FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robert Priest
Professor of Mission and
Anthropology
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
847.317.8137
Church Leaders and Theologians Tackle Challenge of
Witchcraft and Witch Accusations in Africa
Deerfield, Il., April 4 — Fifty Christian scholars and church leaders, a majority from
Africa (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya,
Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania), but including participants from Asia, Europe, and
North America, gathered at Africa International University (AIU) in Nairobi
early last month to discuss how the church should respond to witchcraft and to
witch accusations. While a variety of secular human rights groups have
organized against witch accusations and violence, this historic gathering marks
the first large-scale, international and
interdenominational effort within the church and within the framework of
Christian theology to address the growing presence of witch accusations and
violence.
Health problems, death, infertility, and financial problems
are widely attributed to “witches” thought to be acting through evil occult
power. Elderly women are the ones most often alleged to be witches. Orphaned
children are another vulnerable group, often willing to falsely confess to
practicing witchcraft. Rev. Haruna Tukurah, a Nigerian pastor with ECWA
(Evangelical Church Winning All), reported that 250 out of the 300 children in
the orphanage he ran had been accused of being witches. Even pastors are often
accused of being witches.
The consequences of witch accusations are devastating,
ranging from social ostracism to exile from one’s community to beatings and
murder. According to Tanzanian police records, in Sukumaland alone more than
200 women (mostly elderly widows) are lynched as witches each year. Those most
frequently mistreated as witches are also society’s most vulnerable: the
elderly, widows, orphans, and strangers. Dr. John Jusu, Dean of the School of
Professional Studies at AIU, stressed that these are precisely the categories
of people whom God calls on us to protect.
Dr. Timothy Nyasulu, Synod Moderator and
Education Secretary of the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia, Malawi (the largest
Presbyterian church in Africa), highlighted the role of traditional diviners in
witch accusations, reporting statistics on 586 church members (from ten
congregations over ten years) who received church discipline for consulting
diviners when they felt someone had bewitched them. Diviners
are often more accessible than either health services or police. They may be
motivated by hope of profits to tell their clients that a family member or
neighbor has caused the sickness or misfortune. Christian “prophets” and
“prayer centers” also frequently endorse witch accusations. Henock Banda
reported on his research into “child witches” of Malawi, and said that when
pastors pray for or attempt to exorcise accused “witches” this sometimes has
the effect of providing pastoral endorsement to the charge that they are
witches, rather than freeing them in the eyes of the community.
Some alleged witches seek exorcism, often after confessing
under duress. Dr. Opoku Onyinah, Chancellor of Pentecost University College,
Accra, Ghana, and Chairman of the largest Protestant denomination in Ghana, the
Church of Pentecost, cautioned that discernment is required and that exorcism
is often inappropriate because the accused is neither a witch nor a person
possessed by demons but a person suffering psychological and social problems.
Researchers suggested that “neo-traditional witchcraft” was
the most appropriate term for the contemporary phenomenon because both
traditional and modern influences contribute. Contemporary influences such as
Nollywood movies and the popular Ghanaian film genre that was analyzed by
Professor Asamoah-Gyadu of Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, were cited as
contributing causes. Deliverance ministries and the prosperity gospel
(sometimes influenced by ministries from the USA) also reinforce the belief
that witches are harming others through evil supernatural means.
The assumption that witchcraft fears would wither away with
increasing access to modern education has proven flawed. The wearing of amulets
as protection against witchcraft is common among even Christian high school
students in Kenya, as demonstrated by Justus Mutuku, Chaplain at Kabarak
University. According to Nigerian theologian Dr. Samuel Kunhiyop who is
currently serving as General Secretary of ECWA – a denomination with over 5
million regular attenders – there is currently a “wildfire” of witch accusations
across all denominations.
How to understand the role of the demonic either in the
lives of accused “witches” or in the “accusers” was a matter of discussion.
Many African church leaders stress that “witchcraft is real,” and many African
Christians pray regularly that God will protect them from the attacks of
witches.
Meeting in small groups, participants shared case studies
and identified theological and Biblical themes that can inform our
understandings of witchcraft, can help counter witch accusations, and can
underpin pastoral counseling. Biblical and theological scholars guided initial
reflection on critical passages and doctrines. Plans were brainstormed for
further research and writing, for curricular development, for partnering
together and with others to turn the tide on the modern epidemic of witch
accusations and violence, and for finding additional funding to help make all
this possible.
The conference was sponsored by the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding
at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois as part of
TEDS’ partnership with Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST)
of AIU. The conference organizers were Dr. Robert Priest, Professor of Mission
and Anthropology at TEDS, Dr. Tite Tiénou, Senior Vice President and Dean at
TEDS, Dr. James Nkansah-Obrempong, Dean of NEGST, and Dr. Steve Rasmussen,
Lecturer in Missions and Intercultural Studies at AIU.
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Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
is part of a private, Christian university comprising four schools and three
centers. An educational ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of America,
TEDS is located in Deerfield, Illinois, with regional centers in South Chicago,
Florida, and California, and extension sites throughout the Midwest. TIU has
more than 2,800 students from 45 countries and throughout the United States.
TIU exists to educate men and women to engage in God's redemptive work in the
world by cultivating academic excellence, Christian faithfulness, and lifelong
learning.
