Africa and African Traditional Religions at EGREGORES

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Alive and Well: African Traditional Religion in the 21st Century:
Angelique Kidjo on Voodoo and Catholicism
"Such is the relationship between Africans and foreign religions"
"African Traditional Religion Allows Syncretism"
"What exactly is it about traditional religion that we fear?"
"The Destruction of Christianity" (On the situation in Kenya in 1955)
"Why not leave them in peace?"
"Witchcraft holds out against modern age"
200 Million African Pagans
"Togo's Voodoo Fetish Markets Do Brisk Trade"
"Africa became Christian by Submission not by Conversion"
"The first thing Christianity did in Africa . . . ."
You might be Pagan if .... (Part Deux)
You might be a Pagan if ....
Every picture tells a story
More On Traditional African Religions
Traditional African Religions Continue To Thrive
Fela Kuti and Traditional African Religion
Secret Knowledge, Sacred Knowledge (on Candomble)

The Christian Roots of the "Witch Children" Phenomenon in Africa:
April, 2010 UNICEF Report on "Children Accused of Witchcraft"
Human Rights Watch report on "Children Accused of Sorcery" in DR Congo
"A new Frankenstein religion"??
Christianity and the Invention of Witch Children in Africa
Overview, plus a timeline of events, sources, and media coverage

Heart of Darkness: Christianity, Colonialism & Africa:
Part Five: Preparing the Way for Genocide in Rwanda
Part Four: Conflict and Genocide: Lessons from Rwanda
Part Three: Doing the Lord's Work In Rwanda
Part Two: Christian Demographics Fun Facts
Part One: "By This Sign We Prosper"

The Early History of Monotheism in Africa:
Muhammad (A brief history of Revolutionary Monotheism, Part Four)
Constantine (A brief history of Revolutionary Monotheism, Part Three)
Moses (A Brief History of Revolutionary Monotheism, Part Two)
Akhenaten (A Brief History of Revolutionary Monotheism, Part One)

Attacks on African Traditional Religion and Afro-Caribbean Religions
Blood Libel, Witchcraft, & Ratzinger's 2011 Visit to Africa
White Explorers versus Black Magic (And Black Jesus versus White Jesus)
"Wierd Negro Order Raided": Human Sacrifice In The News
Blood Libel Against African Traditional Religions: "Child Sacrifice" Accusations Surface Again in Uganda
Dear Paul Krugman: Voodoo is a religion, not another name for evil irrational bullshit.
Vodou Priestesses & Priests Being Lynched in Haiti
Blood Libel Against Africans & African Traditional Religion
Al Jazeera's New Racist Documentary: "Magic & Murder"

Christianity & the Invention of Child Witches in Africa

Widespread violence against children accused of witchcraft is not an ancient African tradition. In fact, accusations of witchcraft against children were the exception rather than the rule (and when they occurred they did not usually lead to violence against the accused child) in Africa prior to the 1990's. Therefore, the current wave of violence (especially in Congo, Angola and Nigeria) against children accused of witchcraft is not some holdover from Africa's past.

According to the Save The Children 2005 report on "The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo", authored by Javier Aguilar Molina (emphases added):

A first step towards understanding the phenomenon of so-called child witches is to recognise that witchcraft is a real system of belief, rooted in popular mentality. For the majority of Congolese and, to a certain extent, Africans, an invisible world exists below the surface of material reality.

The discussions we had with children, adults and religious leaders clearly demonstrate that there is no clear dividing line between the “visible” and ”invisible” worlds. The two worlds are even entwined. Foreigners unused to seeing the world in this way, might think that these beliefs are specific to those who have had no access to formal education. This is not the case. During advocacy meetings with the most senior State authorities we found that the elites also have an ambiguous concept of child witchcraft, even accepting the phenomenon. In fact “intellectuals”, university educated people and even those working in child protection organisations are no exception.

For the vast majority of Congolese witchcraft is, thus, a reality and one that can also affect children. This was confirmed in interviews with social workers, pastors, parents’ groups, community members and people working in child protection.

Our first research, in 1999, clearly showed the changes that had occurred in the mentality of Kinshasa’s inhabitants. Witchcraft was perceived as fundamentally negative, unlike in the villages where witchcraft could be a positive or a negative thing. Witchcraft as we know it today has little to do with “traditional practices”. It is quite clearly a modern invention, largely urban in origin, in which common cultural roots have been distorted from their primary meaning. And this is by no means something that is unique to the Congo.

