possible way can they justify the torture and murder of defenceless children, whose only crime is to be children?
The Nigerian government has finally passed a Child Rights Act, making it a crime punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment to accuse a child of being a witch. This law should protect them. It doesn't. Stepping Stones still takes in at least ten children a week. Many of these children are abandoned on their doorstep. Others are rescued when workers can get to the villages and find them.
How many children are still being murdered? How many torturers and murderers are being sheltered by their families and their churches?
And how many 'deliverance' ministries are still being conducted?
These 'preachers' should be prosecuted right along with the murderers. They are as responsible for these horrific acts as the people who actually wield the knives and the kerosene and the stones. Let them think of themselves as 'martyrs', but they need to be stopped. For the sake of all those children who are suffering now, and in danger.
And if there is a Hell, as they are so fond of threatening, then I hope that they pay forever for what they have done.
Even if they do, it will not be enough to begin to atone.
* Fortunately, the government have finally ordered the arrest of this psychopath. It remains to be seen, though, if the arrest will ever be carried out.
I've just finished watching the current affairs program, Four Corners. Tonight's show was about so-called child 'witches' in Nigeria. I've heard a little about this, but I had no idea it was so horrific.
Dozens of kids - from babies to teenagers - tortured, abused, mutilated, abandoned, imprisoned, and traumatised by the very people who should care for them and protect them from harm at all costs. Their own families. And they are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones have stones tied to their feet and are thrown into the river ... or are burned alive ... or poisoned ... or hacked to death with machetes. And why? Because their preacher told them that these poor children were witches. Willing servants of Satan, responsible for everything from poor crops to deaths in the family. These children at at the mercy of unscrupulous, money-grubbing, power-hungry, evil people who incite and commit atrocities in the name of God.
One little girl, Mary, was blamed for her mother's death and abandoned by her father. When a man from Stepping Stones Nigeria (a charity that rescues these kids - up to ten per week) tried to help her, he could not find one person willing to take her in. His attempts to set up a shelter in the village led to his nearly being assaulted.
A boy was forced to drink a concoction made of pure alcohol, mercury and the blood of a 'Bishop'* who charged the local equivalent of 170 English pounds (a fortune for the family). The same poison was dripped into his eyes and ears. All this was done to prevent him from casting an evil eye on people.
A girl of about twelve, so traumatised that she could not speak, showed the scars on her buttocks where her father had forced her to sit on the grille over a fire to make her 'confess' to witchcraft. Two teenage boys (one of whom was clearly developmentally disabled) were chained to posts every night and forced to stay awake to prevent them from working 'spells'. Eight girls were locked up in a small, dark room for days at a time by the local preacher. And it goes on.
Nigeria has always had a strong Christian population, but up until very recently, they were moderate in their beliefs, tolerant and peaceful. Enter the Pentecostal churches - particularly Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries and its brother groups. Local, traditional beliefs in supernatural causes for negative life events gets married to a religion that pushes the idea that demons possess people all the time, and can be spotted by the 'fact' that they make little babies cry for hours on end and kids talk back to their parents. (Not an exaggeration. Go look it up.) The result? Children are scapegoated for every ill in life, and subjected to unimaginable tortures. All with the blessing of the church.
One particular 'exorcist' whose influence cannot be stressed strongly enough is Helen Ukpabio, of the aforementioned Liberty Foundation. Her short film, 'End of the Wicked', made such an impact that it is regularly cited as either 'opening people's eyes' or 'poisoning people's minds' (depending on who's being interviewed). It's very triggering and utterly sickening, but if you want to see for yourself, you can find it here. Suffice it to say it makes the 'Satanic Panic' of the late 1980s and early 1990s here look like nothing. Footage of kids apparently pledging their souls to Satan in lurid ceremonies and engaging in 'spell-casting'. Much of it is so stereotyped, in fact, that it makes me think that Ukpabio and her film crew were using the Malleus Maleficarum as their script.
And it doesn't stop there. Liberty's website has dozens of videos, books, and advertisements for 'conferences' all relating to the allegedly pervasive witchcraft problem in Akwa Ibom (the local province). Unaware she was on camera, she arrogantly told a reporter who insisted that her movies were contributing to the number of abandoned children that were roaming the streets that 'no white person can come into my country and tell me about things they don't know'. This is a woman who incites people to commit acts of terrible violence against defenceless children. Whose 'deliverance' ministry fleeces people of far more money than they can afford - then cuts them off, saying that the 'witch' will not let go of the demon. Who sows fear and hate and terror in the name of a God whose own son said, 'Whatever you do to the least of these ... you do to me'.
Ukpabio is not the only one, by any means. Nor is she the worst. Her words, her teachings, the lies she delivers with 'spiritual authority', are just one example of the havoc being wreaked in Nigeria. This isn't something that happened centuries ago. It isn't even something that happened decades ago. It's happening right now.
How can anyone claim to be the servant of God and allow this to go on? No, that's not strong enough - how can they cause it? In what possible way can they justify the torture and murder of defenceless children, whose only crime is to be children?
The Nigerian government has finally passed a Child Rights Act, making it a crime punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment to accuse a child of being a witch. This law should protect them. It doesn't. Stepping Stones still takes in at least ten children a week. Many of these children are abandoned on their doorstep. Others are rescued when workers can get to the villages and find them.
How many children are still being murdered? How many torturers and murderers are being sheltered by their families and their churches?
And how many 'deliverance' ministries are still being conducted?
These 'preachers' should be prosecuted right along with the murderers. They are as responsible for these horrific acts as the people who actually wield the knives and the kerosene and the stones. Let them think of themselves as 'martyrs', but they need to be stopped. For the sake of all those children who are suffering now, and in danger.
And if there is a Hell, as they are so fond of threatening, then I hope that they pay forever for what they have done.
Even if they do, it will not be enough to begin to atone.
* Fortunately, the government have finally ordered the arrest of this psychopath. It remains to be seen, though, if the arrest will ever be carried out.