Showing posts with label witchcraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witchcraft. Show all posts

19 Feb 2016

American evangelists export biblical literalism to Africa triggering murderous homophobia and child sacrifice



AlterNet - May 10, 2011

How American Evangelism Triggered the Murder of Gays Overseas

By Valerie Tarico, Away Point



Christian extremists in Uganda’s parliament are hoping that hunger and high gas prices will provide the cover they need to finally subject gay men to punishment of biblical proportions. They have introduced a bill, up for vote on May 11, that seeks life imprisonment for gay sex and, for repeat offenders, the death penalty. Last year, similar legislation was averted by international outrage. President Museveni was afraid of losing valuable aid dollars, and after outcry arose across the West, with Barack Obama calling the law “odious,” Museveni prevented the bill from coming to a vote.

Stopping the bill was insufficient to save the life of one Ugandan, David Kato, who was beaten to death with a hammer in January. Kato was Uganda’s most outspoken gay rights advocate and had received many death threats before he was killed.

In the winter months before his death, one newspaper ran a front page photo of Kato with an anti-gay rant and a banner urging “Hang them.” Last spring I traveled in Mozambique, where a full-page article in a local paper interspersed Bible verses, exhortations to spiritual living, and similar anti-gay vitriol. Although leading fundamentalists like Albert Mohler appear increasingly resigned to “tolerance” here at home, across Africa the marriage of Christianity and homophobia appears to be thriving—thanks in part to an American tendency to take our outdated wares and social movements overseas.

Two years ago, I wrote an article that asked, “If the Bible Were Law, Would You Qualify for the Death Penalty?” It described some of the thirty six causes for capital punishment listed in the Good Book, including cursing parents, witchcraft, being raped (only within the city limits), adultery, and of course, homosexual sex. Mercifully, even the most old school American Christians seem to ignore the Bible on these points. But one of the unfortunate consequences of Americans exporting biblical literalism to developing countries is that people in those countries take the Bible literally – including the parts we all, missionaries included, wish they wouldn’t. In Nigeria, American Pentecostalism has fused with local animism and resulted in children being beaten and burned as witches, just like the Bible prescribes.

In Uganda, American evangelism may be similarly responsible for Kato’s death and the proposed law. In March 2009, frustrated by their inability to block the gradual inclusion of gays in the universal human rights umbrella at home, Evangelical leaders traveled to Uganda and led incendiary workshops seeking to increase Ugandan fear that gay men are a threat to straight marriages and children. It would appear that Uganda’s already fractured and restive society is reaping what the American missionaries have sown: further contention and violence.

“I don’t want anyone killed,” said Mr. Schmierer, one of the Evangelical leaders who traveled to Uganda two years ago. “But I don’t feel I had anything to do with that [Kato’s death].” Many evangelicals, those who see the Bible as literally perfect, find it almost impossible to imagine that the Bible itself could be responsible for inciting violence or that those who preach biblical inerrancy could be complicit in that violence. And yet other Christians, those who see the Bible as the imperfect record of the imperfect struggle of our spiritual ancestors, find this causal chain quite plausible. According to theologian Thom Stark (The Human Faces of God), the biblical record attributes divine sanction in places to some of the worst of Iron Age impulses, including human sacrifice. Unless we understand those writings in their human context we are bound to glorify passages that instead should teach us about the darkness in the human spirit. And glorifying human darkness puts us at risk of enacting it.

It is troubling that of the many offerings that might have been carried to Africa by American Christians in the service of the Great Commandment, what has been carried instead are seeds of homophobia that produce fear, hatred, and death. It will take many voices raised together to reverse the damage done. I hope those voices will be raised this week (petition here) and again next year, and for as many years as are needed until Uganda’s gay community can live in love and peace.


Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light. Founder of WisdomCommons.org.

This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 16:04
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12 Jun 2011

Nigerian police rescue 32 pregnant teens locked up and forced to produce babies for witchcraft rituals



BBC News  -  June 1, 2011

Nigeria 'baby farm' girls rescued by Abia state police



Nigerian police have raided a hospital in the south-eastern city of Aba, rescuing 32 pregnant girls allegedly held by a human-trafficking ring.

Aged between 15 and 17 years, the girls were locked up and used to produce babies, said Abia state's police chief.

These were then allegedly sold for ritual witchcraft purposes or adoption.

But the hospital's owner denied running a "baby farm", saying it was a foundation to help teenagers with unwanted pregnancies.

The UN organisation for the welfare of children, Unicef, estimates that at least 10 children are sold daily across Nigeria, where human-trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug-trafficking.

