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Apologia Report 14:36
September 17, 2009
Subject: Africa’s "witch children" suffer at the hands of pastors
In this issue:
ISLAM - another book warns of a coming Islamic takeover in Europe
OCCULTISM, GENERAL - new Alternative Spirituality journal includes
helpful insights on the history of esoteric movements
SCIENCE & RELIGION - leading sociologist places humankind's hope in a
future cult
WITCHCRAFT - African misconceptions perpetuate dangers for innocents
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ISLAM
Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the
West, by Christopher Caldwell [1] -- the unnamed reviewer explains
that "Christopher Caldwell is an American journalist who writes for
the liberal Financial Times [4] as well as the conservative Weekly
Standard [5]. He has spent the past decade studying European
immigration, traveling widely and reading voraciously in an impressive
variety of languages." Caldwell reports that "the number of foreign
residents in Germany increased from 3m in 1971 to 7.5m in 2000 though
the number of foreigners in the workforce did not budge. Today
immigrants account for about 10% of the population of most west
European countries, and up to 30% in some of Europe’s great cities."
Europe's policymakers "assumed that immigrants would quickly adopt
the mores of their host societies. But a surprising number of
immigrants have proved 'unmeltable'.
"Mr Caldwell argues that the reason why so many immigrants failed
to assimilate can be summed up in a single word: Islam. In the middle
of the 20th century there were almost no Muslims in Europe. Today
there are 15m-17m, making up about half of all new arrivals in Europe.
...
"Europe’s indigenous population is aging fast, with a quarter of it
over 60. Immigrants have large families. Moreover, Europe is no match
for Islamic self-confidence: 'When an insecure, malleable,
relativistic culture meets a culture that is anchored, confident and
strengthened by common doctrines, it is generally the former that
changes to suit the latter,'" according to Caldwell. The Economist,
Aug 29th '09, p72. <www.tinyurl.com/nmgnq9>
---
OCCULTISM, GENERAL
The Western Esoteric Traditions, by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke [2] --
given its huge influence, we try to pass on anything that will help
our readers understand the tangled mess that occultism has been
throughout its long history. Nevill Drury Milton's review includes
some interesting criticism along these lines.
"According to Goodrick-Clarke, the Western esoteric traditions
continue to strive for what he calls 'an absolute transhistorical
knowledge of higher origins that can restore the human soul to its
home in the unity of being'. But is this really the case? It may have
been true in the highly structured esoteric organisations that
persisted into the first decades of the 20th century - for example in
the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, or in modern Theosophy and
Anthroposophy - but it is far from true today. If Goodrick-Clarke had
presented his overview as a history culminating in the late 19th
century, such an approach may have worked convincingly. However, the
extreme individualism of the influential 20th century ceremonial
magician Aleister Crowley, whose Thelemic cosmology is covered in
little over a page in this new book, and the anarchic approach of
Austin Osman Spare (who is not mentioned at all) - together with the
Chaos Magicians of the late 1970s and beyond who have sought to fuse
magical thinking with Taoism and Chaos Theory (and are not mentioned
either) - threaten to bring the edifice proposed by [leading occult
history scholar Antoine] Faivre crashing to the ground. It's not that
Faivre's framework has not been useful, it simply no longer applies.
...
"The main problem with the [book's] coverage, in my view, is that
the author greatly overstates the significance of modern Theosophy,
describing it as 'perhaps the single most important factor in the
modern occult revival'. Quite frankly, it was not. The 20th century
magical revival actually commenced with the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn, which was a major rival to the Theosophical Society in
Britain in the 1880s. ...
"Goodrick-Clarke also supports the idea that the leading
Theosophist, Charles W. Leadbeater, strongly influenced the
contemporary New Age movement.... But this is to ignore, altogether,
the importance of the American counterculture movement which brought
in its wake a strong interest in Eastern mysticism, indigenous
spirituality and mythic awareness, and owed little to Theosophy."
Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 1:1 - 2009, pp76-79.
---
SCIENCE & RELIGION
"Religion for a Galactic Civilization 2.0" by William Sims Bainbridge,
co-director of Human-Centered Computing at the National Science
Foundation -- acknowledging that he comes across as "outlandish and
absurd" in this essay, Bainbridge gives civilization on earth only the
smallest hope of survival in the face of a likely self-annihilation
that's just around the corner. The only chance to beat this urgent
crisis is for a "cult," which has yet to show itself, to provide
enough energy and vision to propel progress in spacefilght technology
to colonize the solar system and beyond.