Revivalist church pastors, recognised as experts by the people, generally agree that witchcraft is the art of doing evil. It comes directly from Satan, assisted by demons (or fallen angels), and stops at no despicable act in order to achieve its aims. Emphasis is placed on the unworldly aspect of witchcraft and it is described as an evil power capable of doing harm, bringing bad luck, spreading illness and killing. This power may be exercised by individuals from any social class, as well as by politicians. Some pastors give this assertion a more concrete dimension by saying that witches have a very deep sense of psychology. Some see witchcraft as just another illness that can be cured. They affirm the existence of child witches but consider that 90% of the children brought to them are not witches.

Parents take their children to the churches as soon as they notice strange behaviour. Some pastors believe that the problem of bewitchment is poverty-related: because parents do not give their children enough to eat, they wind up accepting food from any old person in the street, giving ill-intentioned people the opportunity to commit their crimes. Another explanation is that the parents are never there, out all day trying to eke out a living, so the children are left to their own devices, opening the door to bad influences. Some people believe that witchcraft is transferred to children because it cannot be transferred to adults, others that children are used by the devil to do evil, the devil’s aim being to destroy a whole generation.
[pp. 9-10]

The key role played by revivalist churches in the "child witch" phenomenon is highlighted by this chilling passage from the report's Executive Summary:

Children are stigmatised for many reasons and the family dynamic and attitude of the parents or guardians play a decisive role in this. The severe financial pressure faced by parents and the sudden deaths that can occur (often AIDS or malaria-related) cause crisis in the family structure and dynamic on three levels: a) weakening or collapse of the extended family, b) family recomposition, c) difficulties in being a parent in a society whose foundations and future prospects have been destroyed. The combination of external threats faced by families pushes parents or guardians to negatively magnify a child’s individual characteristics (such as disability, bad behaviour, changes due to puberty or even the mere fact of being in the wrong place at the wrong time) to the point where they see them as being signs of witchcraft. The final blow is delivered by the revivalist churches, which confirm or discover signs of witchcraft. Parents are deeply distressed by what they believe to be witchcraft and, first and foremost, fear for their own well-being. At this point they have three alternatives: to cast the child out onto the street or put them in an institution; to have the child ‘delivered’ or to refute the allegations against their child. We came to the conclusion that there was no “typical” profile of a high-risk family and that the problem of witchcraft is no more predominant in one particular ethnic group or social class than in any other.

The phenomenon of child witchcraft is a symptom of a more serious problem that involves extreme and boundless violence within a traumatic social space, on the verge of disintegration. There is clearly a strong tendency towards the social cleansing of children considered to be undesirable, or towards getting rid of children by way of a level of neglect that could lead to death. In addition, the failure or absence of the government and community social guarantors, whose role it is to maintain respect for law and order, also has a large part to play in the spiralling violence engulfing the most vulnerable children.
[pp. 5-6]

The report's reference to "extreme and boundless violence within a traumatic social space, on the verge of disintegration," is much more than just grandstanding from yet another charity organization on a fundraising drive. Between 1996 and 2003, Congo society was wracked by two consecutive civil wars that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4 million Congolese. The equivalent, adjusted for population, would be a civil war in which 24 million Americans were slaughtered -- by their fellow Americans.

The death toll of the Congo Civil Wars was about 8% of the population, while the American Civil War led to death of about 2% of the US population at the time (between 700 and 800 thousand out of a total population of approximately 35 million). So just take the bloodiest conflict ever fought on American soil, and multiply by 4.

It is into this context of violence, devastation and social disintegraion that Pentecostal missionaries have injected their literally apocalyptic ravings, their battle cries of "spiritual warfare," and their eager offers to identify those who are possessed by demons and to "cast out" the demons by any means necessary.

Over one quarter of the Save The Children report is devoted to a section on "The role of revivalist churches," which begins by stating: "The boom in revivalist churches is undoubtedly closely related to the accusations of witchcraft against children."

