Tanzania arrests 23 over killing of seven 'witches'

[theHandpuppet]

Religion and superstition -- spreading the joy worldwide!

BBC News- Africa
10 October 2014
Tanzania arrests 23 over killing of seven 'witches'

Tanzanian police have charged 23 people with murder after seven villagers were burned alive on suspicion of witchcraft.

Though the attacks in Murufiti, a village in the western Kigoma region, happened on Monday, reports only surfaced with the arrests.

Five of those killed were aged over 60, the other two were over 40.

A Tanzanian human rights group estimates that 500 suspected witches are killed in Tanzania annually....

MORE at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29572974

[edgineered]

1. Unrec

[theHandpuppet]

2. Score one for me.

[LostOne4Ever]

3. I can't believe stuff like that is still happening in this century (nt)

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Murder most foul.

Killing people for a figment of your imagination.


Vile in the extreme.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. The babble is pretty clear on this subject.

Plus there is plenty of historical precedent for putting these awful creatures to death. How are the good citizens of Tanzania supposed to suffer a witch to live?

[RussBLib]

6. it's all born of ignorance

but there is a load of ignorance running amok in the world today.

There is probably no recognizable religious sect at work here. Just a native belief grown up over centuries? Or did Christianity wash through here over the last century or two and implant the idea of witches?

Superstition exists in all cultures and must be rooted out. I wonder what the official Tanzanian position on witches is, arrests (for murder) notwithstanding?

[theHandpuppet]

7. The persecution of albinos has been going on for a very long time

Some time ago I saw a short news item on the subject and was horrified. The problem is particularly acute in Tanzania because of the unusually high incidence of albino births. The gruesome practice of trading in albino body parts apparently stems from some very old spiritual beliefs that have been fueled to a frenzy by the practitioners known as "witch doctors", who have convinced people that albino flesh has magical powers and they use this flesh to make potions.

Here are a few links that will give you more information than I can provide here:
http://prospectjournal.org/2011/10/11/persecution-of-albinism-in-tanzania/
http://www.academia.edu/7332091/Albinism_Witchcraft_and_Superstition_in_East_Africa
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/albinos-tanzania-hunted-magical-flesh-article-1.1214160
http://www.edgeboston.com/news/international///119443/in_tanzania,_albinos_targeted_because_of_aids_superstition

Of course, though we may look at such practices and condemn them as barbaric (which they are) Christianity has its own version of eating flesh and drinking blood, at least symbolically, in the practice of Communion.