BBC: Human sacrifice on increase in Uganda

[roo_ster]

As dark as my view of human nature may be, I always come up short predicting just how depraved some will act.

"Remember that Atlantic cover story, Did Christianity Cause the Crash? Well, it looks like you can have the Gospel of Prosperity without the Gospel."


Click the link for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" bonus tie-in.

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2010/01/bbc-human-sacrifice-on-increase-in.html


    Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda

    By Tim Whewell
    BBC News, Uganda

    A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged.

    One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.

    Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.

    The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.



And another article at the link:

Child sacrifice and ritual murders rise in Uganda as famine looms

Uganda has been shocked by a surge in ritualistic murders and human sacrifice, with police struggling to respond and public hysteria mounting at each gruesome discovery.

In 2008 more than 300 cases of murder and disappearances linked to ritual ceremonies were reported to the police with 18 cases making it to the courts. There were also several high-profile arrests of parents and relatives accused of selling children for human sacrifice.

In January this year the Ugandan government appointed a special police taskforce on human sacrifice and announced that 2,000 officers were to receive specialist training in tackling child trafficking with the support of the US government. Since the taskforce was set up there have been 15 more murders linked to human sacrifice with another 200 disappearances, mainly of children and young adults, under investigation.

"This year we have had more occurrences of people attempting to sell their children to witch-doctors as part of ritual ceremonies to guarantee wealth and prosperity," said Moses Binoga, acting commissioner of the anti-human sacrifice and trafficking taskforce.
Both police and NGOs are attributing the surge to a new wave of commercial witch-doctors using mass media to market their services and demand large sums of money to sacrifice humans and animals for people who believe blood will bring great prosperity.

[Viking]

Isn't that just lovely, that they have managed to keep so much of their old wisdom and superior non-Christian culture despite the best attempts by us evil Westerners to put a stop to their ancient traditions and beliefs.

[MicroBalrog]

I have had a person tell me, just a week ago, that I was "racist" for opposing slavery and human sacrifice.

She literally said "who are you to condemn their slavery and human sacrifice".

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

are they eating them themselves?  or just feeding the spirits.  their country  their rules. been that way a long time. i read that amin was known to eat part of his enemies

[41magsnub]

their country  their rules. been that way a long time.

the sacrificees might object to that...

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

oh i'm disgusted   but expect to be about much of what happens in uganda. not expecting them to change much and not gonna waste much effort trying to make em change

[MicroBalrog]

their country  their rules

I am going to assume you're joking.

[Standing Wolf]

Believe an English "news" source? Hmmmmm!

[RevDisk]

Isn't that just lovely, that they have managed to keep so much of their old wisdom and superior non-Christian culture despite the best attempts by us evil Westerners to put a stop to their ancient traditions and beliefs.

Heh, you realize they are most likely Christians?  They just happen to believe in some mostly non-sanctioned stuff as well.  Pretty much the same thing as voodoo.  Bush religion mixed with Christianity.


Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% (Anglican 35.9%, Pentecostal 4.6%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.5%).  Only 3.1% are other (ie, pagan).

[MicroBalrog]

I suspect very much this is probably blown out of proportion. Uganda's government claims that there had been 26 human sacrifices in 2009, and 120 children who had gone missing. It's horrifying no doubt, but in a country which had 7.3 murders per 100,000 people (including every which kind of murder you can mention) it's just part of a national trend of horrible violence. A very minor part.

[It may cheer you up to know Uganda is, statistically, safer than Mexico. Or, to that point, than most of Africa.]

[Tallpine]

My daughter was just over there last fall, working short term at an orphanage 

She wants to go back long term 


And um ... I could draw a parallel between human sacrifice in Uganda and certain practices in the USA 

[Viking]

Heh, you realize they are most likely Christians?  They just happen to believe in some mostly non-sanctioned stuff as well.  Pretty much the same thing as voodoo.  Bush religion mixed with Christianity.


Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% (Anglican 35.9%, Pentecostal 4.6%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.5%).  Only 3.1% are other (ie, pagan).

Yep, and despite that, stuff like this bubbles up to the surface. Then again, they might be in the 3.1% that are "other".

My daughter was just over there last fall, working short term at an orphanage 

She wants to go back long term 


And um ... I could draw a parallel between human sacrifice in Uganda and certain practices in the USA 

What are you thinking about? Lynchings? Witch-burnings?

[RevDisk]

[It may cheer you up to know Uganda is, statistically, safer than Mexico. Or, to that point, than most of Africa.]

No, it does not cheer me up that a neighboring country is less safe than a sub-Saharan African nation.

Sigh...

