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Can anyone help with a vaccination for religion?
Magwang
Veteran
Seriously, is there a shot or someting we could give to these people?
Churches denounce African children as "witches"
Churches denounce African children as "witches"
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Comments
It's very common that they say ill people are possessed by devils. It's so weird they mix Christianity with all sorts of other beliefs.
It happens in areas with very poor people with very poor education. They also break statues of other religions and exploit the people a lot. Ministers here are very rich sometimes - the top ones only (as in owning luxury boats and living in mansions). They get barely no training and the churches work like a company: they start with a small congregation, earning a percentage of the profits the community produces, so the more people they convert to their religion, the more cash they get, and they do that very aggressively.
I actually have a cousin who wasn't the religious type (he was the type to pick street fights) but was unemployed and after his "sex hotel" idea failed he 'converted' to one of such churches, became a minister, and now he is driving a very nice car and living a good life.
You certainly don't have to answer this question if you don't want to but I was wondering: Where are you living? What country or part of the world? I'm only asking out of curiosity because your post was very interesting to me and I just wanted to know what part of the world you were talking about.
In the case of the slapping ministers it mostly happens in Universal Church (which is all over the country and I think even abroad), they also own a TV station (one of the biggest here, if not the second biggest), although the programation is rather ordinary nowadays, there is no mention to the name of the church but the guy that created Universal owns 90% of it (his wife has 10%).
Here is an exemple of what happens (this is shown in TV). The minister even asks the devil how he got inside the woman and he blames the maid LOL. He (the so called devil, who is in the woman screaming) says the maid did witchcraft in the cemetery in order to end the marriage of the possessed lady and her husband.
When then minister starts screaming he is saying "Burn! Burn in the name of Jesus!" In the end he says "The curse is broken...the curse is broken! In the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost!". Here he doesnt slap her around though, not as fun :-\ (joking :P)
I watched the video and I can certainly see what you mean. It just looked like a lot of play acting to me, I'm afraid. Not that I don't think their religion is valid or anything. It's just hard to take seriously in this day and age. (Won't I look like the ignorant fool if this 'minister' is one day proven to be the real thing.
Yes, many people think its just acting, although they still have a lot of followers. I wonder if one can get a job as a devil in that church. Considering how much ministers get, it must pay well. I'd even do a little devil dance and taunt the audience
There are a lot of curious beliefs here, sometimes its funny. Just another example is that in one city near where I live (well not so near but in the same State), they go in the woods and chop down a big tree every year for some religious ritual that has to do with a catholic saint (forgot which one but I think its Saint Anthony) and the men carry the log as in a procession until they get to the main church in town, where it becomes a flagpole for a flag of saint Anthony, and it is said that the woman who is unmarried touches it their wish to get married will come true, some women even ask to be rubbed against such a log, and people also sell parts of it after the whole deal is over.
Oddly, even though its a 'religious' holiday the log is closely followed by a cart full of an alcoholic beverage common here in Brasil (cachaça) and they have quite a big party. I bet the pope would drop dead if he saw what people do here ehehehehe
In poor, uneducated, but stable societies, this sort of thing doesn't happen as much. Nigeria and Brazil are both experiencing rapid change. At this point, I guess the whole world is. Wealth can help cushion the jolt from change, and education can provide alternatives to belief in malevolent forces, but it doesn't necessarily work that way.
Ceara
I did say "education", not brainwashing or indoctrination. LOL
Palzang
Whilst I know that this is the popular view, Palzang, about those countries that have universal, compulsory education but, even if were true, who would be to blame? Nobody, I maintain, but ourselves and our generation - and, I assert, that of the generation which passed their attitudes on to us.
In those countries where schooling is hard to get, it is seen as important; where it is a 'right', it appears to be discounted. Perhaps there is something to learn from this.
It is also clear that good education appears to be carried out within communities which value and respect education and educators.
Palzang
http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.com/2010/05/facts-in-case-of-dr-andrew-wakefield.html
I would have bet money he lived near where I live in Virginia. We have people very near here who handle snakes (serpents) as part of their "Christian" religious observance, and who "beat the devil" out of the "possessed". It happens everywhere, so it seems.
Mtns
My wife works in the autism field for a large and respected institution. There was much skepticism about the vaccine link from the beginning, but every parent of an autistic child was concerned, and many were guilt ridden over what they had "done" to there child by choosing to have them vaccinated