But the BBC's Fidelis Mbah in the southern city of Port Harcourt says it is very rare for traffickers to be caught and prosecuted.Male babies prized

Abia state Police Commissioner Bala Hassan said four babies, already sold in an alleged human-trafficking deal but not yet collected, were also recovered in the raid on The Cross Foundation hospital.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip), the organisation charged with fighting human-trafficking in Nigeria, says their investigations show that babies are sold for up to $6,400 (£3,900) each, depending on the sex of the baby.

Male babies are more prized, our correspondent says.

In some parts of the country, babies killed as part of witchcraft rituals are believed to make the charms more powerful, he says.

Human traffickers also put the children up for illegal adoption.

Poor, unmarried women face tough choices if they get pregnant in Nigeria, often facing exclusion from society, correspondents say.

Natip says desperate teenagers with unplanned pregnancies are sometimes lured to clinics and then forced to turn over their babies.

Some of the girls rescued in Aba told the police that after their new-born babies were sold, they were given $170 by the hospital owner.

The police said the proprietor of The Cross Foundation, Dr Hyacinth Orikara, is likely to face charges of child abuse and human trafficking.

Our correspondent says the buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.

The police carried out similar raids on such clinics in neighbouring Enugu state in 2008.

Three years ago, a Nigerian woman was jailed in the UK for trying to smuggle a baby into the country in order to get on the list for a council flat.

This article was found at:



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AlterNet - June 10, 2011

Teens Locked Up and Forced to Give Birth to Kids Sold into Slavery -- How Can This Happen, and What Can We Do About It?

By Jessica Mack, AlterNet


Last week, BBC broke the story of what has been dubbed a “baby farm” in southern Nigeria. Nigerian police raided the grounds, “rescuing” more than 30 poor teenagers who had reportedly been locked up and forced to bring their unwanted pregnancies to term, only to relinquish their babies to human traffickers or purveyors of body parts for witchcraft. It’s the stuff of a horror film, and, oddly enough, it is.

Except this is really happening, to real women, in real time. BBC first reported a “baby farm”raid in a nearby Nigerian city back in 2008. Clearly, there is something very wrong here – both in what’s happening to these women in Nigeria, but also in the way that these issues are being conveyed in the global media.

Human trafficking remains an outstanding problem in Nigeria, despite earning the US State Department’s “stamp of approval” on its anti-trafficking efforts. Since 2009, the annualTrafficking in Persons Report has ranked Nigeria as a Tier 1 country, signifying the government’s full compliance with the US’s Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Though “compliance” doesn’t necessarily mean effective prevention of or protection from trafficking. With this “baby farm” situation, we see the tenuous value that such rankings have for reality on the ground. While the Nigerian government has stepped up its anti-trafficking efforts in recent years, increasing prison sentences and fines still won’t address precipitating factors.

To start, women in Nigeria, and especially young women, are undervalued. There is a dearth of ready access to affordable and high quality reproductive health care services, and moreover social and cultural taboos about accessing such services. Early marriage and early pregnancy remain common, and you can guess that maternal mortality is also quite high. Abortion is restricted almost entirely, and highly stigmatized beyond that.

BBC writes, “Desperate teenagers with unplanned pregnancies are sometimes lured to clinics and then forced to turn over their babies.” Horrible, and it gets worse. Desperate teenagers with unwanted pregnancies also seek fatal care from quack abortion providers. Women regularly play Russian roulette with concoctions (bleach and ground glass) and gruesome instruments (knitting needles) just to preserve some semblance of reproductive choice.

The operative issue here is “desperate teenagers with unwanted pregnancies.” Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, no small claim, and almost 45% of the population is under the age of 15. This is not some measly minority; young people comprise the mitochondria of the nation and are the future of this emerging country. Yet their health and rights needs are so often cast aside.

In a 2009 report, the Guttmacher Institute maintained that national policies to protect the reproductive health and rights of young people have not been sufficiently implemented or enacted. Why hasn’t there been more done to address the unique health and rights needs of this set?

Perhaps it’s a little like national anti-trafficking efforts: there on paper, mysteriously absent or positively ineffective on the ground. This vast divide between vision and reality is what local and global advocates should push the government to reconcile. The recent presidential election, for example, might have been an opportune time to raise these neglected issues. Sure there’s a lot else going on, but there always is. The sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people are chronically marginalized, so perhaps it’s time to force the issue.

