Did you hear about Islington social services paying over £8,000 for a consultant to travel to Africa to investigate whether they should send a boy in their care to the Congo for an exorcism?!
I could have told them NO! and for free.
The consultant – who actually accepted the job – was told that the child would be starved from fluid and food for three days, met children who were scared and traumatised, and said that children were often shaken, beaten and sprayed with chilli peppers and even cut with razor blades (and that’s only what they told him). He adds:
Whilst I found the family and the church to be very friendly, I cannot recommend that the child be allowed to go through a deliverance service such as that envisaged.
Very friendly indeed.
Seriously, though, if anyone is paying attention, those involved in this decision should be kept as far away from children as possible.
But then knowing how things work, they will most probably be given medals for cultural sensitivity…
(News link via Anne Marie Waters)
You’re undercutting yourself — charge at least $20. People think free advice is worthless.
@Maryam Namazie
This is completely off-topic, but I stumbled on something online that I thought you might be interested in blogging about and I wasn’t sure how else to get in contact with you.
http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2012/06/borders-manager-charged-over-banned-book/
Thanks for this. There are so many cases like this one that I shoul dbe highlighting.
That’s okay: You can’t be expected to read everything. :p
I’ve got a huge mess to clean up now because my head just exploded.
At least they checked…
I remember when this issue was debated on Newsnight a couple of months ago… They had a number of guest on, talking about various aspects of the issue, and the (supposedly) right and wrong ways to go about this sort of thing, but absolutely no-one with the temerity to point out that exorcism is bullshit.
For too long many people in authority have had an infatuation with multiculturalism and ethnic sensitivity’s.Sometimes ignoring certain practices if they are part of, or practised by anyone from another culture,even if the practice is not even part of the culture which it is done in the name off.
There should only be right and wrong, moral and immoral,ethical and unethical.Perhaps if the these lunatics in authority started concentrating on what we all have in common and build on that rather than concentrating on the differences we might be able to move forward as humans.
Oh how I love it when an organ of the state behaves so responsibly towards those in its care.
This is up there with Tariq Ramadan calling for a moratorium on stonings to discuss whether they are right or wrong.
My take on witchcraft/exorcism a while ago:
http://enlightenmentlover.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/witchcraft-christianity-and-cardinal-keith-obrien/