The report lists four "common characteristics of this movement", and each of these is obviously of direct relevance to the new phenomenon of child witchcraft:

1. The prophets, pastors and believers say they are experiencing a supernatural force such as that of the Holy Spirit, which motivates and guides them. Cultural practices involve the body, song and lively ceremonies enabling experiences to be externalised without censure. A feeling of ‘solidarity’ and/or community belonging is thus created amongst the faithful.

2. These churches recognise invisible negative forces as being the source of evil and poverty; elements of local culture, such as witchcraft, are highlighted in their religious practice.

3. The demonisation of and anxiety in relation to evil, death and poverty are the main motivations behind these religious movements. The church thus serves as a protection against these obscure forces.

4. The hierarchy normally found within historical churches is broken down, meaning anyone can be a pastor.
[p. 24]

It must be emphasized, however, that none of these "common characteristics" are unique to either Congolese or more generally African revivalism, rather they are all found in revivalist Christianity throughout the world. In particular, these are all among the defining features of Pentecostal Christianity as it has been practiced in the United States since the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement in Los Angeles in 1906.

Lastly, for now, the report found that the Pentecostal/revivalist churches have a pervasive influence in Congo society extending beyond those who "belong" to these churches. Researchers for Save the Children found that parents of accused "witch children" would seek out Pentecostal/revivalist churches even though they might be practicing Catholics, for example, because "they wanted their child delivered [exorcised], something that is not a usual practice among Catholics.[p. 26]

In the concluding "Main Observations" section of the report, this point is expanded on:

A significant number of families have their strongest affiliation with one of the historical churches [that is, not with one of the newer "revivalist" churches]. It is, therefore, common to find, for example, practising Catholics who turn to the revivalist churches to resolve a witchcraft problem, since witchcraft is not recognised by their own church. The revivalist churches are not necessarily, therefore, comprised of faithful followers, but of passers by seeking to escape their neighbourhood and their family in order to avoid being stigmatised.
[p. 33]

It is clear that traditional African religious beliefs and practices play no significant role in the tragedy of Africa's "witch children." The ideology at work here has its roots in 20th century American Pentecostalism and Televangelism. Far from engaging in any kind of syncretism with indigenous traditions, Pentecostal Christianity in Africa aggressively demonizes and seeks to eradicate all traditional beliefs and practices and to replace them with a form of ignorant, intolerant superstition that was born in the USA.

[Also see this previous post on Pentecostalism, Spiritual Warfare & the Witch Children of Africa. And also check out the new page I just put together with links to all (or nearly all, I'm still working on it) of the blog posts I've done dealing with Africa & African Traditional Religion at EGREGORES.]

Pentecostalism, Spiritual Warfare & The "Witch Children" of Africa

Part One: Overview, plus a timeline of events, sources and media coverage

UPDATED: Several additions have been made to the sources listed here since I first posted this. These include two additions to what I consider to be key documents: the 2005 report by Save the Children, and Adam Hochschild's recent Mother Jones article. I will continue to add to the sources and the timeline if I find more items that need to be included, but I will leave the Overview as is.

.....................................................

Witch hunting. Forced confessions extracted under torture. Grisly execution methods -- even burning people alive. Surely Christians would never do such things! And if some African Christians are found to be committing such acts today, well, it must have everything to do with the fact that they are African, and nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that they are Christian. Right?

There is today a wave, some have even called it an epidemic, of witch-hunting and witch-murders in Africa. The victims are children, and the witch-hunters and witch-killers are Christians. The torture and forced confessions often occur in Churches. And these Christians share something else in common: they are Pentecostalists.

Of course the large majority of Pentecostal Christians in Africa (and elsewhere in the world) do not engage in or in any way condone any kind of child abuse. But Pentecostalists do believe in and actively engage in spiritual warfare, and this spiritual warfare includes identifying individuals who are possessed by demons, and conducting exorcism rituals to "cast out" the demons.

Pentecostal Christianity has spread rapidly around the world and especially in Africa over the last several decades. This has also been a time when nations across Africa have been torn by violent conflicts, such as the Nigerian Civil War (followed by decades of repressive military rule), the Angolan Civil War, the Mozambican Civil War, the Rwandan Genocide, and two consecutive civil wars in Congo. Added to the carnage of these violent conflicts has been the devastation caused by the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The story of Africa's "witch children" has consistently been presented to the public in a highly distorted way. Over and over again we hear that "superstition", "ignorance" and "traditional" beliefs are the culprits. And while the role of Christians, and Pentecostalists in particular, is often acknowledged, there always comes the insistence that the real problem is not with Christians or with Christianity, but with African Christians who mix their ignorant superstitious traditional African beliefs and practices with Christianity.

