In former times people would evoke external powers to explain their world. If the powers appeared to be benevolent and were thought to inhabit a human being, the human being was revered and worshipped. If the powers appeared malevolent and were thought to inhabit a human being, the human being was often executed (after being tortured to confirm guilt). Ask the hundreds of thousands of witches who were killed by the church in the three hundred years between 1450 and 1750.
Witches were held accountable for nearly every problem. Any threat to social uniformity, any questioning of authority, any act of rebellion - anything which challenged the norm and which was not understood was evidence of evil spirits. The most common victims of witchcraft accusations were those women who looked odd - the deformed, the elderly, the poor. There just had to be a supernatural explanation for their difference rather than a more rational one.
I was saddened and shocked to read that although we may have stopped killing witches in the West, people are still being killed because others with power cannot understand their difference and are all too ready to attribute that difference to an imaginary source. The same principle is still at work: if you do not understand, you have to invent the supernatural, and if the invented supernatural can be blamed and therefore be evil, you have to kill it!
There was a tragic case in Illinois last week. Nelly Vasquez-Salazar, 25, is facing a first-degree murder charge after brutally stabbing her daughter. Authorities found the body of Vasquez-Salazar’s 6-year-old daughter, Evelyn Vasquez, early Monday morning in the family’s apartment. The child, who died of multiple stab wounds to her neck and upper chest, according to the coroner, was found on the floor of her bedroom. She had been stabbed 11 times.
Nelly had had conversations with her mother because Evelyn had been sleepwalking and Nelly would wake up and her daughter would be standing by her bed. Evelyn’s mother told Nelly that she thought the daughter was possessed.
Nelly admitted to being fearful of a daughter possessed by the devil and to the fact she had stabbed her daughter multiple times about the body.
In January, authorities in Washington, D.C., discovered the bodies of four children ages 5 to 16 decomposing in a row house. Their mother, Banita Jacks, 33, told police that her daughters were possessed and that they had died in their sleep.
In February, Jan David Clark, 60, was arrested after his wife died during what he described as an “exorcism” inside his Texas home. Clark told authorities that the devil entered her body during the religious ritual and caused the death.
Lawrence Douglas Harris Sr. was charged in January with two counts of first-degree murder after his two stepdaughters were found fatally stabbed and strangled inside a burning house in Sioux City, Iowa. Harris told authorities that the girls died during a religious ritual inside the house.
Clearly holding to beliefs for which there is no good evidence and for which simpler, alternative explanations are available, isn’t always harmless fun!
See also: The Voices
(Source: Religion News)
I had some experience of this as a child although no-one ever tried to kill me (well, my sister was constantly trying to) and I have had an interest in witches ever since. As a child I could see the answers to mathematical questions ie I did not need to calculate, I saw them like others see trees or whatever. I had no idea it was odd. But when those in authority found out about it I was subject to a barrage of tests, most of which were harmless and scientific, but not all. I remember spending an afternoon with some people once who, whilst “possessed” was not a word they use, def seemed to imply their was something supernatural afoot. My mother never took me back to see them again!! But no-one likes anyone who is different and I soon learnt to keep my funny little powers secret.
Stories are always more frightening when you can see how they might easily have happened to oneself. So I found your US stories rather unsettling.
sorry about the typos. I usually proof read before submitting!
Reluctant Blogger
Of course, having a particular unusual talent was another thing that made you liable to being accused of witchcraft. I was reading how midwives were particularly vulnerable. They were known to use herbal cures which were a lot more effective and cheaper than the available alternatives, and yet they got ‘done’ for having these supernatural powers. Difference in any way was a problem, especially if you were a talented woman. It is a good job that with your ‘gift’ you were born when and where you were.
It is a sad fact that many Christian churches still believe that people, especially children, can be possessed by demons or turned into witches, and practise violent exorcisms, even in Britain.
Just in case we are tempted to believe that nice, educated Europeans don’t go in for that sort of thing, may I remind you that the Pope has recently increased the number of priests ready and able to perform exorcisms. The pronouncements of some of the brave demon-busters leave no doubt that these people actually believe in this rubbish. Prime targets for these dangerous idiots are people with mental health problems and, of course, children.
In some communities, exorcists receive respect and prestige and everything that goes with this, including power and money. It is not surprising, then, that some choose this as a way to exploit the ignorant and vulnerable.
SilverTiger
Thanks for your point about the Pope. There is some more information HERE.
I still have to read Strobel’s chapter -The Case for Faith, on violence and oppression in the church and this is one such example, scandulous as it is, as it preys on vulnerable people.
Demon possesion or being acused of it has become more common knowledge in the UK with specific concern about African cultures. Supersition runs rife and terrible things have happened to innocents particulary children.
However, you have illustrated this as one perfect example of the thin line that separates good from evil. This is evil, therefore, there must be good running along side.
We have to draw on our own conclusions as to how good is represented, in what form and whether that argues that God exists or not. I know you will say God does not come into the equation but others would disagree.
We must remember these acts are man made not God ordained.
These stories are so sad. The problem with religions based on superstitions is that there is no universal way for believers to weed out the harmful beliefs from the beneficial ones. Oh, sure, most Christians, Muslims, etc., don’t hold to these sorts of extreme beliefs and behaviors, but, unfortunately, there is no effective way for rational believers to persuade those who hold irrational beliefs like these of the error of their ways. Scriptures are always open to interpretation and interpretations eventually become traditions. These sorts of extreme beliefs never vanish because they thrive right alongside of the more respectable, acceptable beliefs. As Sam Harris notes, the milder beliefs inadvertently provide shelter for the extreme ones.