A BBC investigation claims that churches may be physically and emotionally harming children they believe are possessed by demons. That’s a new spin on satanic child abuse. According to the BBC’s Newsnight program, most London authorities aren’t doing anything about it either. From the BBC News article:
Afruca (Africans Against Child Abuse) spokeswoman Debbie Ariyo said she was not surprised by the findings because the driving out of demons was known to be a widespread practice within the African churches.
“It’s part and parcel of what churches do in terms of freeing people from what they see as the stranglehold of the devil.
“But it does worry me that local authorities are not making the effort to link up with the churches in terms of their practices regarding child protection,” Ms Ariyo said…
The Newsnight investigation comes on the fifth anniversary of the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie, killed by carers who claimed she was possessed by the devil.
Link (via Fortean Times)