The fact is that the the phenomenon of "child witches" is something new in Africa, not some "traditional" holdover due to Africans being incompletely or imperfectly Christianized. The root cause of this new phenomenon is the volatile combination of (1) the devastation of war, (2) the ravages of HIV/AIDS, and (3) aggressive proselytizing by Pentecostal Christian missionaries, mostly from the United States, who have brought their especially virulent form of spiritual warfare to Africa.

Below is a very bare bones timeline of important events in the development of the horrifying saga of Africa's Witch Children. Two sources have proven especially invaluable in compiling this. First is an essay written by Olusegun Fakoya, Africa: Child Abuse and Persecution of Children, in November 2008. Fakoya is a Nigerian, and even he engages in the kind of distortion just noted (sadly, many Africans have internalized negative stereotypes about African Traditional Religion). But despite some problems, Fakoya provides both an African perspective, and also an extremely thoughtful overview of the Big Picture, and especially the central role of developments in DR Congo and also Angola.

The other source that has proven extremely helpful is Richard Bartholomew's "barthsnotes" blog. Bartholomew is a British blogger who has been closely following the story of Africa's "witch children" for the past four years. A great deal of the chronology below was pieced together using his blog entries (some of which are included in the timeline).

Also included in the timeline below are the following seven key documents:

♦ Richard Hoskins' 2006 essay: "Torment of Africa's Child Witches"
♦ Save the Children's 2006 report "The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo"
♦ Human Rights Watch's 2006 report: "What Future? Street Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo"
♦ Africa: Child Abuse and Persecution of Children by Olusegun Fakoya
♦ the 2009 report "Witchcraft Allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence," by Jill Schnoebelen of the UN High Commission for Refugees.
♦ Adam Hochschild's March 2010 article on the Congo: Blood and Treasure in Mother Jones
♦ UNICEF's April 2010 report: Children Accused of Witchcraft: An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa

Africa's "Witch Children": Timeline of events, key sources & media coverage

Oct. 1992 Mozambican Civil War ends (began in 1977, 1 million dead)
Apr. - July 1994 Rwandan Genocide (1 million dead in 100 days)
Nov. 1996 - May 1997 First Congo War
Aug. 1998 Second Congo War starts
Dec. 1998 Elections mark end to three decades of repressive military rule in Nigeria
Oct. 12 1999 BBC report: Child witches in the Congo
Dec. 22 1999 BBC.com article: Congo witch-hunt's child victims
Feb. 2000 death of Victoria Climbie (Ivory Coast) in London
Jan. 12 2001 conviction of Marie-Therese Kouao (Ivory Coast) and Carl Manning (Ghana) in death of Victoria Climbie
Aug. 2002 Angolan Civil War ends (began in 1975, half million dead)
2003 Gary Foxcroft first visits Nigeria
May 11 2003 UK Guardian article: Congo casts out it's 'child witches'
July 2003 Second Congo War ends (4 million dead in both Congo wars)
Mar. 28 2004 Chicago Tribune (Paul Salopek) article: Children in Angola tortured as witches
Nov. 2005 "Child B" (Angola) discovered cut and bruised on streets of London
June 3 2005 Sita Kisanga (Congo), Sebastian Pinto (Congo), and a third person (also from Congo) whose name has never been revealed "for legal reasons" convicted of child cruelty in "Child B" case
Jun3 3 2005 BBC article (Cindi John) 'Exorcisms are part of our culture'
June 25 2005 UK Guardian article: How media whipped up a racist witch-hunt
July 11 2005 BBC Newsnight airs program about "child witches" in Angola
July 13 2005 BBC report: Angola witchcraft's child victims
Dec. 2005 Stepping Stones registered as charity in UK
♦ ♦ Feb. 5 2006 Richard Hoskins' "Torment of Africa's Child Witches" appears in The Sunday Times ♦ ♦
Feb. 12 2006 UK Guardian article: "Thousands of child 'witches' turned on to the streets to starve" [Congo]
♦ ♦ Mar. 2006 Save the Children report: "The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo" ♦ ♦
February 14, 2006 Congo's Churches and Child Witches [barthsnotes]
♦ ♦ Apr. 4 2006 Human Rights Watch report: What Future? Street Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo ♦ ♦
Sep. 2006 first four classrooms of Stepping Stones Model School completed in Akwa Ibom
June 10 2007 Reuters article: Ugandan refugees stone, burn three "witches"
Nov. 15 2007 New York Times article: African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out
Dec. 21 2008 Witchcraft Hysteria in Nigeria Highlighted [barthsnotes]
Nov. 12 2008 "Saving Africa's Witch Children" first airs on BBC Channel 4
♦ ♦ Nov. 19, 2008 Africa: Child Abuse and Persecution of Children by Olusegun Fakoya ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ Jan. 10 2009 UNHCR report: Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence, by Jill Schnoebelen ♦ ♦
Feb. 1 2009 Child Witches in Congo Highlighted by UN Report [barthsnotes]
Feb. 8 2009 Child Witch Hysteria Promoted in Cameroon by Presbyterian Evangelist [barthsnotes]
Nov. 1 2009 Boston Globe article: Churches in Nigeria denounce children as witches
May 21 2010 New York Times: "Nigerian Witch-Hunter Explains Herself" (profile of Helen Ukpabio)
♦ ♦ Mar. 2010 Adam Hochschild's Mother Jones article on DR Congo: Blood and Treasure ♦ ♦
May 26 2010 HBO2 airs "Saving Africa's Witch Children"
♦ ♦ Apr. 2010 UNICEF report: Children Accused of Witchcraft: An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa

