We have been following the killing of people in Africa – from children accused of witchcraft to albinos for magical potions — due to traditional African medicines and beliefs. Now, the BBC has documented how human sacrifice is on the rise in Uganda. To its credit, the government has admitted that human sacrifice is on the rise and has taken steps to crackdown on the practice.
In one case, a man admitted to killing at least 70 people for their body parts, including his own son.
What is fascinating is that the government believes that this is the result not of poverty but prosperity. When people see neighbors prospering, they assume it is due to witchcraft and turn to human sacrifice to gain an edge.
It is a chilling account and a magnificent story by the BBC.
For the full story, click here.
BIL,
Heck, half the book is a story leading up to human sacrifice, but I figured I’d go for the more classical story. Personally I like the version with the sea serpent better.
Gyges,
lol Legos always seem to soften the blow though!
Uganda isn’t the only place this happens, Huffpo has a story about a case in Pakistan today:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/11/couple-kills-baby-in-blac_n_418688.html
(AP) KARACHI, Pakistan – Pakistani police have arrested a couple on charges of stabbing their 3-month-old baby to death in a black magic ritual they believed would get them rich.
BIL,
Human Sacrifice? That’s child’s play:
http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/jephthah_kills_his_virgin_daughter/jg11_34.html
Human sacrifice is probably at least 50,000 years old. first to assure a good hunt and then to assure good crops. See Frazier’s “Golden Bough,” still a great book after all these years. This illustrates though why any fundamentalist religious beliefs must be seen a an infection of society that must be combatted. The world today is changing at such a rapid pace that it is overwhelming many people. Their response is to return to “that old-time religion” of a simpler time as a way of trying to avoid the tension of adjusting to the evolution of information all around them. THese people who find change so frightening are scary because they will strike out at those who cause change and re-adopt simpler, deqadlier beliefs. That’s why in psychology the paranoid schizophrenic is the most dangerous of patients.
Parts is Parts, the Body snatcher cometh to a town near you. The problem is they just don’t do it in hospitals where it is legal….
Come on, Rick Warren! Tell us all how this is what Jesus wants for Uganda and all of humanity in addition to killing homosexuals for sport! Come on, Ricky “God Needs A Million” Warren. I. Dare. You.
You can rationalize any other cruelty in Jesus’ name. Let’s see you tackle human sacrifice, Money Man.