For anyone wonderng why I'm not a fan of organized religion

[mojave_wolf]

See here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-af-nigeria-child-witches,0,5276725.story

Warning: Some truly gruesome stories.

Comments

[don_fitch]

*sigh* (*moan*, even) Yeah, I'm increasingly not a fan of Organized anything -- despite often wishing that I, and most groups with which I'm associated, were _better_ organized. Basically (IMHO), Organization seems to permit both (or either) greater improvement &/or greater abuse -- and too often it's the latter.

And one of the saddest aspects is that (as I'm told by someone who's trying to master the Hebrew language) the crucial Old Testament word often translated as "witch" actually means "person who poisons wells" -- for which the death penalty might not be inapropriate. My guess is that (to put the best face on it) the children being murdered or abused by Religionists (in Africa & in the U. S., where things like this also happen) have done nothing worse than ask embarrassing questions. And yes, powerless scapegoats are often the target of ruthless & unscrupulous people who want to be Authority Figures (&/or attain Power & Wealth).

[mojave_wolf]

That, if true, makes that one mistranslation responsible for more damage than . . . I know the whole "small things/butterfly/snowball downhill/chaos & complexity theory" stuff . . . but just . . . wow. So much damage done by such a small thing.

From what I recall, a lot of times the kids did nothing at all, and other times all they did was turn down come-ons. Was seriously messed up.

[misanthrope1]

Organized religions suck:(

[mojave_wolf]

Yes they do.

Dunno why they do so much, but something about institutional religious power seems to get abused more than any other.

[mojave_wolf]

to be fair, I'm pretty sure when she met with them she had no idea what was going on. I don't think any major pol in the US, even Huckabee, would ever condone this sort of thing. (and even if they did, no way in hell would they be stupid enough to associate themselves w/it)

But yeah, while I don't think Palin is nearly as bad as some of them, she's still one of them, and all of the religious anti-thinking wing of the Republican party are awful, and this is the sort of thing their adherence to superstition as a means of governing could lead to if left unchecked.

[redcandle17]

Five women were paraded naked, beaten and forced to eat human excrement by villagers after being branded as witches in India's Jharkhand state. I don't know how representative of a particular problem BBC coverage is, but reports of "witches" being killed or beaten in various Third World countries appear at least once a month. Horror aside, it's very interesting re: the factors that cause it and comparison to historical American and European witch trials.

[mojave_wolf]

I think I answered this in e-mail already? If not lemme know.