There are amazing national and international reproductive health advocates and providers doing work to counteract the heaps of risks and vulnerabilities which too often complicate women’s lives in Nigeria, but the battle is uphill. It is past due that the government put some muscle behind this. The US should hold more accountability, too, than simply superficial compliance on trafficking. They should urge the Nigerian government to examine the intersection of healthcare system failures and trafficking vulnerabilities.

These might have been salient points for the BBC to touch upon in its coverage of this issue, especially since four years after they first reported on baby farms, here we are with no discernible change. Alas.

Given rightful sensitivities about how Africa and Africans are portrayed by almost everyone else in the world and/or especially the global media, the BBC needs to check the caliber of their coverage. For starters, the 2011 article on “baby farms,” includes at least one typo, and a sentence cribbed verbatim from the 2008 piece. It’s not clear where or when the awful phrase “baby farm” was coined, but I must say that’s macabre marketing genius right there. BBC’s use of the term in its title is sensationalistic – link baiting even – and distracts from the complexity and gravity of the issue.

Human trafficking, human rights abuses, false imprisonment, reproductive choice, I mean there’s a lot to take in here. This is a highly disturbing scenario, but only further perverted by the use of this phrase. While there are human rights and human lives at stake here, the term caricatures a complex set of issues, and objectifies those involved – the babies, the young women, and even Nigeria itself.

For some readers perusing this eye-catching article (also covered in the New York Daily News, natch), this may be their first introduction to social justice or health issues in Nigeria. Let’s see what they’ll get: baby farm, witchcraft, desperate, poverty, corruption, crime, and savagery. The article “otherizes” these issues, painting Nigeria as a horrid place where such a ghastly things occur.

Yet, this notion of using pregnancy as a fulcrum for manipulating women is not so “other,” not so savage and foreign after all. It happens all over the world, and it happens right here in the US. For instance, increased discussion and examination of crisis pregnancy centers is revealing just how manipulative and coercive their tactics can be. Who do they often target? Poor, desperate young women with unwanted pregnancies. In addition, one could argue that, in fact, no one is more immersed in finding ways to manipulate women via reproductive rights than the US Congress.

BBC states the obvious: “poor, unmarried women face tough choices if they get pregnant in Nigeria.” Um, yes. I think we can safely substitute any country in the world in that sentence and it would read just as true. In fact, we can say that young women face tremendous reproductive health challenges all over the world. Now that we know this, what are we going to do about it?


This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 14:19
45 comments Labels: , , , , , , , ,

16 May 2011

Ritual abuse of children accused of witchcraft in UK mostly unreported, authorities only alerted in extreme cases



The Daily Mail  -  UK   May 14, 2011

Hundreds of children being accused of witchcraft 'as belief in demonic possession spreads across the UK'

By ROB COOPER



Hundreds of witchcraft abuse cases are going unreported across the country each year, it has been revealed.

Officials believe child protection officers are only tipped off in the most extreme cases when a child's life has been put in danger.

Just 38 cases have been reported in the last five years - and it is feared that they represent just the tip of the iceberg.

Hundreds of children may be left to starve, beaten and having chili rubbed into their eyes.

Youngsters born with physical and mental difficulties are most at risk from abuse.

Relatives often believe that the children are 'possessed' and the torture is carried out as a form of exorcism.

Extreme evangelical Christian churches - most prevalent in the Democratic Republic of Congo - have grown significantly in recent years and their influence is thought to have spread to groups in the UK.

A decade ago the death of Victoria Climbie suffered appalling injuries at the hands of her aunt and boyfriend who believed she was possessed by the devil, sparking huge public anger.

The eight-year-old had 128 injuries on her body in a case described by a pathologist as one of the worst ever child abuse cases.

She tied up, hit with bike chains and attacked with lighted cigarettes.

As officials try to combat the extreme beliefs, social services have been issued with a new set of guidelines to help them deal with youngsters from religious and ethnic minority backgrounds who could suffer abuse, The Times revealed.

The Metropolitan Police are working on their scheme to deal with religious-based child abuse to place extra emphasis on dealing with tackling witchcraft and abuse.

Witchcraft is most often found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and surrounding countries.

Romain Matondo, who works at the safeguarding children programme at the Congolese Family Centre, north London, said often it is not biological parents who are the abusers.

He told The Times: 'At first maybe it is swearing and shouting at the child, what we would call emotional abuse.

'But if there is church involvement, it sometimes means it doesn't stop there, but becomes physical and very violent as the church tries to get rid of the evil spirit.'

He added that children can be slapped, starved or beaten with spoons all to get the spirit out.

