Saturday, May 23, 2009

Child Witches, Christianity, and The Congo

A couple of nights ago I caught an episode of "Nightline" that horrified me. There is a new movement taking place in the DRC, Africa involving Christians and witches. It sounds ironic, but it isn't. There are "pastors" charging people $50 to cleanse their children of demons. You should know that the average person living in the Congo only makes $100 per year. When a child is "cleansed", they are bitten, have hot wax poured on their bellies, are burned, and the list goes on. The children who can't be saved, are abandoned by their parents. Young girls are especially susceptible to abandonment. I'm not sure why. They are frequently raped while living on the streets, and they have many children who they struggle to feed. Oh, and there was one boy who was so malnourished, because his mother beleived that starvation would remove his demons. Two little boys that were interviewed were so traumatized that they didn't respond when questioned, and they stared off into another worold. So, while these "Christians" are getting rich, tons of children are being abused, tortured, and abandoned on the streets of the DRC. I don't know what to do about this, but it's obvious that something needs to be done to save these kids.

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