Americans believe many foolish things, and are in no position to urge people in other nations to think sensibly, develop respect for and a basic understanding of science and avoid grotesque forms of superstition. But, we should do it anyway, at least with respect to the beliefs and practices of many tribes that inhabit the continent of Africa. This is so important it should be a focus of our foreign aid offerings.
I believe our president, as he prepares to leave America for a visit to Africa, should address these issues as part of the continuing war on religious extremists who terrorize and destroy. American foreign aid should be used to promote reason as part of assisting the poor in backward nations to become better humans.
Much of reason education could advance common decencies and secular ethics. We should offer substantive alternatives to those who, caught up in centuries of extreme ignorance, engage in and tolerate atrocities occasioned by belief in witchcraft, superstition, and malevolent magic. Such cultural norms continue to block social and economic progress throughout the African continent.
American foreign aid can counter and help dispel these tragic African cultural practices with social as well as economic development assistance. We must teach rational thought, reason, modern science and sound secular experience.
There is a private group already doing this kind of thing, but our national government could do so much more. The Center for Inquiry, an international organization dedicated to education, reason, and secular ethics (based in Amherst, New York), is leading the way to promote this agenda.
The Center has launched a campaign consisting of educational seminars, protest marches, communiqués and meetings with African and other officials, letter-writing movements and aggressive widespread consciousness-raising efforts. Their work deserves support.
One of the Center’s educational workshops is set for Cape Town, South Africa from August 29-30; another is scheduled in Lilongwe, Malawi on September 4-5. Both will highlight humanism as an alternative to witchcraft.
Norm R. Allen Jr., executive director of African Americans for Humanism and the Center for Inquiry/Transnational Programs, is a key figure in these campaigns. He has been quoted as follows in Center literature:
"What African humanists and skeptics are doing is uncompromisingly challenging these harmful ideas and offering a humane and rational alternative, drawing upon humanistic ethics and an appreciation for scientific methods of investigation.
"It is clear that “superstitions—including belief in witchcraft—are based on fear, magical thinking and inadequate education, and are regularly exploited in Africa by unscrupulous individuals in positions of influence. Through the centuries, superstitious beliefs in Africa have been—and continue to be—used to oppress women, abuse children, support racism and xenophobia, justify torture, murder and genocide, and to exploit the poor, the weak and the aged. Those decrying accused ‘witches’ still orchestrate death and destruction of lives and property for the benefit of their own power. These unfounded beliefs are being used as a tool to incite hatred and cause division and conflicts in families and communities across the continent. In Angola, Malawi, Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, those accused of witchcraft have been murdered, tortured or banished by their communities—often by their own families. Left unchallenged, the harmful, dark and destructive effects of superstitious belief have become common and recurrent problems in Africa.”
It was not so long ago that a candidate for Vice-President of the United States was associated with the machinations of a demon-chasing preacher practicing an African form of witchcraft. Hard to believe but true.
The appearance at the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005 of Thomas Muthee from Kiambu, Kenya was marked by prayers for (and over) Palin. Muthee called upon Jesus to propel Palin into political office (governor of Alaska). Muthee also called on Jesus to protect Palin from "the spirit of witchcraft." How ironic. Muthee gained fame with Palin’s religious congregation by claiming to have defeated a local witch in his African region, one “Mama Jane,” in a great spiritual battle, and in the process liberated the town from sin while putting out a welcome mat to the spirit of Jesus.
We should probably divert some of the educational foreign aid designed to fight witchcraft and promote rational thought, reason, modern science and sound secular experience to small towns in Alaska, like Wasilla.
For more on the Center's campaign against witchcraft, superstition and the like, contact Leo Igwe at skepticleo@yahoo.com, skepticleo@yahoo.com or humanistleo@hotmail.com or nallen@centerforinquiry.net.
The Society for Women and AIDS in Africa can also provide assistance. Visit the Center for Inquiry website at http://www.centerforinquiry.net/.
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