Abuse by Christian Groups
All of the non-Satanic, religiously based forms of ritual abuse that we have been able to find were practiced by Christians. This is perhaps to be expected, because about 85% of adults in North America are of that religion. Other faith groups may engage in similar forms of abuse; but were not reported.
Often, ritual abuse only becomes know when a victim actually dies:
In 1994, a three month old boy was ritually murdered in Quebec, Canada by members of the International Chivalric Order Solar Tradition, a doomsday cult. They follow a syncretistic religion, combining Roman Catholicism, New-Age philosophy, homeopathic medicine and high finance. This religious group believed that the murder was required because the infant was the Anti-Christ mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the Christian Scriptures. They ritually murdered the child by driving a wooden stake through his heart. The group went on to engage in mass murders and suicides among their membership in Quebec and France.
During 1995, a young Oriental woman in California was accidentally killed during a Christian exorcism which involved extensive physical abuse. A small group of Christians were trying to drive a demon from her body. Her corpse was left for a few days before the police were called, in the hopes that she would return to life.
During 1995, an infant in Ontario Canada was tortured and accidentally killed during a Christian exorcism by her grandmother. The infant had cried a lot and was believed to have been possessed by a demon. The murderer was convicted and received a 18 month jail sentence.
On 1996-DEC-9, Ms. Rosina Appiah-Boateng, a Roman Catholic from Toronto, ON, was convinced that her daughter Afua was possessed by demons. She attempted to drive the demons from her body by beating her daughter's naked body with a spoon-like wooden stick. Afua died from loss of blood. The mother was declared to be not criminally responsible for the exorcism beating death because of a pre-existing psychiatric condition; she had been diagnosed with psychotic bipolar disorder.
Cases are described frequently in the media in which parents withheld medical attention from their children in favor of ritually praying over them. Such actions are considered by some to be a form of ritual abuse. One example is the Tabitha's Place apocalyptic sect in France. Police arrested the parents of an 18 month boy and charged them with causing death by denying him proper food and treatment. He weighted 4.5 kG (10.0 lb.) at the time of his death. He was the second death in the previous year within the sect, which teaches their members and their children to reject medical care.
Charity Martin, age 17, was allegedly suffocated during an exorcism. She had been suffering from a mysterious illness and had missed a week and a half from school. Her mother, Vivian, 39, and sisters Serena, 20, and Elizabeth, 15, decided that the girl was being "consumed by a demon." Allegedly, after several unsuccessful attempts to smother the perceived demon on with pillows, the mother covered Charity's head with a plastic bag. Vivian and Serena joined hands and prayed over Charity's body while reading Bible verses from Revelation. Vivian and Serena have pleaded not guilty of second degree murder.Eric Naiburg, Vivian's lawyer, commented that the women were suffering from a mental defect because of their intense religious beliefs. "...when you turn on your TV set, all you see are preachers ranting and raving about the devil and demons and fallen angels. Now, all of a sudden, someone allegedly takes it all to heart and everyone is aghast. It strikes me as kind of odd and hypocritical."
Many of the above cases were located in Canada. We do not believe that the incidence of exorcism deaths is higher in Canada than in the US; it is just that our agency's ability to learn of Canadian murders is much greater than for US exorcism homicides.
Much of the Christian Ritual Abuse is based upon either of two potentially dangerous religious beliefs:
that mental illness or strange forms of behavior are caused by demon infestation, which can be cured by exorcising the demon
that children need not be given medical attention because God will cure them if the parents pray for a cure
Mental health professionals abandoned the demonic infestation theory of mental illness some centuries ago. There are some child illnesses which are invariable fatal, yet are often curable with proper medical attention. But as long as these hazardous religious beliefs exist, some parents will rely upon prayer, and some of their children will die preventable deaths.
The incidence of Christian Ritual Abuse is unknown. When it results in death, it often comes to the attention of the authorities and is reported in the media. But for every known murder case, there are probably many instances of physical, emotional or psychological ritual abuse which did not result in a death; these might well have gone unreported. A massive study of ritual abuse and what was called "religious abuse" (14,15,16) involved questioning 6000 members of the American Psychological Association. Their definition of religious abuse includes abuse which may or may not involve some degree of ritual. They concluded that of the religious abuse cases reported:
58% involved "abuse by religious professionals"
38% involved "abuse in a religious setting, a religious school, or a religious daycare center"
24% involved "abuse related to attempts to rid a child of the devil or evil spirits"
14% involved "abuse involving withholding of medical care for religious reasons"
These data would seem to indicate that the incidence of ritual abuse during exorcisms should be considered as a serious social problem.
These forms of abuse are not confined to Christianity. Belief in the existence of Satan and of demonic possession is widespread within Islam. Thus Muslims also have the potential of physically and emotionally abusing others during exorcisms. In 1997-JUN, a Muslim cleric was given a 7 year sentence in Lille, France, for his involvement in the accidental death of a teen-age girl during an exorcism. Another man was given a 4 year sentence. |