A report yesterday revealed that it is the poorest children that are most at risk of beind told they are 'possessed' because relatives are more likely to be influenced by faith leaders.


This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 12:54
13 comments Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

16 Mar 2011

Five Wales Satanists guilty of extreme ritual abuse and rape of children, survivor tells of childhood horrors



Wales Online  -   March 9, 2011

Five found guilty in sex cult trial

By Robin Turner, WalesOnline


L-R: Colin Batley, Jackie Marling, Elaine Batley and Shelly Millar
L-R: Colin Batley, Jackie Marling, Elaine Batley and Shelly Millar











The jury in the trial of five people accused of using a black magic influenced cult to sexually abuse children and young adults in Carmarthenshire has found five defendents guilty of 39 serious sex offences.
At Swansea Crown Court, alleged cult leader Colin Batley, 48, was found guilty of 27 offences - including rape, buggery, indecency wih children and causing prostitution.

His wife, Elaine Batley, 47, was convicted of 5 offences, incuding indececy with a child and indecent assault.

Shelly Millar, 35, was convicted of two counts of indecency with children.

Jackie Marling, Batley's lover, was convicted of five offences - including aiding and abeiting rape and indecency with a child.

Peter Murphy QC, prosecuting, has alleged the four established their own religion - which preached free sex and was influenced by notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley.

The prosecution case is that the sex was established in members' homes in the tranquil Cararthenshire town of Kidwelly and children and young adults brought there were abused.

Below: The house where the sex ring was believed to have operated from


But alleged cult member Sandra Iveson, 45, was cleared of a single charge of indecency with a child.

Vincent Barden, 70, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, who was not a cult member, was also cleared of a single charge of rape.

Batley was jointly charged with Barden in connection with the rape and was also cleared of it.

But Barden had already admitted two counts of sexual assault on an under-age girl.

Both he, Batley and the other cult members will all be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Friday.

The jury today delivered guilty verdicts for almost every offence that the group faced.

In Batley’s case it included 11 separate rapes, three indecent assaults, causing prostitution for personal gain, causing a child to have sex and inciting a child to have sex.

The jury also found him guilty of six counts of buggery and four counts of possessing indecent images of a child.

Judge Paul Thomas warned the group they all faced “lengthy jail terms”.

As the convicted women were led away to the court’s custody unit an argument erupted with several of them shouting and shrieking at one another.

The jury’s verdict regarding all offences was reached today after four full days of deliberations and two half days.

During the trial, Batley was accused of using the cult as an excuse for its sexual depravity.

The jury heard that he first moved to Kidwelly from London and was followed successively by Marling and Millar and their partners, neither of whom figured in the trial.

Cult members would dress in hooded robes during occult rituals which usually took place before group sex.

A number of houses in the same cul-de-sac were used for the regular cult sex sessions.

Batley would read from the occult bible, The Book Of The Law, written more than a century ago by arch-Satanist Aleister Crowley.

He would also order cult members to have sex together and ensure that other members were present to film it.

The recorded material mentioned during the trial is believed to have been destroyed before his arrest.

Batley was apparently tipped off by friends in London about the impending raid on his home two days before his arrest.

But the evidence against him and other cult proved overwhelming during the trial.

Marling was found guilty of aiding and abetting rape, causing prostitution for gain, and inciting a child to engage in sex.

She was also convicted of three separate counts of indecency with a child.

By the time of his arrest Batley and his wife had separated and Marling had moved in with him.

Elaine Batley was today found guilty of three counts of indecency with a child and one of sexual activity with a child.

Shelly Millar was found guilty of indecency with a child and inciting a child to engage in sex.

Batley was said to have used the cult as a form of brainwashing to justify abuse to his victims.

One schoolboy, now an adult, told the trial Batley had repeatedly abused him as a child when he had access to him.

A schoolgirl, also now an adult, said she was forced into joining the cult through fear for her life.

Batley told her a cult assassin would kill her if she did not take part in an elaborate initiation ceremony.

It started with a 10 minute lecture on the occult by him but concluded with sex.

The schoolgirl was later ordered to Batley’s home on regular occasions when she would have to give him sex.

She was also taken to Satanic sex parties where she would be passed round to have sex with strangers.

“I did it because I was told to by Colin,” she sobbed while giving evidence against Batley via videolink during the trial.

The perverted events described in court took place over several decades in both Kidwelly and addresses in London.

Batley was arrested at his home in Kidwelly last summer where the cult itself was created and flourished under the unsuspecting noses of locals.

As the leader of the cult, Batley’s dedication to Satanist material and Egyptian icons was well documented.

