Why Freethought Kampala matters
I was very chuffed to see that Time did a story on Freethought Kampala. Uganda needs all the freethought it can get, so publicity is good.
A study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 97% of Ugandans are believers, and the fact that professions of atheism are invariably met with incredulity has prompted most of Uganda’s freethinkers to keep their skepticism in the closet.
But James Onen, a former Pentecostal Christian who once spoke in tongues, is not among them.
Onen, 35, had abandoned his once fervent Christian beliefs by the age of 20, after reading the Bible cover to cover and noting what he said were its logical inconsistencies. Hoping to promote reason and logic, the organization initially focused on the widespread belief — even among Uganda’s Christians — in witchcraft, but it has since taken aim at religion too. Pentecostal Christianity is a particular concern, Onen says, because it promotes the belief that “we are living in a time of spiritual warfare involving evil spirits,” which he says has reinforced the practice of witchcraft.
Pentecostalism really is just the flipside of witchcraft, ie. it believes in witchcraft, just thinks it’s bad instead of good. It even practices own brand of “magic” in opposition — eg. spells (though they’re called prayers) to cast out demons or heal sickness, belief in guardian angels, tongues and slaying in the Spirit and all the other carnivalia of Pentecostal services. It’s probably the most pervasively superstitious branch of modern Christianity (ie. over and above base-level superstition that is theism).
When you consider that our most reactionary, misogynist theists regard Uganda as a kind of refuge for their style of Christianity, it is heartening to know that the irrationality they so admire is being undercut, however modestly.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Skeptic South Africa, Ophelia Benson. Ophelia Benson said: Why Freethought Kampala matters http://dlvr.it/7hvst […]
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that professions of atheism are not met with stonings and hangings and burnings.
Why it matters to me is this:
Whenever you end up with people talking about how faith is vital to Africa, you can point to this nifty blog written by Ugandans that points out how detrimental faith has been, and continues to be to Africa. How the so-called “good works” we keep on hearing about are essentially being touted by Westerners with no frigging clue what is at stake.
And Westerners will continue to have no clue so long as the main commentators on issues of religion in the third world, are people from the first world.