Making conenctions

by Feòrag

United Kingdom: Private Eye has noticed some interesting goings on—attempts to connect 'Adam', the torso of a Black boy found in the Thames and the abuse of children believed to be possessed or witches, with the Satanic abuse myth. What's more, a familiar name has popped up: that of Valerie Sinason, who makes a living convincing screwed up women that their problems are caused by ritual abuse, of which they have no memory.

All of this coincides with a lot of publicity surrounding a government report, Child Abuse Linked to Accusations of “Possession” and “Witchcraft” (originally released in June this year), which found the phenomenon to be more widespread that you might think, not restricted to Evangelical churches serving recent African immigrants:

The belief in “possession” and “witchcraft” is widespread. The UK is not alone in seeing cases of this nature; cases have been reported worldwide. The children discussed in this report came from a variety of backgrounds including African, South Asian and European.

Bartholemew has analysed the article in depth, and SAFF has reproduced it on their web site (it's not on the Private Eye site, alas), so I will quote just a single paragraph, which sums it all up nicely:

The abusers involved (mainly carers rather than parents) were predominantly evangelical Christians—but they also included Muslims—who all believed in possession by evil spirits and exorcism. They were categorically not—and in fact were quite the opposite of—Satanists sexually abusing and sacrificing children during black magic rituals. The researchers received no evidence or even anecdotal reports of child sacrifice. They did identify a real and deeply unpleasant problem of child abuse by adults acting in the name of religion. Meanwhile the case of Adam remains unsolved. Maybe the murder involved some form of horrific ritual. Maybe the child was mutilated to disguise his identity—as has happened in rare cases elsewhere. But the simple answer, despite the attempts to use the case to defend a more general belief in satanic abuse, is that no one knows.

Satanic Abuse, Ritual Killings, and Exorcism: Private Eye Explores the Claims—Bartholomew's notes on religion, 2nd September 2006; Satanic Panic—Private Eye (republished by SAFF with notes and additional links), 1st September 2006; Stobart, Elinor, 2006, Child Abuse Linked to Accusations of “Possession” and “Witchcraft” [PDF]. Department for Education and Skills Research Report No. 750, London.

See also: Fanning the flames—Pagan Prattle, 29th June 2005; Media in moral panic shocker!—Pagan Prattle, 26th June 2005; Old myth, even older clothes—Pagan Prattle, 11th June 2005.

Tags: Adam, Private Eye, SAFF, United Kingdom, Valerie Sinason