Anxiously Awaiting The Next Incarnation Of The European Values Study

According to the website for the European Values Study:

The fieldwork of the European Values Study 2008 is now completed. A first release of the data to the general public will be ready in June 2010. The fourth wave of the European Values Study covers all countries of Europe, from Iceland to Azerbaijan and from Portugal to Norway . . . .

The fieldwork of the European Values Study 2008 is now completed. A first release of the data to the general public will be ready in June 2010.

So far that's all they have to say about the results of the 2008 study.

Personally, I am especially interested in what the new data will have to say about belief in reincarnation. Previous European Values Studies (see graph above), going back to 1981, have shown that about one quarter of all Europeans consistently report that they believe in reincarnation. This prevalence of belief in reincarnation is comparable to that found in the US and also in sub-Saharan Africa.

When the latest findings finally start trickling out, I'll post more, including links to sources and analyses.

In the meantime, here is an excerpt from the 1999 article A very private belief: reincarnation in contemporary England, by Tony Walters and Helen Waterhouse:

A very private belief: reincarnation in contemporary England

The numbers of westerners interested in reincarnation greatly exceed the numbers of westerners attached to Eastern or New Age religions. The doctrine of reincarnation belongs to neither of western society's two major belief systems, namely Christianity and secularism, which makes it particularly interesting to sociologists: it is a deviant belief which people "ought" not to hold. This article explores what reincarnation means to some of those who believe in it, why they find it attractive, and how it relates to other aspects of their life - not least the religious organizations to which they belong but which do not teach it. In particular, the article asks whether the twentieth century privatization of belief makes it easier to hold beliefs not taught by one's church. After a brief review of the survey data on belief in reincarnation, we summarize the findings of an intensive interview study of a small number of English people who entertain the idea. We conclude that reincarnation is indeed for them a very private belief, detached from religious and other affiliations, from the New Age, from popular literature on the subject, and from everyday life.

SURVEY DATA

Belief in reincarnation - returning to this world in a series of bodily lives appears to be on the increase in the West. A survey in 1947 was surprised to find 4 percent of a random sample of a London suburb spontaneously mentioning belief in reincarnation (Mass Observation 1947: 29-32); Geoffrey Gorer found 5 percent of the English he interviewed in the early 1950s saying they believed in reincarnation and only 2 percent a decade later (Gorer 1965: 167). More recent surveys - notably the European Values Surveys (EVSs) of 1981 and 1990, show the figures to have risen to around a fifth to a quarter in several European countries, a proportion that now appears to be rather stable, and paralleled in the USA (Gallup and Proctor 1982: 137-8). The 1990 EVS figure for Great Britain is 24 percent (Ashford and Timms 1992). Some recent surveys, however, have produced rather lower figures, 12 percent, for example, in one English study (Davies and Shaw: 1995: 92; Davies 1997).

