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POPSNo more child witches in DRC? Whether the law can be enforced in such a fractured country is indeed a moot point, but so is the idea of these "deeply-held" beliefs. These beliefs, to all accounts, appeared quite suddenly in recent history. Perhaps they could disappear just as suddenly. What we need to find is what it takes to make them disappear, and perhaps it could help to find what caused them to appear in the first place. The DRC, like other African countries, has long had many people who believe that misfortunes are caused by witchcraft and sorcery. What appears to be new is the belief that these witches are young children, and that it is occurring on such a scale. Perhaps it is the very fractured nature of the society that is causing these beliefs to spread and be deeply held.
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POPSMoral regeneraltion, degeneration, confustion There is talk of the need for moral regeneration in our society, and perhaps they are right. It seems that nobody taught this boy "Thou shalt not steal." And nobody taught the driver of the car, "Thou shalt not kill." Or perhaps someone taught them that, but they didn't learn it. As they say in edu-jargon, the learning outcomes were not achieved.
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POPSExraordinary Rendition With shrinking space for burials, and cremations being environmentally unfriendly, theres a new proposal for getting rid of corpses by rendering. In ordinary rendering a body is boiled until the various parts separate, but in a new process, which could be described as "extraordinary rendition", chemicals are added to speed up the process. It's not clear whether it uses less energy than cremation.
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POPSWitchcraft-related crimes
The recent arrest and appearance in court of three men accused of ritual killings in the Eastern Cape has highlighted the problem of so-called muti murders, one of which is that they are rarely highlighted. In another country one or two murders would be sensational. Eighteen murders in a small town within a few months should rival the Virginia Tech killings in the USA for newsworthiness -- at least in South Africa. But no, things like the Virginia Tech killings got more coverage in the South African media than serial killings in our own back yard. Why is this? Is it because many of the Virginia Tech victims were white, and the Mzamba victims were black? Are deaths of white people more newsworthy than the deaths of black people? And what happens to these case? So often it is reported that someone has been murdered, and that muti killing is suspected, and then no more is heard. If someone charged, that may be reported, and no more is heard. Is anyone ever convicted?
3
POPSLiberation theology I never thought I'd ever see eye-to-eye with a US Southern Baptist. This one's rhetoric almost convinces me, but not quite.
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POPSPeace symbol - 50 years on Jerry Horton's now-famous peace symbol is 50 years old. It's first public appearance was at the Aldermaston March in 1958, organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to protest against nuclear weapons. Later it was widened to a general peace symbol, and not simply against nuclear weapons, and has been used by people protesting against wars in general, such as the Vietnam War and the current Iraqi-American War.
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POPSRacial integration through social engineering? Fifteen years after the end of apartheid, South Africa's urban residential areas remain almost as segregated as before. Now the eThekwini Municipality plans to change that -- by allocating housing on racial lines.
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POPSSchool’s shock over killings suspect There have been ritual killings before, to use human body parts for muti, but the scale of these killings goes far beyond most reported cases - 18 killings in a village within five months!
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POPSThe unexpected monks We've been talkibng about having a synchroblog on the new monasticism, and suddenly it seems to be popping up all over the place. Hat-tip to Paul Grabill for this link.
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POPSImagine no religion! Imagine no religion! Enver Hoxha did, and for 27 years worked to turn what he imagined into reality. From 1967 to 1991 Albania was the first (and only) atheist state in the world. It actually doesn't take much imagination. We don't need to imagine no religion We just need to look at the history books.
3
POPSRemoving the state from Dr Rowan Williams Church, State, Law and the Enlightenment: I think that this article is rather condescending, and demeaning of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in suggesting that he did not know what can of worms he was opening in his discussion of Sharia law in Britain. I don't think he is that thick. As the article does point out, however, he has questioned one of the core assumptions of modernity -- that "religion" (itself a "modern" concept) belongs exclusively to the private sphere. In doing so, it seems, he has thought the unthinkable, spoken the unspeakable, and questioned the unquestionable. Nasty man -- a bit like Galileo and Copernicus, perhaps, except that he's questioning the secular authorities rather than the ecclesiastical ones. Though I don't agree with everything in Janet Daley's article, I think it's worth reading because she does put her finger on the main issue raised by the Archbishop.
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POPSHoly Fools Frank Schaeffer's book about his evangelical upbringing and his father's legacy.
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POPSOur great Mikado, virtuous man Our great Mikado, virtuous man when he to rule this land began resolved to try a plan whereby young men might best be steadied. So he decreed in words succinct That all who flirted, leered or winked Unless connubially linked Should forthwith be beheaded.
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POPSThe church has a duty and a right to evangelise A Document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith denies the value of relativistic theories which claim there is no need to announce Christ, as well as those which exalt the pluralism of faiths in leading to salvation. The relationship between the missionary mandate, respect for freedom of conscience and religion has ecumenical implications: respect towards non Catholic Christians must not negate the possibility of conversion, which is not proselytism.
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POPSNigerian Christians join in witchhunts Witch hunting is a very ancient practice in Africa, but in the past it has not generally been something that Christians have engaged in. Western-initiated churches, which have been influenced by modernity, have tended to regard beliefs about witchcraft as superstition, and encouraged people to discard such views. African-initiated churches have taken witchcraft beliefs seriously, but have generally urged witches to repent, and teried to rehabilitate them (whereas in pagan African society witches were often thought to be incorrigible and deserving only death). But now new denominations, which appear to be mainly neopentecostal, seem to be persecuting suspected witches in a manner reminiscent of the Great European Witchhunt of early modern times.
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