Along the way, Bainbridge comes across more as a fringe futurist
than the noted sociologist that he is. "The fact that our planet is
not overrun by extraterrestrial visitors is probably the most
perplexing and daunting observation which bears on the future of
spaceflight." "Few advanced technological societies will be able to
afford transcendent goals - because such goals are never consensual
but always involve radical social movements. Any species which
continues to permit radical social movements will produce nuclear
Nazis and blow itself up. ...
"To be effective in promoting space development, a future Cosmic
Order would need to incorporate pro-space ideas in its central dogma.
Potentially effective interplanetary beliefs have appeared with some
frequency in cultic doctrines for at least two centuries, and their
frequency may be on the increase at present." In this regard,
Bainbridge briefly discusses Swedenborgianism and gives a passing
reference to "Scientology and the Raelians." However, "More relevant
for those who might want to engineer a Cosmic Order are stories which
sketch newly invented religions, cults which might actually come into
existence and if successful shape public policy toward science and
technology. ...
"Perhaps the first signals we receive will be sermons from space, a
kind of Galactic Gospel Hour. Or, perhaps the first messages from the
stars will be prayers, directed not at us but at a far higher
audience. ...
"Actual everlasting life will be possible in the near future, using
a combination of advanced technologies that have been developed for
other purposes. The process will be complex, but in outline form it
consists of four stages. First, you will be recorded: all your
memories, personality, skills, physical characteristics and genetic
inheritance. Second, this information will be entered into a vast
computerized data base, so that future generations can draw upon your
experiences and you can continue to be part of this world after your
death. Third, your data will be transported by robot spacecraft or
radio transmission to the solar system of a distant star, where a new
colony is to be established. Fourth, you will be reconstituted from
the recording and begin a new life in a fresh, young body as a
colonist of the new world."
With his eyes only on the goal of inter-stellar propagation,
Bainbridge fails to notice the "man behind the curtain" reflection
that emerges. Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies, Aug 20
'09, <www.tinyurl.com/nry242>.
---
WITCHCRAFT
"Saving Witches in Kolwezi" by Isaac Phiri -- the most agonizing story
yet to come out of Africa is prompted by widespread superstitious fear
of the occult and results in crimes committed against innocent
children "who face accusations of sorcery and witchcraft due to
parental neglect, birth defects, and disability." Phiri begins with
reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo. "A 2005 Save the
Children report estimated that 2,000 children in the urban area of
[the capital city] Kinshasa were accused of sorcery, and that at least
another 10,000 children nationwide may have also been victims.
HIV/AIDS puts many children at risk for abandonment. The country has
300,000 orphans whose parents have died of AIDS, and 50,000 children
who are HIV-positive. ... The cycle of abandonment and accusation
occurs in many central African countries."
And there’s a double-edged Christian dynamic to the situation: on
the one hand, "pastors have been implicated in promoting accusations,
proclaiming deliverances, charging fees for exorcisms, and failing to
report child abuse to police.” On the other, Christian activists and
relief agencies are working to combat the problem. (In one region,
after interventions by the latter, "Pastors have ... agreed to abide
by a new code of conduct when a child is accused of sorcery. The first
rule: Don't do anything Jesus wouldn't do, including any form of
torture.")
Phiri explains that "churches where these abuses occur are steeped
in mysticism and chase after miracles. According to [one local
Christian leader], adults are promised blessings, but when the
blessings do not come, a child - usually an orphan in the community -
is picked on and said to be the hindrance to a spiritual
breakthrough." As another Congolese minister elaborates: "The pastors
claim to be engaged in spiritual warfare, but are simply after money.
... They promise someone that he will find a job after prayers, but if
the person fails to find a job because of economic conditions in the
country, they accuse a child of bringing bad luck." The article ends
on a hopeful note, emphasizing signs of success in educating local
pastors. Christianity Today, Sep '09, pp62-65. [3]
-------
Sources, Monographs:
1 - Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and
the West, by Christopher Caldwell (Doubleday, 2009, hardcover, 432
pages) <www.tinyurl.com/kmd2l9>
2 - The Western Esoteric Traditions, by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
(Oxford Univ Prs, 2008, hardcover, 296 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/kuh53c>
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