Reincarnation (or re-birth) is a belief that is taught in several Eastern religions and is part of many tribal belief systems, but is not formally part of either Christianity or secularism. Given that the figures for belief in reincarnation in Europe and North America far exceed the number of Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists (in the UK these amount to no more than 2 percent of the total population), one might be tempted to suppose that reincarnation is an alternative to Christianity and secularism, or might be broadly categorized as part of the New Age, that is to say, held by those who have a sense of inner spirituality but who do not wish to confine this to Christianity.

The 1990 EVS data do not confirm this supposition, at least for the UK. They consistently show that belief in reincarnation is associated with conventional Christian beliefs. One smaller North American study found little belief in reincarnation, from 3-11 percent, in a representative sample of congregations belonging to six Protestant denominations (Donahue 1993), but so far this is the only study to contradict the statistical association between conventional Christian believing and belonging on the one hand, and belief in reincarnation on the other.

[the nice graph is taken from here]

The Top Eleven Books On Paganism Most Pagans Have Never Heard Of

A few suggestions for light summer reading, submitted for your approval. In truth, many of these will be familiar to any regular visitors to egregores.

1. Hellenic Religion & Christianization, c. 370-529
by Frank Trombley
What happened to ancient Paganism? This.

2. The Morality of Happiness
by Julia Annas
Don't be unethical. Be happy. Be Pagan.

3. Hellenism in Byzantium
by Anthony Kaldellis
In late antiquity Hellenism became a distinctly religious identity, and this Pagan religious identity survived as a continuous tradition in Byzantium, the very heart of Christendom.

4. George Gemistos Plethon: Last of the Hellenes
by C.M. Woodhouse
When he died in 1453, Plethon left behind secret writings proving that he was a polytheistic Pagan. These posthumously discovered writings begin with the declaration: "The Gods really do exist."

5. Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy
by Geoffrey Ernest Maurice De Ste. Croix
It turns out early Christians wanted to be martyrs and intentionally sought their own deaths by committing criminal acts of violence, including murder. I guess Christians are just funny that way.

6. History and Silence: The Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity
by Charles W. Hedrick Jr.
The Pagans of the late 4th century were revolting. Some people, like Alan Cameron, claim they weren't. But they really were.

7. Buddhist Goddesses of India
by Miranda Shaw
Goddess worship before Goddess worship was cool. (And the Buddha was a Pagan.)

8. Vergil in the Middle Ages
by Domenico Comparetti
The cult of Vergil is a continuous Pagan tradition. So there.

9. Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets
by Sarah Iles Johnston and Fritz Graf
"I am a child of Earth and the starry Sky. My race is heavenly."

10. Babylon Memphis Persepolis
by Walter Burkert
That's funny, these Pagans don't look European.

11. Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomble
by Paul Christopher Johnson
"Secrets are to religion what lingerie is to the body."

Mark Rutte "will explore an alliance" with Geert Wilders

After officially informing the Dutch monarch, Queen Beatrix, "that his party was ready to take on the task of negotiating a majority coalition," Mark Rutte, head of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy announced that "he was obliged to turn first to the Freedom Party [the VVD, led by Geert Wilders], since it had scored the largest gains."

The above is according to Arthur Max's latest AP article on Wednesday's elections in the Netherlands.

Rutte even went so far as to declare that Wilders' VVD was "the biggest winner" in the election, because they had so dramatically increased their share of the overall vote.

Stephen Prothero's Jewish Problem, etc.

This week, once again, most of what one finds on teh interwebs concerning Stephen Prothero's new book God Is Not One is just more uncritical, substance-free fawning that sounds like it was written by Prothero's own publicist.

The one bright spot that I have found is Menachem Wecker's review at the Huffington Post entitled Stephen Prothero's Jewish Problem. Wecker is an artist and art critic who writes the Iconia blog, hosted by the Houston Chronicle, with the subtitle "Wherever faith meets art."

