Comrade-Z
29th April 2006, 17:09
This takes "religion and child abuse" to a whole new level! :o
A Vivid Description of Descent Into Barbarism (http://nomorebigwheels.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-from-planet-of-slums-vivid.html)
...The crisis of the family, moreover, has coincided with both the Pentecostal boom and renascent fear of sorcery. Many Kinois, according to Devisch, interpret their fate within the larger urban catastrophe as "a type of curse or ensorcellement." As a result, literal, perverse belief in Harry Potter has gripped Kinshasa, leading to the mass-hysterical denunciation of thousands of child "witches" and their expulsion into the streets, even their murder. The children, some barely more than infants, have been accused of every misdeed and are even believed, in the Ndjili slum at least, to fly about at night in swarms on broomsticks. Aid workers emphasize the novelty of the phenomenon:
"Before 1990, there was hardly any talk of child witches in Kinshasa. The children who are now being accused of witchcraft are in the same situation: they become an unproductive burden for parents who are no longer able to feed them. The children said to be 'witches' are most often from very poor families."
The charismatic churches have been deeply complicit in promoting and legitimizing fears about bewitched children: indeed, the Pentecostals portray their faith as God’s armor against witchcraft. Hysteria amongst both adults and children (who have developed intense phobias about cats, lizards, and the long dark nights of power blackouts) has been exacerbated by the widespread circulation of lurid Christian videos showing the confessions of "witch children" and subsequent exorcism, sometimes involving starvation and scalding water....
A Vivid Description of Descent Into Barbarism (http://nomorebigwheels.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-from-planet-of-slums-vivid.html)
...The crisis of the family, moreover, has coincided with both the Pentecostal boom and renascent fear of sorcery. Many Kinois, according to Devisch, interpret their fate within the larger urban catastrophe as "a type of curse or ensorcellement." As a result, literal, perverse belief in Harry Potter has gripped Kinshasa, leading to the mass-hysterical denunciation of thousands of child "witches" and their expulsion into the streets, even their murder. The children, some barely more than infants, have been accused of every misdeed and are even believed, in the Ndjili slum at least, to fly about at night in swarms on broomsticks. Aid workers emphasize the novelty of the phenomenon:
"Before 1990, there was hardly any talk of child witches in Kinshasa. The children who are now being accused of witchcraft are in the same situation: they become an unproductive burden for parents who are no longer able to feed them. The children said to be 'witches' are most often from very poor families."
The charismatic churches have been deeply complicit in promoting and legitimizing fears about bewitched children: indeed, the Pentecostals portray their faith as God’s armor against witchcraft. Hysteria amongst both adults and children (who have developed intense phobias about cats, lizards, and the long dark nights of power blackouts) has been exacerbated by the widespread circulation of lurid Christian videos showing the confessions of "witch children" and subsequent exorcism, sometimes involving starvation and scalding water....