Matthew Parris (via Scott Sabin)
Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders. [snip]
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates...
Read the whole thing.
Headline from July 30th:
Anti-witchcraft conference attacked by Christian church in Nigeria
"Helen Ukpabio and her church, the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, have run a campaign of terror against children and those committed to fighting for their rights, of which yesterday's raid was only the latest development. The conference had been organised by the Nigerian Humanist Movement and the UK charity Stepping Stones Nigeria in response to the widespread abandonment, torture and killing of children in Akwa Ibom and Cross River State due to the belief in child "witches". "
The youtube video shows her followers coming in and shouting "in the name of Jesus!"
Definitely something gone terribly wrong here.
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Agree. Though I doubt Parris or the legitimate western missionaries to whom he was referring would go along with the Ukpabio sect's notion of Christianity.
Blessings,
Don