Bishops please stand firm

Feb 21, 2019

That aside, the Traditionalists as they called themselves want to be recognised as a religion and consequently be accorded the same status as the other three religions, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Islam.

OPINION

Dr Grace Karamura

Recently, our television screens were beamed with unbelievable news. A crowd of witches and traditionists as they called themselves, gathered in a show of force but also to put forward openly their demands to government.

Am calling them witches rather than their preferred name witchdoctors deliberately. Doctors are a trained, specialised calibre that I usually find it so demeaning to equate their profession with witchdoctors simply because they can administer local herbs knowledge of which was only passed on from the grandfather. Why they are allowed to advertise themselves as doctors demeans the medical profession.

That aside, the Traditionalists as they called themselves want to be recognised as a religion and consequently be accorded the same status as the other three religions, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Islam.

They want their leaders to be elevated to the same level and respect as our Archbishops and Mufti and consequently be allowed to participate officially in the National events such as leading the prayers during the Independence Day celebrations.

They forget that the three religions have had an immovable presence and impact on our society for generations, they have been harbingers of civilisation and enlightenment and have championed the restoration of human dignity which some religions sought to destroy.

Their demands didn't surprise us because for some time, witchdoctors and their kin seem to have taken centre stage of our social fabric that they can now confidently boast of their connections in the higher echelons of our political leadership. They advertise their services on air promising what even Jesus would not or Muhammed for that matter.

Because Uganda is a secular state at least by our Constitution, they have taken advantage to advance themselves to every corned of the country albeit with disastrous consequences. As a country and a church especially, we should be concerned about it.

Am surprised that Diocesan Synods and Church Governing bodies have not debated and hence brought this whole issue to the attention of the State. We should be alarmed because since the witchdoctors were given leeway to practice, the country has witnessed certain practices that weren't before; child abductions and sacrifices, murder, name them all, if we go by the newspaper reporting.

Whereas before the 1980's, witchdoctors would perform under the cover of darkness, they have since come out boldly and practise in the daylight. And why not! A few years ago, the country was shocked when pictures of some political leadership were beamed in the media visiting shrines.

As recent as last week, a State Minister for Heath said they were considering patterning with some traditional herbalists for them to practice alternative medicine in some hospitals. To be fair to the Minister, she didn't mention or mean witchdoctors.

But our concern here is how they will distinguish between herbalists and witchdoctors since the two tend to be like Siamese twins that saw the light of the day at the same time.

There is a possibility that some hospital rooms might become shrines! For all these years our country has managed without this blatant witchdoctors' input. What has necessitated it in the 21st Century when other countries are busy advancing in science.

I have never doubted our traditional herbs as a form of alternative medicine. In any case it where most modern medicines are derived from. But there is a big difference between a genuine herbalist and a witchdoctor.

What forms my scepticism with our traditional medicine people is the mysticism and superstition with which they shroud everything; thick smoke, masks, sacrifices, bark cloth and the banging of calabashes to instil an element of owe and fear!

It seems to me that by admitting the witchdoctors and traditionalists to the sanctuary, we seem to be accepting some form of lapse/failure on our part, both the church and the state, to fulfil a certain need or gap somewhere.

For instance, would people still go to the witchdoctors if there were enough medicines in the hospitals or social workers to address their psychological problems?

I don't know about Islam but the Church both Anglican and Roman catholic stood firmly against witchcraft and all it embodied at a time when it didn't have resources as it has now.

All it has was the boldness to stand as witness to the gospel and challenge syncretism. This is a blend of different belief systems from unrelated traditions the consequence of which is a fatal compromise of our integrity. To be a witchdoctor in the 1950s up to the 1990s was abhorrent compared to today when we have turned them into celebrities.

This kind of religious wizardry seems to have wriggled its way into the church through a certain brand of pentecostalism. We have heard people testify how they would take others under the sea to scoop riches when they, themselves still look wretchedly poor.

After seeding all their little money to the pastor, they are prayed for with the assurance that they'll get rich.

I know of a priest who went with her prayer team to pray for this innocent Christian. Armed with a bundle of dry banana leaves apparently to burn the devil into ashes, they set fire to every corner where they suspected the devil to be.

With the assurance to the innocent Christian that the devil is now burnt alive, the priest gave him an envelope for an offertory that is pleasing to the lord. If that is not the abuse of the gospel, what is it?

Am sure the traditional churches are as concerned about this kind of apostasy, but there is need to do more than that.

The Revival movement into which Bishop Kivengere, Revd Katugugu, Can. Rwabushaija, Canon Zaribugire to mention but a few were brought up, ventured into the unknown and with the power of the Holy Spirit as their only weapon, they defeated the forces of darkness.

However, unlike Revival then, it seems to me that the current church will need a concerted effort from the three monotheistic religions to defeat this new movement which is ironically already enshrined in our constitution mainly by Christian legislators.

May be this will be an article for later, but I have always wondered why witchcraft is largely prevalent among Africans and other poor communities elsewhere than you would find in developed countries.

Dr Grace Karamura is a Ugandan living in the UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

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