The blog will soon be folded into the main web site, and will be accessible from the main page. Updates and other information will be the first thing you come to. It’s going to be done in an unobtrusive way, though. So don’t freak out. The information most people seek will always be the first thing you come to on the web site.

I’m also going to install a mobile version of the Malleus Maleficarum. This, of course, is long overdue. Especially considering that most of the users of this web site are college students who access much of their information through cell phones and tablets.

Anyway, I’m just giving you guys a heads-up. However much I might plan ahead, no transition is ever entirely smooth. But once the change is underway, it will happen quickly. I expect to inconvenience you for no more than an afternoon, and then we can all be on our merry way. Thanks ahead of time for your patience and understanding.

~ Wicasta Lovelace

The United States has a strong ethic of not interfering with the internal affairs of religious organizations. The recent unanimous Supreme Court decision affirming the right of “ministerial exception” sent a clear signal that our government is limited in what in can demand or regulate. In America, religious institutions aren’t taxed, and our constitution enshrines a secular ethic that prevents one faith being raised up above any other. However, freedom of religion does not place clergy and religious leaders above the law, individuals have been imprisoned when their teachings have led to the abuse or deaths of others. Now, the question is if the United States should act to keep a religious leader accused of encouraging the abuse, and in some cases death, of children from entering our country. In March, Nigerian Christian leader Helen Ukpabio is planning a trip to the United States to engage in a “Marathon Deliverance” session in Texas. The International Humanist and Ethical Union claims that Ukpabio “uses her sermons, teachings and prophetic declarations to incite hatred, intolerance and persecution of alleged witches and wizards.”

“Ukpabio claims to be an ex-witch, initiated while she was a member of another local church, the Brotherhood of Cross and Star. She later founded the Liberty Gospel Church to fulfill her ‘anointed mission’ of delivering people from witchcraft attack. Ukpabio organizes deliverance sessions where she identifies and exorcizes people, mainly children, of witchcraft. Headquartered in Calabar in Southern Nigeria, the Liberty Gospel Church has grown to be a witch hunting church with branches in Nigeria and overseas.”

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The Oberkirchen trials represent just a small fraction of those that led to the execution of some 25,000 alleged witches between 1500 and 1782 in Germany. The country was a hotbed of persecution, says witch-trial expert Hartmut Hegeler, explaining that some 40 percent of the 60,000 witches who were tortured and killed in Europe during the infamous era were executed in what is now modern Germany. Hegeler, 65, a retired Protestant minister and college religion instructor in the western German town of Unna, is now working to rehabilitate these supposed witches city by city.

“We owe it to the victims to finally acknowledge that they died innocent back then,” Hegeler told Spiegel Online. “But this is not just about the past — it’s a signal against the violence and marginalization of people that goes on today.”

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The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place Monday, but gave no details on the woman’s crime.

The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 per session.

The paper said a female investigator followed up, and the woman was arrested in April, 2009, and later convicted in a Saudi court.

It did not give the woman’s name, but said she was in her 60s.

The execution brings the total to 76 this year in Saudi Arabia, according to an Associated Press count. At least three have been women.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

We hope you’ll like the changes we’re making. The new server is going to be much faster than the old one, and it’ll open up a lot of possibilities that we could never even imagine before. So here’s to hope and a brighter tomorrow. Or, as we’re fond of saying around here, “Ever upward!”

We’ll see you soon. And thanks ahead of time for your patience during our move.

What followed the question were several of the expected responses from people who prefer to think of the Malleus Maleficarum as an anomoly which has little to do with modern religion.

• “‘Bad’ or perhaps evil Christians exist as do good ones.”
• “Catholicism was behind that evil stuff. Do not blame Christians. There is a huge difference.”
• “That was the church of Rome that did that, way different than a true Christian.”

Here’s what I think:

Christians have tried for centuries to distance themselves from the Malleus Maleficarum. Baptists and other denominations have said “Oh, that was those wacky Catholics”. I notice someone cast the Malleus in light of “bad Christians” vs “good Christians”. Most frequently what you hear is “that was a long time ago”. The fact remains that the Inquisitions lasted from the 1100′s all the way up to the mid 1800′s, and were most notoriously active during the 1400′s and 1500′s. During that time, if you were a Christian, you were a Catholic. The first Baptist church was formed in 1609. Methodists didn’t come along until about 1790. And Protestants only date back to 1520 or so. So, basically, the “bad Christians” vs “good Christians” argument doesn’t hold up, not does the “wacky” Catholics argument unless one concedes that all of the major alternatives (ie Baptist, Protestant, Methodist, Mormon, etc) are relatively recent creations (during the last 500 years or so). I guess all I’m saying is that it’s hard to distance yourself from the Malleus Maleficarum without rejecting 1,500 years of Christianity because Christians then were “those wacky Catholics”.