He bred rottweiler dogs from his home for cash, but kept two for personal safety which were named after ancient Egyptian royalty. He also bred cats which were given occult names.

Several of his victims were made to wear upside down crosses, and every home appears to have had at least one laminated copy of The Book of the Law.

Batley and the other convicted cult members will be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Friday.
This article was found at:


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Wales Online  -  March 13, 2011

Kidwelly sex cult victim breaks silence to tell of childhood horrors

by Robin Turner, Wales On Sunday


A victim of twisted Colin Batley told Wales on Sunday of her anguish as the black magic sex cult leader forced her to put on a satanic symbol and raped her as a teenager.

The woman, who is now a mum in her thirties, spoke out after her 48-year-old tormentor was jailed for a minimum of 11 years at Swansea Crown Court and warned he may never see freedom.

She spoke on condition of anonymity and revealed the hell she suffered at the hands of a man who was convicted of 11 rapes and numerous child sex crimes over some 20 years living in the West Wales town of Kidwelly.

The jury was told about the cult’s fixation with Egyptology and the works of occult writer Aleister Crowley – and their obsession with wife swapping and sex with younger girls and boys.

The woman, who was one of the victims who gave evidence against Batley in court, said that he had everyone in the cult under his spell.

She said: “He (Colin) was the boss. He barked orders at everybody including me.

“People just did what they were told. He had Rottweilers that were scared of him but vicious to everyone else.

“At 15 I had to have sex with Colin. He said it was an initiation into the occult.

“He said he did not want to do it but it had to be done. He said if I did not follow orders I would be killed. People ‘higher up’ in the cult would do it, he said.”

Ex-Tesco security guard Batley was the self-styled “lord” of the bizarre sect which operated for years in the quiet cul-de-sac of Clos Yr Onnen in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire.

Members filled their Gwalia Housing Association homes with ancient Egyptian idolatry, held ceremonies in robes and hoods and forced a number of children and vulnerable adults into depraved sex acts.

The victim said she was massively relieved by the guilty verdict and hoped he would never enjoy freedom again.

“A hundred years would not be enough for Colin Batley,” she said.

“But at least now myself and the other victims can start to rebuild our lives outside of the shadow of that contemptible man.”

She also spoke of a ceremony she witnessed in Kidwelly involving an altar on which salted bread, oil and a goblet of wine was placed.

Cult members dressed in white robes held readings of occult texts and later sex took place between the members who disrobed, or in their words, “became sky clad”.

The woman, who gave evidence in court via a CCTV system so she did not have to face Batley, added she “did not hate Wales” despite what had happened.

She was originally from London but was brought to Wales by Batley where she was abused and “passed round” to other cult members who had sex with her.

She said: “He said the occult was strong in Wales.”

She said she did not know if there were many more victims of Batley who had not yet come forward, but urged them to speak out if they could.

“Whether there are any more victims in this case, I don’t know, but for the length of time that the abuse went on, it’s highly possible,” she said.

“I hope to encourage anybody who is a victim to come forward, not just in Colin’s case.

“If anybody is going through something similar, we hope they will have the courage to come forward and speak to the police.”

Her husband, who is helping her get over the trauma of her years of abuse said: “We hope to come back to Wales in better times.”

The shadowy cult built up by Batley came crashing down when three victims approached Dyfed-Powys Police with their complaints.

The judge, who presided over the sensational five-week case, commended all the witnesses for their bravery in speaking out.

After they spoke out, the depravity that had been happening behind closed doors at Clos yr Onnen for almost two decades was finally exposed.

Colin Batley was revealed as a monster who forced a number of women into prostitution and made them pay him 25% of their earnings.

He owned two Rottweiler dogs, Toots (after Tutankhamen) and another named Sekhet after the Egyptian lion god.

He would read from Aleister Crowley’s works including The Book of the Law, Equinox of the Gods and The Book of Magick.

On Friday, Batley was given an indeterminate sentence on public protection grounds but will have to serve at least 11 years before he can apply for parole.

Even then he may “never be released” said Judge Thomas because he will have to prove he is no longer a risk to the public.

Judge Thomas said it was a “mystery” how jobless, scruffy Batley, who has several missing teeth, managed to control his women followers, who the judge termed “not unintelligent”.

The judge dismissed The Book of the Law as “a ludicrous document” but accepted that cult members were obsessed with it.

All the women in the cult had identical Eye of Horus tattoos.

Marling even had an “altar” comprising of Egyptian cat goddess statues, a painting of the mask of Tutenkhamun and another painting of the god Horus.

