It was with a little disbelief bordering on horror I heard a conversation taking place in my local supermarket. Two black females with about three children were discussing witchcraft. One of them had the view as a Christian church goer she was sceptical of it existing. While it seemed the other was curious and on the verge of accepting she actually believed such a thing did exist. There was a persistence about this woman, it was as thought this witchcraft thing was something she was going to hang onto with relish because she had found something important or powerful. It could well have been a belief system one upmanship she was practising while they walked down the aisle with shampoos one one side and headache pills on the other. This is London I thought, this is a Western society I live in and here on my very doorstep was someone who was taking back the learning of hundreds of years of reason. Witchcraft does not exist. It is not real. It is something used by a few to manipulate others and more so to those who are no educated. Who don't understand things and hold beliefs which the UK had disbanded to mental illness also hundreds of years ago. Such belief systems can not be compatible in today's enlightenment. But they are.
Are such minds weak and feeble I ask myself. This can not be true. It could be due to upbringing and cultural beliefs which are completely alien to my own. What is acceptable in one society and in one country is not always acceptable in another. In regard to witchcraft there have been too many high profile news items of children being abused by relatives who thought their children were possessed. There have been murders and torturing as well. These are gross violations of human being by other mislead ignorant humans. It is not enough for them to be sent to prison for such things should not be happening in the first place. I am nearly fifty years old. In my life I have not seen a single paranormal event, I have not witnessed anything of the nature. I have gone from believer, to agnostic to atheist. In a gradual process of understanding and enlightenment. It begins at an early age, probably with the notion of the nativity, false belief is then rewarded by such things as the tooth fairy. Cultural and religious ceremonies are used to bring groups of society together for a single purpose, family and friends are then bound as being part of an event no matter how false it is. The christening of a child for instance. They are there to ingrain or breed awe in those who attend so they have a deference. If you don't hold such deference then these things would be the equivalent of anathema. Personally, I've got to accept other people have their own ideas. Even when I get to the point I do not want to advise such individuals beliefs are false, but don't because mentally this could damage them. Maybe this is what the belief in witchcraft would do to those persons as well.
It is sad we persist to hold onto false belief systems and even try and make other people believe the same things. When I walk down the street and am stopped by religious nuts I waste no time with them. Unless I happen to be in a cantankerous mood. I don't see atheists standing at tables trying to convert believers, but they have every right to. I don't see Satanists standing in the high street but they to have every right to propound their beliefs. If we are a tolerant and acceptant society even these groups should be allowed their say. Equally I don't see tables where lesbian and gay people stand and discuss gender identity, but they have an equal right as well. Such public lobbying of belief systems should therefore be banned unless all belief systems are invited to lobby as well.
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