"Why do you care what others believe?"

Pastors in southeast Nigeria claim illness and poverty are caused by witches who bring terrible misfortune to those around them. And those denounced as witches must be cleansed through deliverance or cast out.

As daylight breaks, and we travel out to the rural villages it becomes apparent the most vulnerable to this stigmatization of witchcraft are children.

A crowd gathered around two brothers and their sister. Tears streamed down their mother's face as she cast out her children from the family, accusing them of causing the premature deaths of two of their siblings with black magic.

"I am afraid. They are witches and they can kill me as well," she sobbed.

Taking his time to talk to the mother, Sam Ikpe-Itauma, an imposing man wearing a "Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network" t-shirt, has come to try to rescue the three children.

"If we are not here there's a possibility of them being thrown into the river, buried alive or stabbed to death," Sam said.

He tries to persuade their mother and a crowd of villagers that the three children are not witches - but no one believes him. And so, putting the children in his white pick-up, he drives away to his orphanage and safety.

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atlashunter said:

One more reason to care.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-25/world/nigeria.child.witches_1_witches-godwin-orphanage?_s=PM:WORLD

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11P&YBOWHUNTER said:

Three less mouths to feed for mom. Maybe now she can get the meds she needs.

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stringmusic said:

According to your worldview, their lives are subjective. How can you say this is a reason to care?

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atlashunter said:

Sorry I don't understand what you are saying. What do you mean "their lives are subjective"?

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stringmusic said:

From an atheistic perspective their lives are worth or not worth caring about, whichever one he or she chooses.

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stringmusic said:

So when how can you state the fact that this is "another reason to care"? It might be another reason to care for you, but not everyone, right?

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stringmusic said:

Nice.

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His stepfather told the newspaper that Bartel was "deep into the Old Testament" and may have convoluted some biblical references about Passover, a weeklong Jewish commemoration of the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt that occurs in March or April.

"If you know about the Old Testament, there's the Passover marks on the door frame (that) were done with a sacrificial lamb, definitely not sacrificial children," John Ponce said.

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drippin' rock said:

BTW Atlas, where do you come up with these 'Bubbles' avatars? They are priceless!

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atlashunter said:

I just find em on the internetz.

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mtnwoman said:

I love your little bittle kittehs.

How did they evolve into what they are? lol

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atlashunter said:

The atheist "perspective" is simply one that lacks a belief in a god due to lack of evidence. How you get from that to the above I don't know but it isn't something I've ever said.




I don't state as an objective fact. If you care about the well being of others, and I do, then this is a reason to care about what people believe. If it were only a trivial matter without real world consequences it would be different. But for the families ripped apart and children murdered because of this religious nonsense the consequences are very much real.

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ted_BSR said:

Why do you care about the well being of others?

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atlashunter said:

Because I am able to empathize and have a preference for less pain and suffering in the world rather than more.

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gordon 2 said:

That is about as close to the golden rule as a "fish" can get. See even atheists are spiritual... Wonder if unlike many christians I know, many atheists practice what they preach or are just as saved as anyone else?

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