Batley’s wife Elaine, 47, also had a tattoo of Tutankhamen’s face on her arm, a pentagram on her leg and an entire Egyptian script on her back.

According to one of the victims in the case, Batley’s wife was treated “like a slave” but the judge said she became a willing participant in her husband’s “wickedness”.

The jury heard how a young boy was tricked into having sex with her and she was jailed for eight years for indecency with children.

Batley’s long-term lover Jackie Marling, 42, as well as being “besotted” with him, was also obsessed with The Book of the Law, said Judge Thomas, who described her as his “second in command”.

She wept as she was sentenced to 12 years in jail for offences including aiding and abetting rape.

Tears also streamed down the face of bespectacled Shelly Millar, 35, who was said by the judge to have been behind “the prostitution” side of the operation.

Millar, who listed Batley on her mobile phone as “My Lord” was found guilty of indecency with children including a 12-year-old boy and was also described during the case as Colin Batley’s “sex slave”.

The court heard she earned £2,000 a month as a prostitute in Swansea and gave 25% of her earnings to Batley.

Judge Thomas told the defendants they were evil.

“When this case was opened to the jury you Colin Batley were described as evil,” he said.

“That in my view is an accurate statement of your character.

“You set yourself up as the ruler of a sick little kingdom surrounded by three women who danced as your willing attendants regarding you as their master.”

Listen to Chief Inspector Richard Lewis of Dyfed-Powys Police statement to the press following the guilty verdicts against Colin Batley in the west Wales sex cult case.







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Articles and reports on Ritual Satanic Abuse by Professor Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, University of Alberta: 

Diabolic Debates: A Reply to David Frankfurter and J. S. La Fontaine," Religion 24 (1994): 135-188. 

"Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse" Part One: "Possible Judeo-Christian Influences." Religion 23 no.3 (July, 1993): 229-241.

"Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse" Part Two: "Possible Mormon, Magic, and Pagan Influences." Religion 23 no.4 (October, 1993): 355-367. 

Expert Report by Stephen A. Kent

October 20, 1997 ASSESSMENT OF THE SATANIC ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN THE [name deleted] CASE Stephen A. Kent (Ph.D.) Professor Department of Sociology University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4 

***************
An Analysis of Ritualistic and Religion-Related Child Abuse Allegation 
BetteL. Bottoms, Phillip R. Shaver and Gail S. Goodman, Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 20, No.1, (Feb. 1996) pp. 1-34 



German woman born into Satanic cult says she endured years of torture and rape


Anglican bishop claims devil worship widespread in boarding schools in mostly Christian Kenya


Russia bans Satanic sect that indoctrinated and abused secondary school students


Prosecutors say man killed 8- and 10-year-old stepdaughters as part of a spell or ritual from "TheSatanic Bible."

Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:12
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2 Mar 2011

Catholic Church downplays talk of the devil in public but maintains international network of exorcists



The Independent - UK      February 24, 2011

The Devil’s own work: Why do priests still perform exorcisms?

Exorcism is a Hollywood favourite, the latest being 'The Rite'. The Catholic Church continues with the ritual, but will only talk about it behind closed doors. What are they afraid of, asks Peter Stanford


Of the approximately 70,000 exorcisms he has carried out, Father Gabriele Amorth estimates that fewer than 100 have been cases of genuine demonic possession.

The chief exorcist of the diocese of Rome quotes this second figure as if to comfort me, but to a modern Catholic, convinced that the Devil is just a face the church has traditionally put to the otherwise intangible presence of evil in the world, 100 sounds like an awful lot of encounters with someone I don't believe exists.

I am momentarily struck dumb as we sit on either side of a table in Father Gabriele's bare-walled office, situated in an anonymous church building on the outskirts of Rome. A large crucifix lies between us, resting on a purple cushion. I want to ask if he is absolutely sure he wasn't mistaken in those 100 cases, but everything about the manner of this burly, pugnacious priest, in his mid-80s and with a deeply-lined bulldog face, makes plain he means every single word.

"It is vital," he continues, "to distinguish two causes [for apparent demonic possession]: for most people it is an illness of the psyche that can be cured by psychiatry." We are getting back onto more familiar, shared ground. Instead of splashing those who come here to seek his help with holy water and reading the rite of exorcism, as was the standard practice of the medieval church, he appears to be accepting the need for referral to a suitably qualified doctor, much more in keeping with modern, mainstream Christianity.