[Perd Hapley]

their country  their rules

I am going to assume you're joking.

I'm assuming he's trying to say that they are going to run things the way they want to, and we can't expect to do much about it.  Or something like that. 

I've also run into a stupid college girl who said that we can't judge other cultures for doing whatever their moral values tell them to do.  The great irony is that she was African-American.  I kinda wanted to ask her whether she was willing to judge white Southern culture of fifty years or two hundred years ago, but I didn't really get the chance.  I think the rest of the class sort of made her feel silly for what she said.   

[MicroBalrog]

  I kinda wanted to ask her whether she was willing to judge white Southern culture of fifty years or two hundred years ago, but I didn't really get the chance.

I did. It was even appropriate  - we were talking about the US Civil War and the professor brought up an article that described how the British intercepted slave traders - and how later their anti-slavery rhetoric was used to justify colonialism. I asked: "Why do you think it is wrong for the British Navy to impede the sovereignty of African kings who engage in the slave trade, but right for the North to invade and conquer the South?"

I didn't get an answer.

Then I came back with stating her form of cultural relativism was actually more racist than the Colonialists' viewpoint. You should have been there to see it.

[zahc]

What are you thinking about? Lynchings? Witch-burnings?

Anthropologists have long compared western death penalty with human sacrifice. Look at contraptions like the electric chair from the outside and think for a bit. I would consider the drug war to the the western outlet of whatever sociological allergy leads to witch-hunts. I do not apologize for human sacrificers, but we flatter ourselves in insisting that we are fundamentally different, when really we just recognize horrors easier when they come from a different culture and are thus new and unfamiliar.

[Perd Hapley]

Anthropologists have long compared western death penalty with human sacrifice. Look at contraptions like the electric chair from the outside and think for a bit....I would consider the drug war to the the western outlet of whatever sociological allergy leads to witch-hunts. I do not apologize for human sacrificers, but we flatter ourselves in insisting that we are fundamentally different, when really we just recognize horrors easier when they come from a different culture and are thus new and unfamiliar.

Thanks, I needed a laugh.   


I would have thought Tallpine was talking about abortion, but that would just be my guess.  (Hint: You usually want your sacrificial victim to be innocent; not like, ya know, a convicted murderer or anything.)

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Heh, you realize they are most likely Christians?  They just happen to believe in some mostly non-sanctioned stuff as well.  Pretty much the same thing as voodoo.  Bush religion mixed with Christianity.


Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% (Anglican 35.9%, Pentecostal 4.6%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.5%).  Only 3.1% are other (ie, pagan).

If their religion says to kill children, then it ain't Christianity.

[Doggy Daddy]

their country  their rules.

I am going to assume you're joking.

They're not bad, just pro-choice.

DD

[mordechaianiliewicz]

It is their country. It is their rules.... while I would never say we should go over there, or bomb them, or assume some form of "white man's burden" that doesn't make what they are doing right.

So, we can refuse to allow Ugandan animists into the US. And if their government acknowledges this as a crime, we can agree to send child murderers back to Uganda to face trial if they come here, or simply introduce them to an aspect of our culture: hanging.

[MechAg94]

I don't care if it is their rules or not, that doesn't mean I can't freely condemn the practice.  I will not sit there and swallow some BS cultural argument about it being okay. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I don't think anyone here is saying it's ok.

[RevDisk]

I don't care if it is their rules or not, that doesn't mean I can't freely condemn the practice.  I will not sit there and swallow some BS cultural argument about it being okay. 

Obviously, under most circumstances, I am not a fan of human sacrifice. 

Sure, I can and do condemn the practice.  But I really don't see the point of getting worked up about the matter.  It's sub-Saharan Africa.  What do you bloody expect?  I have no intention of going there.  While I respect folks who do try to make it a better place, I think the odds of success are equal to me being declared the King of all Londinium and getting to wear a shiny hat.  Possible.  But quite unlikely.

So long as they stick to doing so over there and don't bring it here, I could really care less.  I'll sternly frown and shake my finger at them, if it makes folks feel morally better about the situation.  But I don't see many volunteers who intend to do something about the matter, so why bother getting worked up about the matter?

[Perd Hapley]

I don't think anyone here is saying it's ok.

I would.  Just so long as it was RevDisk, or MicroBalrog, not somebody important.   

[Dannyboy]

I suspect very much this is probably blown out of proportion. Uganda's government claims that there had been 26 human sacrifices in 2009, and 120 children who had gone missing.

I don't know where these missing children are from but I'd bet that most were kidnapped by the psycho christian cult, gang, militia, army whatever you want to call them in the north.