I especially liked the fact that Wecker calls Prothero on the tired old Christian claim that their's is a religion of "faith" and "belief", while everyone else is just blindly going through the motions of religion without any genuine emotional or intellectual engagement in what is being done (so long as it is done according to the rules):

An odd thread that continues throughout much of God Is Not One is the strained introduction of artificial differences to bolster the thesis that religions are very different. One such synthetic divergence is the description of Christianity as a religion of faith, while Judaism is one of action. Or, as Prothero says it, "Judaism differs dramatically from Christianity, where faith is paramount. Whereas Christians strive to keep faith, Jews strive to keep the commandments." How odd that Prothero cannot seem to remember that belief in God is the first of the Ten Commandments. Has he forgotten that Maimonides, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher and medical man, insisted upon Thirteen Principles of Faith, not action? Apparently not. Referring to the "Thirteen Principles" (and truncating "of Faith"), Prothero declares that Maimonides' principles were controversial "and not universally accepted," so "Judaism has always been more about practice than belief." But surely even Jewish practice, according to Prothero, has been hotly debated, so one can hardly call practice an essential part of Judaism according to Prothero's logic.

As a Jewish art-critic, Wecker also leaps on something that could easily escape the attention of others. As Prothero busies himself ticking off "Jewish achievements" (in a way, as Wecker indelicately points out, that "is sure to remind some of the claims of Protocols of the Elders of Zion"!), Prothero somehow (although Wecker suggests a possible explanation) manages to completely overlook a very noteworthy category of Jewish achievers:

... but one group of Jews is noticeably absent: Jewish fine artists. Prothero could have referred to Rothko, Lee Krasner, Soutine, Chagall, Ardon, Bakst, Lucian Freud, Newman, Weber, Morris Louis, Lissitzky, Liebermann, Levitan, several Soyers, Simeon Solomon, Shahn, Kitaj, Rivers, Kaufmann, Pissarro, Olitski, Oppenheim, Gottlieb (several of them), and Man Ray.

Prothero's omission might be part of a larger misconception. "Unlike Christians, [Jews] insist that God is not to be depicted in human form or worshipped in 'graven images,'" he says. Of course, one can find thousands of representative illustrations and paintings in Jewish sacred books and buildings. In the third-century synagogue at Dura-Europos, the divine hand is clearly visible in the depiction of Ezekiel's vision, and the signs of the Zodiac appear on the floor of the Byzantine Beit Alfa Synagogue.

The whole review is very thoughtful and detailed and well written. Please go to the link and read the entire thing, and also check out Wecker's blog, while you're at it.

And, for the record, here are the other reviews and other online references to Prothero's book I have found this week, such as they are. All of them are filled with mindless praise for Prothero from people sorely lacking in critical reading skills (or, possibly, who have simply not read the book in question):

Vive la Différence by Garrett Baer at Killing the Buddha (June 7). A softball interview in which Baer essentially asks Prothero if he realizes just how awesome he is. He does.

All religions are NOT the same by Rod Dreher (a Templeton Foundation stooge who looks a lot like Kenny Bania) at Beliefnet (June 7). This blog post consists largely of an excerpt from Baer's "review".

Wendell Berry, American Confucius. This is another one by Rod Dreher at Beliefnet (June 9). Herein Bania Dreher comes dangerously close to pointing out just how incoherent Prothero's whole discourse of immutable religious difference is, since Dreher and Prothero both promote the benefits of a hybridization of Christianity and Confucianism a la Wendell Berry.

Book review: 'God Is Not One' by Thane Rosenbaum in the LA Times June 9. Possibly the worst of the bunch.

Previous posts from this blog on Stephen Prothero's "God Is Not One":
Another negative review of Prothero's God Is Not One
Holy Crap! Two reasonably intelligent reviews of Stephen Prothero's God Is Not One
Good Fences Make Good Religions?
Who, if anyone, is Stephen Prothero arguing with, other than himself?
How Stephen Prothero mangles the economics-politics-religion analogy
The basis of universal spirituality
Contra Prothero

Geert Wilders Outpolls Christian Democrats

The AP is reporting that Geert Wilders' Party of Freedom (PVV) has garnered 24 seats (previously it had held 9 seats) in the Dutch parliamentary elections, while the outgoing ruling party, the Christian Democrats, "suffered a humiliating defeat, dropping to 21 seats — nearly half its current strength — and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told supporters he was leaving politics." Balkenende had been Prime Minister for the last 8 years.