"But," says Father Gabriele, "there are the others, the small number of real possessions. Often they were outwardly normal people, going about their lives in a normal way." And when he exorcises them, what exactly happens? "I have had people vomit up nails during an exorcism," he replies matter-of-factly, "others pieces of glass, others pieces of radio equipment."

Radio equipment? It sounds almost comical, but he is not smiling. At no point during our 30 minutes together does he come anywhere near a smile. And neither, do I. "The Devil works through the media," he explains, looking me straight in the eye, knowing full well I am a journalist.

This chilling encounter with Father Gabriele came back vividly as I watched The Rite, Hollywood's latest follow-up to The Exorcist, the iconic 1973 horror film that remains fixed in the memory of anyone brave enough to watch it all the way through. The Rite explores similar territory as it follows a young, thoroughly modern American priest, Father Michael Kovak, (Colin O'Donoghue) who is sent to Rome by his bishop, against his wishes, to attend a training course for exorcists being run in the headquarters of Catholicism.

Deeply sceptical about what he sees as the outdated mumbo-jumbo that is demonology, Father Michael proves so disruptive on the course that he is referred by his tutor (Ciarán Hinds) to the eminence noire of Rome exorcists, Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins). "Do you believe in sin?" Father Lucas barks at his visitor. It instantly put me in mind of Father Gabriele. "I do, but I don't believe the Devil makes us do it," Father Michael replies with the sort of courage I lacked in my brush with an old-style exorcist in Rome.

The younger cleric initially sticks to his sane, rational, 21st century guns over the nonexistence of the Devil. "She doesn't need a priest," he tells Father Lucas of one of his tortured charges, her belly swelling, her eyes rolling and her fiendish screams intensifying, "she needs a shrink". Yet by the end of this horror-thriller, Father Michael is as ready to brandish his crucifix as a weapon against Satan as Father Lucas.

Despite its primary vocation to terrify cinema-goers, The Rite cannot lightly be dismissed as a piece of shameless exaggeration and sensationalism because it does manage to get much of the incidental detail right. Such as being set in Rome. It was the only place – when I was researching a book on the Devil – where church exorcists are open about their work. According to recently reiterated papal rules, every single one of the 3,000 dioceses of the Catholic Church around the world must have, among the ranks of its priests, a trained exorcist, but their identity is cloaked in secrecy. When I asked to interview one anywhere in Britain, I was told I would have to demonstrate prima facie evidence of possession first. Which, however thorough my research, would have been stretching it a bit. That is when I discovered that in Rome, the rules are rather different and ended up face-to-face with Father Gabriele.

The Rite is based on the experiences of Father Gary Thomas from Saratoga, California, a parish priest in suburban Silicon Valley who was dispatched to Rome in 2005 by his bishop for training so he could fill the vacancy for a diocesan exorcist. He arrived deeply distrustful of talk of the Devil, and like Father Michael in the film, was sent off to meet an old hand. In interviews, he hasn't named the senior exorcist in question, and any passing similarity with Father Gabriele has to be tempered by the Hopkins character being portrayed as having his own doubts about the reality of the Devil, not a position my interviewee had ever adopted. Indeed last year he made headlines when he produced a memoir claiming that Satan was at work even in the corridors of the Vatican itself.

The publication of that book caused a few blushes among the papal entourage. In the modern church, you see, it is just not the done thing to mention the Devil. The figure who looms so large in the gospels, whose horned, scaly, terrifying face adorned the walls of many a medieval church in scenes of the harrowing of hell, and who has inspired artists from Dante and Bosch through Milton and Byron and on to Bulgakov and CS Lewis, is now rarely mentioned from the pulpit.

The last Pope to speak at any length on the Devil was Paul VI in 1972. In an address (which Father Gabriele quotes from at length during our meeting), he personified evil in the figure of the Devil as "an effective agent, a living spiritual being, perverted and perverting". By contrast, Pope John Paul II, in the 27 years of his reign, made only two glancing references to Satan, both times in larger contexts. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the comprehensive rulebook that John Paul published in 1993, the Devil figures in only a handful of the 3,000 entries, and then simply as a "seductive voice" luring humankind astray.

The logic behind this vow of silence is plain. Church leaders don't like mentioning the Devil in case it makes them sound medieval, superstitious or out of touch. There is also a smattering of remorse in there for the crimes that the Church has committed down the centuries by invoking the real presence of the Devil. When the Inquisition was torturing and murdering those who dared to disagree with the papal line, its victims (Jews, women, pagans alike) were usually presented as being in league with Satan.

