Comments on: The problem of Christianity in Africa

By: esi

esi — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:35:37 +0000

Chika, y isnt this Christian, god also punished those that didnt follow his beleifs. What is christianity then? Religion in Africa is as much of a dangerous disease as aids.

By: Chika

Chika — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:40:03 +0000

This is a generalization… African Christians aren’t a bunch of nut cases “whipping the demons of out children.” The only time my mama ever whopped my behind was for giving her sass!
This is one man out of many… one who is sick and twisted and takes advantage of the ignorance of his people.
THIS ISN’T CHRISTIANITY OR CHRIST LIKE!
@Zabimaru… you said it best!

By: tish

tish — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:24:19 +0000

It’s too painful to watch.

By: McBloggenstein

McBloggenstein — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:25:01 +0000

I wonder if the missionaries that spread their superstitions to these people sleep at night knowing (if they even know) that they are doing such things with their beliefs.

I would like to hear a theist try and show that these people would have done the same things even if they weren’t christians.

By: Daniel Florien

Daniel Florien — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:05:16 +0000

@joni: Every Christian sect thinks they are “the true followers of Jesus.” The Bible does say to kill witches, after all. It becomes a pretty nuanced argument about whether it is “biblical” or not.

By: Zabimaru

Zabimaru — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:13:02 +0000

@Joni:

Ah, no true Scotsman and all that.

Sure, normally Christians aren’t like this. Followers of Jesus usually don’t see the need (today, at least) to persecute “witches”. Christianity as a whole, as a movement, is not to blame.

But does that mean that we should treat this matter as something separate from Christianity, because “no true follower” would do this? I don’t think so.

The pastors in question might be corrupt and greedy in a normal, non-religious fashion. But it would seem that the people actually doing the physical harm against their neighbors and children are people who actually believe strongly in the message, and believe that what they do is right by God, because that’s what their pastor tells them.

This is a symptom of something that I see as a problem with religion, regardless if it is used in a “good” or “bad” way – some people just don’t question the things that their religious authority figure tells them, even if the things are truly twisted.

That’s the reason to look at this from a religious perspective and try to combat that kind of thinking. Everything like that should be questioned, but some religions tend to teach that questioning things are bad.

I don’t care what people believe, if they are followers of Jesus or not, as long as they can question things. These people, the people who hurt their children (or the ones who drink the kool-aid or handle the snakes or get an exorcism instead of a psychiatric evaluation and so on) on the say-so of their religious leader – they evidently do not question. They obey, because that’s what they’ve been taught is right. And that scares me.

By: Proto

Proto — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:59:31 +0000

@ mike, I’m fairly optimistic that people will realize that god isn’t real eventually, but it’s already way too late to prevent religion related atrocities from taking place.

Hell, it’s too late to give most of these dis-family’ed children normal lives.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:50:51 +0000

How long until people realize God isn’t real and stop all this madness? This is the sick reality of religious ignorance and intolerance. When you try and live your life based in 3500 year old morality you wind up like these losers.

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:14:06 +0000

Joni, history is rife with stories about the followers of Jesus–true followers–doing this sort of thing.

Any social code based on blind adherence to irrational principles has no ceiling of absurdity, including yours.

By: Joni

Joni — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:33:17 +0000

clarification: “action like this” refers to the evil behavior of the people perpetuating the abuse

By: Joni

Joni — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:22:15 +0000

Does anyone believe that true followers of Jesus–true followers–would promote and/or condone this behavior? From the little research I’ve done, there is a group of 419 “pastors” that are responsible for a myriad of Nigerian scams some of which were exposed by ABC News. My heart and soul is so angry at action like this that completely bastardizes the message of love and mercy that came in Jesus Christ.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:36:14 +0000

I was a “witch” when I was 14………. None of my spells ever worked. LOL!

This is so sick and sad. :( When will it stop?

Shit like this is exactly the reason why “militant atheism” is a pathetic argument. We write books and make movies…. They abuse innocent children for fear of something as trivial as the dark.

Fundamentalists need to be honest with themselves: Who is more dangerous?

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:38:02 +0000

OK, is it possible that what we see here is villages full of desperate, poor people trying to find a better life for their children? Certainly these people are monumentally deluded, but to me, is seemed that perhaps these people are so poor that they want someone else to look after their children. Just what brand of ‘fairy in the sky’ religion is associated with this?

By: wazza

wazza — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:58:52 +0000

of course, to the Republican party as it is now, being friends with a witch-hunter is a good thing…

I’d say 2012 is in the bag, if they really nominate her. The negative ads just write themselves.

By: Brian Larnder

Brian Larnder — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:38:47 +0000

This is so terrible. I blogged about this story too, but I hadn’t seen the video and I didn’t realize it was confined to the evangelical Christians in this area.

And yes, Sarah Palin’s missionary friend is one of the pastors behind this movement. That needs to be pointed out loud and clear.