Source: Mission Network News, September 3, 2015
It’s easy to assume that the extreme superstition that fueled historical tragedies like the Salem witch trials is a thing of the past, but Mission India says that’s not the case. Fear-driven witch hunts are a very real and disturbingly common part of society in many of India’s states. The problem is especially serious in Jharkland, where 37 percent of all witchcraft-related murders occur.
For example, in early August, five women were killed in the state of Jharkland when villagers claimed they were witches. The entire village contributed to the angry mob that blamed the women for many of the community’s issues, including illness and poor crop yields.
Last August in the state of Assam, a 63-year-old woman was beheaded on the basis that she had cursed the village with an illness. In July, a couple and four of their children were killed in their sleep when their own relatives accused them of causing the sickness that was spreading among infants in the village.
» Read full story, which links to a 2014 article with analysis of the phenomenon (Washington Post).
» Also read the secular coverage of the same event, Five Women Killed in India, and a story on witchcraft in Afghanistan, The Fortune Teller of Kabul, both from The Guardian. And check out Occult Beliefs on the Rise among Chinese Communist Leaders and Satan Has Come to Detroit: Try Not to Worry (Christian Today).