We had a lot of fun in 2008 with the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, and in particular with this clip:
But for children in the African country of Nigeria, it's no laughing matter.
In a report on the CNN website, there is a rise in belief in witchcraft, specifically involving children:
They are blamed for causing illness, death and destruction, prompting some communities to put them through harrowing punishments to "cleanse" them of their supposed magical powers.
"Children accused of witchcraft are often incarcerated in churches for weeks on end and beaten, starved and tortured in order to extract a confession," said Gary Foxcroft, program director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a nonprofit that helps alleged witch children in the region.
And what are the alleged signs of "witchcraft"?
Many of those targeted have traits that make them stand out, including learning disabilities, stubbornness and ailments such as epilepsy, he added.
So you're a kid who hates school? Or have dyslexia, or epilepsy, or are autistic, or just an ordinary rebellious teenager? Guess what -- you're actually a witch!
Not only are these young "witches" subjected to physical and emotional abuse, often they end up kicked out of their own homes and left to fend for themselves on the streets. And once you get branded a witch, it sticks with you for life, as the grandfather of one such "witch" relates:
"When you are possessed, you are possessed; no one can deliver you from Satan," [the grandfather] said, adding that his grandson is a witch because he still exhibits unruly behavior and does not take education seriously.
And according to the CNN report, it's not just a problem in Nigeria; Gambia, Nepal, and other countries have reported a rise in the belief in "witchcraft", and even in England a family from Angola was convicted of abusing their daughter out of belief that she was a witch.
This is what happens when religion meets ignorance -- most mainstream denominations in the US wouldn't countenance such treatement; we understand that there are reasons for things such as epilepsy and dyslexia, and when it comes to rebellious teens, grounding works better than exorcism. But when you have a country with limited access to modern science and medicine, the words of Jesus to "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs" ring hollow in the face of superstition.
There are groups that are working to combat the ignorance and fear that leads to such actions -- Stepping Stones Nigeria, for example, is working to protect and transform the lives of stigmatized "witch children", and other work is being done by the United Nations. (For a full view of the impact, check out the report (PDF) prepared for the UN by Stepping Stones Nigeria.)
But while it's easy for us to sit back and giggle when we see a preacher on TV talk about "witchcraft" and "demon possession", remember that there are many people in this world who take such talk seriously -- and one wonders if there might be pockets of that belief here in the good old U.S. of A.