The AP article is by Arthur Max and Toby Sterling. It was posted at about 10:15 pm EDT, when 96.5% of the votes had been counted.

The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) appears to be the largest party now in the Netherlands, with 31 seats in parliament, followed closely by the Labour Party with 30.

The UK Guardian puts Wilders' showing at 23 seats, while characterizing the Christian Democrats' performance as a "humiliating crash."

Aboard the good ship Mavi Marmara

Please note: everything in this post is based on information from Al Jazeera, Al Aqsa (the Hamas TV channel), and the IHH, the "charity" organization behind the Gaza flotilla.

The video footage below originally aired on Al Jazeera TV:



[The following is from Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik of PalestinianMediaWatch.org, but please note that their sources are Al Jazeera and Al Aqsa.]

The following is the transcript from Al-Jazeera TV:
Reporter: "Despite the Israeli threats and several unexpected delays, the arrival of the ships at the meeting point before sailing to the Gaza Strip inflamed the emotions and the enthusiasm of the participants."
Visuals from Gaza flotilla ship of young Muslims shouting Islamic battle chant invoking the killing and defeat of Jews in battle:
"[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!"
[Khaibar is the name of last Jewish village defeated by Muhammad's army and it marked the end of Jewish presence in Arabia in 628.]
Reporter: "While singing songs reminiscent of the Palestinian Intifada (Palestinian terror war against Israel, 2000 - 2005), participants expressed their longing to reach Gaza."
A participant: "Right now we face one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or reaching Gaza." [Based on Islamic call before battle: "Either victory or Martyrdom".]
[Al-Jazeera TV, May 29, 2010]

Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV chose to glorify flotilla participants who shouted the Islamic battle cry by broadcasting an interview with a university lecturer who referred to them as "those with faith and will."

Dr. Abd Al-Fatah Shayyeq Naaman, lecturer in Shari'ah law at a university in Sanaa (Yemen):
"Yesterday I followed the news agencies and they conveyed Zionist threats to stop the convoy and prevent it from entering Gaza; on the other side, those with faith and will once again call out upon hearing the reports of the threats: '[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!'"
Hamas TV Host: "Strong motivation."
Shayyeq Naaman: "One woman standing on the ship said that now we are awaiting one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or the beaches of Gaza."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 30, 2010]

Al-Jazeera also reports that before the confrontation, flotilla participants announced that they would use "resistance" against Israel. Mukawama (resistance) is the Arabic term used by Palestinians to refer to all violence against Israel, including suicide terror.

"The flotilla includes hundreds of Arab and foreign solidarity activists from more than 40 countries ... They have announced their determination to use resistance to any attempt at piracy by the Israeli occupation."
[Al-Jazeera website, May 29, 2010

But wait, there's more. Two photos of the merry shipboard peacemakers now prove that they were armed with knives as well as with metal clubs. What's worse is that when most people first saw these photos, Reuters News Agency had cropped the knives out of the photos! The website LittleGreenFootballs has both the cropped and uncropped versions. Below are the uncropped pictures of knife-wielding peace activists:


.


Other photos, proudly displayed at the website of the IHH (the "charity organization" that organized the "aid ships" to Gaza) document the violent capture of Israeli soldiers at the hands of the club and knife wielding peace activists. The IDF has claimed all along that it was the abduction of these soldiers, and the seizure of their weapons, that led to the escalation of the confrontation aboard the Mavi Marmara and the subsequent loss of life.

In closing, I cannot help but think of Assud the Jew-Eating Bunny, former star of the Hamas children's show, "Tomorrow's Pioneers". Assud became a martyr early in 2009 by throwing himself in front of an Israeli rocket. As he lay dying he asked the children of Gaza to "remember me as a martyr." Assud was the third "co-host" of Tomorrow's Pioneers to die a martyr's death. The current co-host is Nassur the Bear, who appears to be something of a coward since he has yet to martyr himself despite now being on the show several months longer than any of the previous co-hosts. To learn more about martyrdom-themed children's entertainment click on the picture below (and also check out the wikipedia entry for Tomorrow's Pioneers).