Yet even in 2011, the Devil is not wholly disowned by the church that did so much more than any other institution to make him seem frighteningly flesh and blood. He remains part of Catholicism but is now treated like the disreputable relative with a dark past who the family prefers to keep shut away. Hence the silence that surrounds the work of exorcists. It is hard to downplay talk of the Devil in public when you are simultaneously maintaining a network of diocesan exorcists around the world.

This is an ambiguity the Church has long lived with. John Paul II, for all his public reticence about Satan, nevertheless managed in 1982 to carry out an exorcism himself on a disturbed young woman, an episode recalled in My Six Popes, the autobiography published in 1993 by the retired head of his household, French Cardinal Jacques Martin.

And it is not just church leaders who are in two minds about the Devil. However much I could rationally trace the development of the character of the Devil as a theological, historical, artist and church-political construct, a shorthand explanation for what many regard as the evil abroad in the world, in that moment when I was sitting opposite Father Gabriele in his office in Rome, and he started talking about the Devil possessing the media, I felt myself shifting in my chair. Was he about to attempt an exorcism on me? And if he did, what was there to worry about because I didn't share his belief a physical incarnation of evil? His words would have no effect. But frightened I was, and I beat a hasty retreat from what I later heard described as the "delivery room", and gasped with relief when I got outside the building.

There is a part of us that remains irrationally susceptible to the idea of the Devil. Perhaps it is just those who, like me, had a traditional Catholic upbringing. My Christian Brother teachers were big on the real and imminent danger of Hell. But the enduring appeal of Satan spreads beyond my generation and my particular denomination. Politicians and public alike, when faced by a monstrous crime, are still quick to characterise its perpetrator as the Devil incarnate. Think of the descriptions routinely used of the Moors Murderess, Myra Hindley. "May She Rot in Hell," ran one headline on the day she died. Indeed, if there was ever a modern image of the Devil it was that Medusa-like picture of her taken in 1966, all blond hair, defiance, and cold, cold eyes.

Confronted with something unthinkably cruel and inhumane, we reach not for the language of psychiatry but for medieval demonology and scapegoating. As does the Church. Benedict XVI, generally as reluctant as his predecessor to mention the Devil in public, did nevertheless last June talk about the orchestrating role of "the enemy" in the paedophile priest scandal that has so damaged the Church's moral standing.

The Devil can still be a convenient get-out clause, whether it be from culpability for unspeakable crimes against children, or more mundane problems. I remember once attending a prayer group where young Evangelical Anglicans had gathered to share the trials and tribulations of their week, and how Jesus would shape their lives if they let him. "I've had a terrible few days," one twentysomething confided, "the Devil has made me spend all my money." She said it without a hint of irony or self-knowledge. She was taking no responsibility herself.

That same reaction can be glimpsed in remarks made by Father Gary Thomas, in interviews he has given to mark the release of The Rite in the United States. Since he successfully completed his training as an exorcist in Rome, he has dealt with five cases he describes as genuine possession by the Devil. His work with those individuals, he confides, has left him vulnerable himself to Satan. "My celibacy gets attacked a lot," he remarks. Rather than locate any problems he may have with the Catholic rule that priests must be celibate within, either himself or the church, Father Gary evidently prefers to externalise them and project them onto the Devil.

The connection between sex and Devil is almost as old as Christianity. Familiar figures in the medieval church iconography were incubus and succubus, copulating demons who would seduce both women and men and impregnate females with children of the Devil.

So is Satan in the 21st century being relegated to the extreme fringes of Christianity that still prefer a literal interpretation of the Bible? Apparently not. He's still right there in the mainstream churches. Indeed, in the opening titles for The Rite, the film-makers draw attention to a New York Times report on a conference of US Catholic bishops that took place in November 2010 to debate growing demand from their congregations for exorcism, and the absence of sufficient suitably-qualified priests to service them. [see article link below]

Unlike Father Gabriele, most of this secret army of priest-exorcists prefer to operate away from the spotlight, but for all that there is no question that the Devil is real. If they ever break cover and are confronted about their work, they have a standard response, best summed up by the 19th century French poet, Baudelaire – "the Devil's deepest wile is to persuade us that he does exist".

It is a pretty circular argument. When you counter, as Father Michael does in the early sections of The Rite, that the absence of proof of the Devil cannot be taken as proof itself, they just smile knowingly. While Father Gabriele didn't even manage a smile when I met him, I am sure the same justification was going through his head.

Peter Stanford's "Biography of the Devil" is published in paperback and e-book by Arrow


This article was found at:



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Posted by Perry Bulwer at 16:47
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