14 DAY TRIAL // Belief in magic is widespread mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and more that half of the respondents said they personally believe in witchcraft, found a new Gallup poll.
For most educated people, witchcraft is a ridiculous concept and believing in magic is at most for small children to whom bedtime stories are read.
Well, in 18 African countries, study results show that belief varies, from 15 percent in Uganda to 95 percent in the Ivory Coast, but on average, 55 percent of participants believe in witchcraft.
The phenomenon of cultural belief in witchcraft exists in Africa and it has wide implications for the African people, from the legal system to public health.
Witch doctors are consulted for healing diseases, but also for casting curses on rivals, in political, personal or financial battles.
The higher belief in witchcraft appeared in the older and less educated, as expected, but the interesting thing is that the stronger their belief was, the more unhappy they were with their lives.
The authors of the study said that this could be because once you believe in witchcraft, you no longer feel that you can control your own life and you feel like a victim of supernatural forces, every time there is an accident, for example.
The biggest problem though is that belief in witchcraft in Africa led to horrible murders and mutilations in the last years.
With the risk of not being impartial, it must be said that people who believe in witchcraft are, or become stupid and cruel, like those that in 2008, that killed eight women and three men in two villages in rural western Kenya.
And for what?
The eleven victims were accused of having cast a spell on children in the villages, spell that lowered their intelligence, Live Science reported.
The result was morbid as some of the “witches” and “wizards” were hacked to death with machetes or butchered in other horrible ways.
Also, according to the Red Cross, in East Africa, at least 50 albinos (people without pigment in their skin, eyes and hair) were murdered for their body parts last year.
It is common belief in Africa that the body parts of an albino have magical powers and can be used in witchcraft, which only makes the number of victims to rise, and the black market to flourish.
It is better to stop with the examples, for the sake of the most sensible, nevertheless we should ask ourselves if personal belief in magic and witchcraft are really harmless.