It’s understandable why people would want to distance their faith from the Malleus Maleficarum. Another technique that Christians use to distance themselves from the work is to suggest that it was added to the Catholic Church’s list of banned books. That much is true, but not entirely. The Malleus WAS banned by the Church, but the part those people leave out is that it wasn’t banned until over 70 YEARS past its first publication, during which time it was second in popularity only to The Bible and during which it served as a de facto handbook for witch hunters, Inquisitors and even the secular courts.

Catholics have a vested interest in distancing themselves from the Malleus Maleficarum for obvious reasons, just as they’re none-too-happy about discussing the Holy Wars. Members of more recent denominations such as Baptists, Methodists, Protestants and Mormons are afforded a convenient escape from any related blame by pointing out that the atrocities of the Inquisitions, for which the Malleus Maleficarum bears some blame, were committed by Catholics, not “true Christians” as the more recent denominations call themselves. Pretty much, no one is interested in taking blame for an infamous work, and dozens of convenient explanations and re-direction exist to absolve modern Christians from taking ownership of a work which was born of the Christian Inquisition. Who could blame them? Germans distance themselves from Mein Kampf for the same reason. In the end, if most Christians don’t know about the Malleus Maleficarum, it’s because most Christians don’t WANT to know about it, and most Christian organizations and churches don’t want to talk about it. Most Christians want the Malleus Maleficarum consigned to the dustbin of history where they think it belongs, where uncomfortable questions about culpability and blame can be avoided, and where modern Christians can absolve themselves of any remorse or guilt over a work which helped Christians commit some of the most horrific acts in the name of God that have ever been recorded in human history.

In short, most Christians don’t know about the “Malleus Maleficarum” because most Christians don’t WANT to know about the Malleus Maleficarum.

What do you think?

The man, Abdul Hamid bin Hussein Mostafa al-Fakki, had been arrested in 2005 and charged with “witchcraft” two years later. He was sentenced to death in the western city of Medina after being found guilty of what the court said was “producing a spell designed to lead to the reconciliation of his client’s divorced parents.”

Details of the case have been largely muted, but international organizations had been calling for the man to be set free and not executed. Their efforts failed.

Amnesty International had tried unsuccessfully to prevent the execution of al-Fakki, who lived as a migrant worker in the Gulf Kingdom.

The crime of “sorcery” is not clearly defined in Saudi Arabian law, according to the London-based human rights group.

At least 43 people have already been executed in Saudi Arabia this year, making it one of the leading country’s in the world to use the death penalty.

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According to reports, an elderly gentleman named Vade Pasaiah (80) died of old age on August 30th. Another person, Vade Mutaiah (35), succumbed to TB on August 31st. Pasaiah’s sons, Veerabhadra Rao, Chander Rao, Venkatesh and Ramulu suspected that their father died due to witchcraft practiced by Dharmaiah.

Sources said the villagers allegedly led by the family members of the former sarpanch raided the houses of Mangaiah and Dharmaiah. They thrashed Dharmaiah after tying him to a tree. To save his own life, Dharmaiah reportedly told them that it was Sunnam Mangaiah who practised witchcraft on their father. Following the disclosure, Pasaiah’s sons forcibly brought Mangaiah to the place and tied him to a tree.

“They whisked them away, took them to the banks of a stream near the village and severely beat them up with sticks and stones,” sources said.

They also beat the daughter and son-in-law of Mangaiah when they went to the latter’s rescue. The pleas of Susheela, daughter of Mangaiah, to spare her father’s life were ignored by the angry mob who poured kerosene on Dharmaiah and Magaiah and set them on fire. Pasaiah’s sons reportedly threatened to kill Mangaiah’s wife if she disclosed anything pertaining to the incident.

The two men were reduced to ashes on Saturday when police visited Vissapuram upon information based upon a complaint lodged by Dharmaiah’s son, Vade Babu. Rural sub-inspector Ramesh and trainee SI Mallaiah visited the spot where the two men were burned alive in the forest. Bhadrachalam tahsildar Ch Babu Rao enquired about the whereabouts of the attackers, but found villagers tight-lipped and unwilling to discuss the incident.

No arrests have been made as the suspects have reportedly fled the village after carrying out the barbaric killing of Vade Dharmaiah and Sunnam Magaiah. Police are on the lookout for 30 suspects in connection with the murder of two men.

Ibrahim Shehu Ganye, a 43 year-old man and Adama Mamuda, a 45 year-old woman, were both accused of casting a witchcraft spell on one Hansatu Sani four years contrary to Section 216 of the Penal Code.

The accused persons, who admitted committing the offence, were ordered by the court to return their victim’s ‘‘spirit,’’ which they reportedly held illegally for the period their victim was under their spell. They were also asked to pay the bewitched woman N100,000 as damages for the sufferings and trauma she went through, and an additional N 10, 000 each as fine.

Police Prosecutor, Mato Albasu, who had earlier charged the accused for conspiring and bewitching their victim by witchcraft, had kept Sani under observation for a week to ensure that she recovered after the said spirit was returned to her.

Magistrate of the court sitting, warned the convicts of such inhumane acts and advised them to desist from such in the interest of peace in the area.

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