Saturday, August 01, 2009

Anti-Witchcraft Conference Attacked by Christians in Nigeria

One of the ongoing problems in parts of Africa - often areas where far right Anglicans led by the likes of arch gay-hater Archbishop Peter Akinola are ascendant - is that witchcraft is stilled believed to be real by the populace and children and others frequently accused of being witches and sometimes killed. It is difficult to fathom in a modern world how this type of ignorance and brutality continues to exist, but it is precisely in this climate of ignorance and superstition that the Anglican Communion - like the Roman Catholic Church - is experiencing the most growth. And these are the Anglican leaders to who break away Episcopals in the USA are swearing allegiance. To me, in speaks volumes about the craziness of the far right Anglicans. Now, a group of "Christians" have attacked a conference endeavoring to stop the madness and assaults on alleged witches. Here are some highlights from Richard Dawkins:
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Leo Igwe, a friend of the British Humanist Association and Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, was attacked yesterday during a raid by 150 to 200 members of a Christian church at a conference he had organised on "Child Rights and Witchcraft" in Calabar.
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Helen Ukpabio and her church, the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, have run a campaign of terror against children and those committed to fighting for their rights, of which yesterday's raid was only the latest development. The conference had been organised by the Nigerian Humanist Movement and the UK charity Stepping Stones Nigeria in response to the widespread abandonment, torture and killing of children in Akwa Ibom and Cross River State due to the belief in child "witches".
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More on this story can be found here. I increasing believe that unless anti-gay and anti-intellect churches begin to change their intolerance and accept modern knowledge, they eventually will go the way of the dinosaurs - which in my view would do the world much good. Far too many people have died over the centuries because of religious based hate and lunacy.

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